The French soccer player has once again partnered with IWC to offer the second “special edition” of the Ingenieur Edition Zinedine Zidane (Ref. IW500508) model, which is now limited to only 500 units.
It is not the first time that the legend of watchmaking is partnering with the legend of European football. Two years ago the Swiss brand has presented the very first Ingenieur Edition Zinédine Zidane. The model was powered by their Calibre 80110 self-winding movement encased in a 44mm x 14 mm stainless steel body, sported a blue dial and a blue leather strap, and was limited to 1000 examples.
Legends get bigger every time they are retold and so does the Ingenieur Edition Zinedine Zidane II.
Based on the new generation of Ingenieurs, this limited edition comes in a chunkier 45.5 mm x 15 mm stainless steel case and is equipped with IWC’s in-house Calibre 51113 automatic movement.
The caliber sports their proprietary Pellaton winding system and has a guaranteed power reserve jumping from pretty average 44 hours to a much more impressive 7 days (in fact, the movement’s spring barrel can store enough power to keep the mechanism ticking for as long as 8 days, but, the more it unwinds, the less accurate it gets, so the Swiss engineers decided to employ a system that automatically stops the mechanism after 168 hours of immobility.)
By the way, the movement is almost identical to the Calibre 51111, which is installed in the recently updated limited-edition Blue Big Pilot. The only difference between the two is that the cal. 51111 sports a special antimagnetic cage made of soft iron, while the cal. 51113 does not, because the oversized case has its own built-in antimagnetic protection.
As you can see in the photos, the IWC Ingenieur Edition Zinedine Zidane sports an unusual chapter ring with “10,” “27,” and “45” numerals specifically marked in red.
Those familiar with European football know that “10” was the number reserved exclusively for Zidane when he played for the French national team (the numeral is also repeated on the winding rotor, which is perfectly visible through the transparent case back covered with scratch-resistant sapphire crystal.)
The “27” and “45” stand for the minutes of play at the World Cup’2008 France-Brazil final match when Zizou scored two most important goals in his career.
According to IWC’s press release, the trendy color scheme with dark chocolate brown leather strap and dial with black hour, minute, and second hands was also chosen by Zinedine Zidane, which means that we *ahem* have the same taste in watches when it comes to colors and brands.
See also: SIHH 2010: IWC Portuguese Perpetual Calendar IW5023
Photos: IWC
IWC Ingenieur Edition Zinedine Zidane IW500508 specification
Price range: $13,600 (MSRP, discontinued model)
Movement: IWC caliber 51113, in-house, automatic, 42 jewels, 28,800 vph, Breguet spring, IWC Pellaton winding system, central hacking seconds, Swiss Made
Complications: Date, power reserve indicator
Power reserve: 168 hours / 7 Days
Case: Stainless steel
Shape: Round
Crown: Screw-in
Size: 45.50 mm
Case height: 15.00 mm
Dial: Dark chocolate brown
Numerals: Arabic
Hands: Steel, luminous
Water resistance: 120 meters
Strap: Brown alligator leather with a pin buckle in stainless steel
Crystal: Sapphire, anti-reflective coating on both sides
Back: Sapphire crystal case-back