Gentlemen; Start your Ingenieurs!

 



It was an absolute delight to get out of London and head out to the rural idyl of Goodwood, seat of Lord March, heir to the Dukedom of Richmond. That is probably the most inherently British sentence we’ve ever written here at Watch Anish and it’s a reflection of how the folks from IWC wanted it to be.

They chose the 75th anniversary of the Goodwood Members’Meeting to launch the repositioning of the Ingenieur line in what they are calling the “rebirth of a classic”.




The watches themselves will get a review in full, a few lines simply wouldn’t do them justice, but the experience and day that we were treated to deserves a few column inches of its own.




We were first welcomed by Lord March whom it was evident had a genuine affinity for IWC, explaining that his son had “stolen” his IWC Portugueser Perpetual Calendar, so he was forced to borrow one from the brand. I tried to claim the same thing later but the chaps from Schaffhausen weren’t so forthcoming with a replacement watch for me sadly.



After his lordship left the new management team at IWC talked us through the new pieces, after which we were off to the racetrack.



The sheer spectrum of motorcars that are on display at The Goodwood Members’ Meeting makes it look like the contents of a giant child’s playbox. There are not many places where so many different classes of automobile are not only on display but geared up to race each other.



The are American Muscle cars lined up next to rally spec Minis, 90’s “ugly” supercars side by side with E-Type Jags, and 80’s 911’s partnered with cars that look like Dick Dastardly’s vehicle from the Wacky Races.







Each one is the pride and joy of one of the Goodwood members. The love that has gone into these machines is evident in every gleaming bonnet, every polished alloy. It’s easy to see why IWC would partner with Goodwood. There is an attention to detail in everything that happens here and a reverence for design classics of a bygone age.



The paddock, where the cars warm up before hitting the track, is thick with the heady miasma of petrol, which, through deep inhalation by the surrounding crowd, added to the excited atmosphere.





Former Formula 1 star David Coulthard drove an exhibition lap in the Mercedes Gull-wing SL 1955 as an homage to both the year of the Ingenieur’s initial release and IWC’s relationship with the automotive giant.









 

After that we were driven in Landrover Defenders through the sprawling Goodwood estate to their clay pigeon shooting centre. While en route we had to explain to one concerned animal lover that clay pigeons were not a local species of bird, but in fact flying discs of clay. She seemed very relieved!



The Gentlemen from James Purdy and Sons, gun makers to the royalty and aristocracy of the world for 203 years, talked us through the exquisite bang sticks that we were to shoot with that afternoon. It’s difficult to describe guns as beautfiul without sounding psychotic but the baroque engraving on the gunstocks and lustre of the polished wood makes them deadly works of art. If you were to use a sawn-off Purdey to rob a postoffice the greatest crime would be the damage you did to the gun!*



 

Anish and our Photographer James proved that they were capable of shooting more than great photos, and continued to dust clay after clay.





 

When the boys were done with decimating the crockery population of rural Sussex we headed back across the estate to round off the day with a much needed dinner.

*Team Watch Anish do not in anyway condone the armed robbing of postoffices

Written by Iain Robb

Photography by James Cole

Gunslinging by Anish Bhatt

 

 

 

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