IWC Ingenieur- Hands on

I went to the IWC boutique in Chicago today wearing my 2017 black dial Ingenieur, which needs a service. While there, I was pleasantly surprised to see two IWC Ingenieurs in the case, one white dial and one with the aqua dial. The salesperson said that they rarely ever have them on display and that they sell out almost immediately (I don't know if he was being hyperbolic, but he seemed honest on that score). I tried on the white dial Ingenieur after trying on the silver dial Mark XX. The Ingenieur was definitely better. I've never cared much for the pilot watches even though the bracelet, microadjust and fit of the Mark XX are great. It's that pilot watch dial that just kind of bores me and looks weird in my view. In contrast, I loved the raised indices on the Ingenieur and the textured dial. The watch was very easy to read and quite stylish. The watch felt great on the wrist and was quite thin although I didn't care for the butterfly clasp and lack of microadjust. Salesperson said there is AR coating on both sides, which helps legibility, but I don't really see using this watch as an adventure type watch despite it's solid construction and crown guards. It would be a scratch magnet. Lack of microadjust and rubber strap options is also limiting if you want to go on an adventure.

My overall opinion: a comfortable and stylish watch. I'd love to own one.... If someone gifted it to me. The retail price was $11,700. It's just out of my budget, especially for what it is. It does not seem like a very versatile watch to me. There is no dressing this one up with a suit nor would I choose this over a diver or field watch in those type of active scenarios. It's a really nice everyday watch, but overpriced in my opinion. Should be $7,500.

Comparisons: I'm actually not that into integrated bracelet watches, but I did try on a Chopard Alpine Eagle a few months ago. I think that watch is more expensive ($16k or so), but I also thought it was clearly the nicer watch. I also tried on the new Bulgaro Octo Roma today, which retails for what I think the IWC should be priced (somewhere around $7k). I think the Bulgari is more versatile than the IWC because of the easy swap bracelet system, and also more fairly priced. The Bulgari was quite comfortable and stylish in its own way. I think the IWC looks better than the Octo Roma, but again hard to justify the price difference. I haven't tried on an AP Royal Oak in years, so I don't feel comfortable comparing the two, but very different price points. Don't think the Royal Oak price is justified either, so I can sort of see why someone buys this as a consolation prize but it still doesn't make sense to me to buy either (for a guy like me who is not a millionaire). A super cheap comparison watch to this would be Bell and Ross BR05, which I have tried and liked. The Bell and Ross comes with a rubber strap option, which is great. It's certainly a bit more pedestrian than the IWC without the IWC level of finishing and dial and hands. However, you can get it at big discounts making it way cheaper. Less brand cache for Bell and Ross as well and also an off the shelf movement, but the watch is a looker and something to consider for those with smaller budgets who want to step up from something like a Tissot PRX.

Final Verdict on the new IWC Ingenieur: a beautiful and comfortable overpriced watch.