The replica IW371613 is a copy of the 41mm IWC Portugieser Chronograph, and the straightforward answer is this: good ones exist, but this reference is harder to fake than a Submariner. The dial has no texture tricks to hide behind, the case is slim, and the subdial layout forces factories into movement work that cheap builders skip. Find one for $90 and you are looking at a quartz watch in a Portugieser-shaped case. Spend $350 and up from a known factory and you get something that reads correctly on the wrist until the caseback comes off.
What the reference looks like
The IW3716 family runs a 41mm steel case, roughly 13mm thick, 20mm between the lugs, with sapphire front and back on the newer versions. The dial carries a 30-minute chronograph counter at 12, small running seconds at 6, and a date at 3. Leaf-shaped hands, applied numerals, a rail minute track. It is a dressy chronograph with nothing loud about it, which is exactly why sloppy copies fall apart on the wrist. There is no big bezel or oversized crown to draw the eye away from a bad dial.
Movement decides everything
Genuine versions run the in-house calibre 69355, a column-wheel chronograph with about 46 hours of reserve. Replicas almost never have that. You will see one of three things instead:
- A basic 7750 derivative. Running seconds sit at 9 o'clock on the raw movement, so the builder adds a transfer gear to move them to 6. That gear train is the weak point and the reason so many copies stutter, lose time, or stop.
- A modified 7750 sold as a clone 69355. The layout matches, the finish does not, and service parts are scarce outside a few watchmakers who work on reps.
- Quartz. Correct at a glance if you never look at the seconds hand. Wrong everywhere else.
Ask what movement is inside before money changes hands. A seller who cannot answer that in one sentence is not a seller worth using.
Price tiers
Under $150: quartz or a low-grade automatic, mineral glass, printed dial, wrong thickness. From $200 to $350: decent case, sapphire crystal, automatic winding, subdials in the right places, mediocre movement. From $380 to $600: the tier people mean when they say they want a replica IW371613 worth owning. Correct dimensions, better hand finish, anti-reflective coating, a movement that holds time. Above that range you are paying for scarcity, not quality.
What I check first
- Thickness and lug width. A 14mm case sits like a brick next to the real thing. 13mm or a hair over is the target.
- Subdial position. Small seconds must sit at 6, never at 9. This is the fastest tell on any Portugieser copy.
- Date font and window. Reps often drop in a generic date wheel that is bolder and wider than the original.
- Dial printing. The spacing between the brand name and the city line varies, and cheap rail tracks are a decal rather than printed on the dial.
- Strap and buckle. Stamping quality on the tang or deployant is where most corners get cut.
The legal side
Buying a counterfeit in the United States carries real risk. Importing one is prohibited, and Customs can seize and destroy the shipment with no compensation to you. Selling one is trademark infringement and can bring civil damages plus criminal exposure. Plenty of buyers treat this as a private choice about a watch they wear for themselves. The law does not make that distinction, and shipping is a gamble either way, so budget for the chance of losing a package.
Bottom line
A good replica IW371613 is a $400 watch that reads like an $8,000 one at arm's length, then stops being convincing the moment the back comes off. Buy the movement, not the photographs. If the listing will not name the factory and the movement, keep looking.