Quick answer
Yes, the IW371640 gets faked, and most copies are easy to sort out in under a minute once you know the tells. The reference sits inside IWC's Portugieser Chronograph line, so the problems you see are the usual ones: flat dial printing, wrong subdial spacing, a movement that does not match what IWC actually installs, and case finishing that looks tired the moment you tilt it toward light. Price is the loudest signal of all. A real Portugieser Chronograph does not sell for a few hundred dollars, and any listing claiming otherwise is selling you something else.
What the real IW371640 actually is
The 3716 family is IWC's modern Portugieser Chronograph: a 41 mm stainless steel case, roughly 12 mm thick, sapphire crystal front and back, and a modest water resistance rating that IWC lists around 3 bar. Inside is the in-house calibre 69355, an automatic column wheel chronograph with about 46 hours of power reserve. The dial is the signature part. Two subdials sit at 12 and 6, chronograph minutes up top, running seconds below, and the classic 3716 layout has no date window at all. Applied numerals, feuille hands, and the printed IWC Schaffhausen text are all crisp and evenly spaced on the real thing.
Where the copies give themselves away
I look at four areas first, in this order.
- Dial printing. On fakes, the text tends to be slightly thick or slightly fuzzy at the edges. Spacing between the printed lines drifts, and the numerals sit a hair off center.
- Subdial position. The 12 and 6 placement is a hard thing to copy. Replica dials often have the subdials crowded toward the center or pushed too far out, which throws off the whole face.
- Hands and indices. Real feuille hands taper cleanly and have a polished bevel down the middle. Copies usually look flat or slightly wavy.
- Case finishing. Brush grain on the real case runs straight and consistent. Polished bevels are sharp. On fakes, the transition between brushed and polished surfaces is mushy, and the lugs look rounded where they should be crisp.
The movement and the caseback
The 3716 has a display back, so you can actually see the calibre. That makes life easier. A genuine 69355 shows a column wheel, clean Geneva stripes, and engraving that is cut into the rotor rather than stamped onto it. Copies turn up with generic decorated movements, misspelled rotor text, wrong jewel counts, and balance wheels in positions the real calibre never uses. If a seller refuses to show the movement or sends a stock photo, that is your answer.
Weight, thickness, and pushers
Numbers matter less than feel here, but they still help. A genuine steel Portugieser Chronograph has real heft for its size. Fakes often come in noticeably light, or oddly heavy because of a cheap caseback spacer. The pushers are another giveaway: on the real watch they start and stop with a firm, short click, and the reset snaps back cleanly. Copies feel spongy, grind a little, or need a hard shove to reset.
Price and paperwork reality check
Used genuine Portugieser Chronographs trade in the mid four figures on the secondary market, and steel references can climb higher depending on dial variant and condition. That number is your baseline. Anything advertised near a few hundred dollars is not a deal, it is a counterfeit. Boxes and papers help confirm provenance, but they are also the easiest thing to fake, so treat them as supporting evidence rather than proof. A service record from an authorized watchmaker is stronger.
The legal side in the US
Worth saying plainly. Trafficking in counterfeit goods is a federal offense in the United States, and counterfeit trademarked merchandise is subject to seizure at the border. That applies to watches. If you are buying a replica knowingly, understand what you are taking on, and if you are buying secondhand, understand that a fake has no resale value and no factory service path.
A short checklist before you buy
- Verify the reference number against IWC's own product pages, including the dial variant.
- Ask for dated photos of the movement through the caseback.
- Check dial printing and subdial spacing at high zoom.
- Compare the asking price against current used market listings.
- Walk away from sellers who only take payment methods with no recourse.
Do those five things and most fake IW371640 listings fall apart before you ever send money.