The 20th anniversary of the Laureus World Sports Awards was held in January this year at the Verti Music Hall in Berlin, with IWC being present alongside the global sporting elite as well as leaders from the world of politics, economics and entertainment. Created in 1999 by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, the Laureus Sports Awards is an annual award given to individuals and teams from the world of sports. The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation itself has done a lot to correct the behaviours of young people around the world.
In 2019, the foundation helped approximately 300, 000 young people through 200 projects/programmes that use sport to influence social change and stop violence, discrimination and disadvantage. The individual Laureus World Sports Award winners for 2020 was a joint award, given to Lewis Hamilton and Lionel Messi.
IWC has been in partnership with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation since 2005. During this year’s celebrations, the luxury Swiss watch manufacturer visited the local Laureus supported project in Berlin. This local project is using football to integrate and help socially disadvantaged girls throughout Germany. The girls even had a chance to have a fun kick around with IWC ambassador Maro Engel, Laureus Academy members Cafu and football legend Alessandro Del Piero.
During IWC’s visit with Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, they unveiled their 14th Laureus special edition watch; the Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Limited Edition.
The Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Limited Edition comes with a beautiful, distinctive blue dial that is present throughout all Laureus edition watches. The 46mm stainless steel case, the hour indexes, minute track and inscriptions found on the dial are all done in silver, to provide a bright, direct contrast between the blue dial background. The minute and hour hand along with the chronograph seconds hand are made with rhodium plating which offers the same colour finish as silver while adding a bit more depth.
The movement used in the Portugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Limited Edition is IWC’s Calibre 59360, which is a specially designer monopusher movement. The Calibre 59360 allows for a three-counter layout which includes constant second counter at 6 o’clock, 60-minute counter at 12 o’clock and a power indicator at 9 o’clock position. IWC’s Calibre 59630 comes with a staggering 8-day power reserve as well!
One of the key features of this watch is, of course, how the Chronograph functions work. Instead of traditional chronograph stop-start pushers on the side of the casing, IWC’s calibre 59630 uses a single pusher that’s fixed on the crown itself. Although the outcome is the same a two-button chronograph system, the monopusher allows for elegant case design.
The case back of the IWC Protugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Edition also features a friendship illustration as portrayed by the 15-year-old artist, Yi Xin from China. A watch made for a great cause, the IWC Protugieser Hand-Wound Monopusher Edition is limited to 500 pieces.
