Politician Rodrigo Roa Duterte spotted wearing a IWC

Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte was photographed wearing an IWC Portugieser reference IW3716, a stainless steel automatic dress watch that sits firmly within one of Swiss watchmaking's most respected long-running collections. For a sitting head of state, the choice is notably restrained — no tourbillon, no precious metal — just a well-proportioned classic with serious horological heritage behind it.

The IWC Portugieser IW3716 belongs to the modern Portugieser Automatic line, which descends directly from the original 1939 'Portuguese' commissioned by two Portuguese merchants who wanted pocket-watch-grade precision in a wristwatch case. That commission pushed IWC to fit a large pocket movement into a wristwatch, establishing a design language — large case diameter, slender lugs, minimalist dial with railway-track chapter ring, applied Dauphine-style hands — that the manufacture has honored ever since. The IW3716 carries that aesthetic faithfully in a 42.3mm stainless steel case, with a white or silver dial and a 7-day power reserve displayed through an elegant subsidiary aperture.

Power comes from IWC's Caliber 51011, a self-winding movement with a 7-day power reserve — a meaningful technical specification for a reference at this price tier. The movement beats at 28,800 vph and is visible through a display caseback, a detail collectors appreciate. Water resistance is rated to 30 meters, consistent with the watch's pure dress-watch brief.

Among collectors, the Portugieser IW3716 enjoys a reputation as one of the cleanest, most wearable dress watches in the CHF 5,000–8,000 segment — a reference that holds its value reasonably well on the secondary market precisely because it avoids trend-chasing. It competes directly with the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control and Longines Master Collection but benefits from IWC's stronger brand positioning.

Duterte, who served as the 16th President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, was documented wearing the IW3716 at an approximate Philippine market value of 260,000 PHP — roughly USD 4,500 at prevailing exchange rates — placing this squarely in gentleman-politician territory: expensive enough to signal taste, discreet enough to avoid controversy.