Short answer
Reference IW371425 belongs to the IWC Portugieser Chronograph line, the 3714 family. Fakes are everywhere because the real watch is easy to copy at a glance: round steel case, leaf hands, two subdials, nothing exotic. Most counterfeits fall apart under a loupe or on a scale. Check the subdial positions, the date aperture, the caseback engraving, and the movement before you trust any listing.
What the genuine watch is
The 3714 Portugieser Chronograph runs a 41mm stainless steel case with a solid, engraved back. Inside sits IWC caliber 79350, a heavily reworked Valjoux 7750 with a 44 hour power reserve. The layout is fixed: chronograph minutes at 12, small seconds at 6, date at 3. Water resistance is modest at 3 bar, so nobody built this for the pool. IWC stamped the reference and a serial into the caseback, and those numbers should match the card and the service record. An authorized service center can check a serial against IWC's own records if you want confirmation.
The five checks that catch most fakes
- Subdials. Both register centers sit on the vertical center line, one above the other. Off-center or asymmetric subdials mean a swapped dial or a base movement that does not belong in this case.
- Date window. Look at the aperture edges and the date wheel font. Fakes show a ragged or too-tall cut, and a font bolder than IWC's.
- Dial printing. "International Watch Co." and "Schaffhausen" should be crisp and level. Count the minute track marks and confirm they line up with the applied numerals.
- Caseback. Genuine engraving is cut deep with sharp shoulders. Laser etching looks flat and pale, and the reference digits are often the wrong font or spacing.
- Movement. Wind it and listen. A 7750 based movement feels gritty and mechanical. If the rotor whirs freely like a cheap automatic, or the seconds hand ticks once per second, it is quartz or a low grade clone.
Size, weight, and finish
On a scale, a real 3714 on a leather strap lands in a narrow band. Fakes run light because the case is thinner and the movement is smaller. The pushers should have a short, firm travel with an audible click. Feuille hands are polished on the bevels and matte on the flats, and the sapphire has a faint blue or purple reflection from the coating. Cheap glass shows glare instead. Strap stitching should be tight and even, and the tang or deployant engraving should be as sharp as the caseback.
Replica tiers you will run into
Three grades show up in the market for this reference. The bottom is quartz, thick case, printed dial, wrong subdial spacing. The middle uses a Chinese 7750 clone with a decent dial but soft engraving and a hollow feeling rotor. The top tier copies the case dimensions closely and can fool a photo, yet still slips on the movement finish, the date font, and the crown threads. If a seller calls a watch a 1:1 clone, ask for photos of the caseback and a wrist roll video before paying.
Red flags in a listing
- Price below a third of the current market range for the 3714 family.
- Blurry photos, or none of the caseback, crown, or movement.
- A serial that does not match the paperwork, or paperwork printed on the wrong stock.
- Seller refuses to meet at a jeweler or an independent watchmaker for inspection.
- Box and papers sold separately, which is a common trick with franken builds.
Before you buy anything
- Photograph the dial straight on and overlay it against IWC's own reference images.
- Ask for the serial, then have a watchmaker pull the back and compare it to the movement.
- Time the chronograph over an hour and check the reset snaps back to zero.
- Weigh the watch head and compare to published specs.
None of these steps takes long. They save you from paying genuine money for a watch that was never made in Schaffhausen.