Friday, May 20, 2016

A comparison of three dress watches, Chopard, Zenith and the IWC

A comparison of three dress watches: the Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860, the Zenith Elite 6150 and the IWC Portugieser Hand-Wound Eight Days.

From time to time at HKWF, we compare different watches for you. In this episode, we are comparing three dress watches from Chopard, IWC and Zenith.






 

The cases
 
At 42mm, the Zenith Elite 6150 is 2mm bigger than its two counterparts.
 
The lines of the case look a little fatter than the other two.
 
The IWC Portugieser Hand-wound Eight Days has a “thinner” case than the other two as the curves look more clean-cut than the other two.
 
The Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860 has the thickest bezel and all of the three watch cases are highly polished to a mirror finish.
 
The lugs on the IWC and the Chopard are more angular than the more classic lugs on the Zenith.
 
At 12 mm in thickness, the IWC is thicker than the Chopard, which is 7.2 mm thick, and the Zenith, which is 9.25 mm thick. The Zenith also features a dome-shaped crystal while the IWC crystal is slightly domed.
 


 
 
 
The dials
 
The dial on the Zenith has a silver tone and it has sunray pattern. The leaf-shaped hands and the markers are rhodium plated.
 
The Chopard has a silver-toned dial with sunburst satin-brush while the IWC has a white dial and Arabic numerals.
 
The Zenith’s second hand is at the center while the other two have their seconds sub-dial at 6 o’ clock.
 
The IWC has a date window at 3 o’ clock while the Chopard has its at 6 o’ clock. Worth noting is that the Zenith has no date window which makes it a purer classic.
 


 
 
The movements
 
The IWC features its in-house 59215 manual-wound movement and it provides a power reserve of eight days.
 
A power reserve indicator is located at the case back which can be seen through. All the plates are finished with Genève Stripes.
 
The Chopard features its in-house Calibre 96.01-L and its finishing is top-notch.
 
You will feast your eyes with a 22k gold micro rotor and well-polished plates and angles. Again, all the plates are finished with Genève Stripes and the movement has a 65- hour power reserve.
 
The Zenith Elite 6150 movement may not be the best decorated among the three, however, it provides you with a power reserve of 100 hours, which is approximately 4 days.
 
The price
 
The Chopard retails at around 80k HKD in stainless steel.
 
The IWC retails at around 70k HKD and the Zenith retails at around 60k HKD.
 
At HKWF, all three watches are available with good discounts.
Editor’s pick: The Chopard L.U.C XPS 1860
Reasons: The finishing of the movement is simply incredible at this price point. The dial and the case are classic and simple. Plus, the thickness is only 7.2 mm which makes it perfect for a suit wearer. It is a watch with a lot of work and sincerity.
 
Jason L
HK Watch Fever Group
 
HK Snob

 


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