One Week With The IWC Ingenieur Automatic 35
During Watches and Wonders this year, IWC announced the significant expansion of its Ingenieur line. We saw seven new references, including the one we’re looking at today, the Ingenieur Automatic 35 ref. IW324901, which retails for €11,300. Let’s dive in.
IWC’s Ingenieur garnered considerable attention for the brand with the release of so many new references during Watches and Wonders 2025. We saw the release of a 42mm black ceramic Ingenieur, a 40mm one in 18K gold, a perpetual calendar, and more. It was quite the splash.
The joys of the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 35
Among those releases was a smaller Ingenieur Automatic 35. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that this is a watch for women; rather, it’s truly unisex. You see, there are historical examples of 34mm unisex Ingenieurs, so this is actually a perfectly acceptable size for the watch.
Recently, I had the opportunity to take this smaller Ingenieur Automatic 35 for a weekend adventure in the Australian bush. It handled camping and an ocean adventure with aplomb. In fact, if you’re in the market for the larger 40mm model, you should also seriously consider this 35mm version. Here are a few thoughts.
A tradition of smaller Ingenieurs
In the 1990s, IWC launched an Ingenieur housing a perpetual calendar in a 35mm size, for example. Meanwhile, the original SL Ingenieur had a 38mm × 12.5mm case, and in the 1980s, the 34mm × 8.8mm “skinny Ingenieur” ref. 3505 debuted.
As we noted in this introductory feature, the new 35mm × 9.4mm Ingenieur we’re looking at today has a silver-plated dial showing the characteristic “grid” pattern. The watch comes on an integrated stainless steel bracelet outfitted with a butterfly folding clasp.
The Ingenieur Automatic 35 and its wonderful proportions
While wearing this smaller version of the mainstay modern IWC Ingenieur, I instantly got to appreciate the tight proportions all around. The smaller case doesn’t feel too small because integrated-bracelet sports watches always wear larger. Therefore, on the wrist, this feels closer to a 37mm watch. Also, given the role the bracelet plays in the watch’s design and how muscular it feels, this Ingenieur feels a tad chunkier than its 9.4mm thickness may suggest. Let me put it this way: it never felt “too small” or “too large.” The dial aperture is certainly noticeably smaller than the full-sized 40mm version, but it remains highly legible in the smaller format.
I got to appreciate this IWC over a week away from my hometown of Sydney. Spending time with this watch in the forests out of town at a locality called Jamberoo allowed me to see it in many lighting conditions, including the stark sunlight during a hike to a waterfall, the cozy glow of a warmly lit cabin, the pitch black of a forest at night, and everything in between.
A dial to get lost in
It’s in these differing light conditions that I truly could appreciate the complex dial pattern we see on the IWC Ingenieur. It’s like a checkerboard to delight the senses. But, as a history nerd, I see something rather esoteric — the march of Roman legions in a “manipular” formation. Yes, to me, the grid looks like an organized pattern of marching figures. Maybe I’ve been staring at satellite images too much with my day job, and it’s gone to my head.
This particular version has a wonderful silver dial. The only challenge I had with this was that, in harsh sunlight, the silvery color can “blow out” slightly, making it hard to distinguish details. The dial is luscious and reflects light in a very attractive way, but it can also sometimes make reading the date, for example, tricky in direct Australian sunlight, which is probably harsher than in Europe.
The niggles
There are a couple of niggles I have with this smaller Ingenieur. The first is the case back. Traditionally, the Ingenieur has had an all-metal case back to allow for the soft iron inner cage, which protects the movement from magnetism. This modern version has a display case back. Granted, we get a wonderful view of the IWC caliber 47110 inside. This 4Hz automatic movement has a power reserve of 42 hours. IWC decorated it with perlage, circular Geneva stripes, and a gold-plated rotor. Perhaps IWC needed to use this movement instead of the IWC caliber 32111, with its 120-hour power reserve, because the case would not accommodate the latter.
The second niggle has to do with the butterfly clasp. It’s fiddly and, without any micro-adjustments, it requires more consideration when sizing the bracelet than I would like on this watch. But it is very secure and certainly gets the job done. Generally speaking, I am not a fan of butterfly clasps, so please take that niggle with the appropriate amount of salt.
Taking the IWC Ingenieur Automatic 35 into the ocean
This little integrated-bracelet sports watch offers a 100m water resistance rating. Now, unlike its larger 40mm sibling, it does not have a screw-down crown. Nevertheless, the gaskets do most of the work, and I’m confident that if it’s rated to 100 meters at IWC, it’s good to go. And “go” it did, into the Pacific Ocean for some free diving.
The silver dial is incredibly legible underwater, but is harder to read in a high-contrast environment, like the surface of the ocean on a sunny Australian day. Regardless, the watch felt very snug and comfortable, even in choppy waters. It truly is a very enjoyable sports watch to wear while swimming.
A thought on the IWC Ingenieur line in general
This brings me to a more expansive thought on the Ingenieur identity more broadly. I can understand why IWC is capitalizing on the Gérald Genta connection with these watches. Gérald Genta designed the Ingenieur SL “Jumbo” ref. 1832. But the true Ingenieur DNA that predates the SL is simply gorgeous. The legacy started back in 1954 when the Schaffhausen brand introduced the first Ingenieur. The watch was a Calatrava-like timepiece built like a battle tank. The first Ingenieur ref. 666 featured a 36.5mm case with a 13.2mm profile. The movement was able to resist magnetic fields of up to 80,000 amperes per meter. Oh, and the watch was water resistant to 100 meters!
Image: Analog/Shift
Man, oh man, would I love to see IWC explore a 35mm IWC Ingenieur in the spirit of something like the ref. 666. The brand has teased this idea before, but the versions have always been too large or too far removed from the design language of the originals. Rolex has historically managed to juggle this quite well, iterating upon existing model lines while retaining core design identity, only throwing the baby out with the bathwater on the odd occasion (usually by creating an auxiliary or new model line). The best example that comes to my mind is the Rolex Explorer and Explorer II.
Final thoughts
To conclude, I like this smaller IWC Ingenieur very much. It drives hard competition with its larger sibling. Would I pick this over the larger 40mm Ingenieur, though? I don’t think so, but that’s not because it doesn’t wear as well. In fact, I would argue it wears slightly better, but the 40mm version, in some ways, better honors the original designs. It has the closed case back for the Faraday cage, a higher-spec caliber, and a screw-down crown with the 40mm version. It is a technically superior watch, and the spirit of the Ingenieur was always about technical advancement.
That said, the Ingenieur is a wonderful watch, and if you’re in the market for either the 35mm or 40mm versions, I don’t envy the pickle you’re probably in trying to figure out which of the two to choose. The answer? IWC, please bring out a 38mm Ingenieur! Oh, and while you’re at it, how about something akin to the ref. 666? Pretty please.
But what do you think, Fratelli? Would you consider a 35mm IWC Ingenieur? Let me know in the comments.
