With the present lot, IWC demonstrates their highest watchmaking capabilities. Skeletonisation is a very complicated, and thus long-avoided, way of displaying the dial. Its difficulties lie in having to strip the movement back ‘to its bare bones’ and enhancing its beauty. As a result, a brand with the prestige of IWC would only display a movement which they thought could rival a gilded skeletonised dial.

Housed in an elegant and refined 34mm yellow gold case, the IWC Portofino shown here is a classic Calatrava brought into the modern age with a mesmerising skeletonised dial. A perfect piece for any collector looking for something distinctive and intriguing