Ingenieur Automatic Edition Zinedine Zidane

Although Zinedine Zidane ended his career as an active footballer two years ago, he continues to play a leading position in the hearts of his fans and live up to his status as a sporting legend. Zinedine Zidane, a French national born in Marseilles, has been named World Footballer of the Year on three separate occasions, and in 1999 even World Sportsman of the Year. Together with his clubs Juventus Turin and Real Madrid, he collected numerous national and international titles. However, the high point of his career was undoubtedly winning the World Cup. In 1998, Zidane captained the "quipe Tricolore" to take the title in his own country and two years later to achieve victory in the European Cup in the Netherlands.

In many areas, IWC Schaffhausen feels united with this outstanding athlete. Both represent values such as precision, perfection, technical competence, and social responsibility in their respective fields. The watch manufacturer, for example, is deeply involved in the "Laureus Sport for Good Foundation" and in environmental protection, whereas "Zizou", as the football star is affectionately known by his fans, supports the fight against poverty as ambassador for the UNDP, the United Nations' development programme. This congeniality of minds is now revealed in a partnership that IWC is acknowledging with a special watch.

Of all the models in the IWC collection, none is better suited to Zidane than the Ingenieur Automatic. Just as Zidane loved and played impeccable football, the Ingenieur is conspicuous by its clear, functional design. An attribute common to both is their supreme technical accomplishment, which in the case of the Ingenieur is represented among other things by the IWC-manufactured 80111-calibre movement. It obviously possesses considerable stamina thanks to its automatic, highly efficient Pellaton winding mechanism. Finally, the integral shock-absorbing system ensures a high degree of robustness, supplemented by a sturdy case, water resistant to 12 bar.

Visually, too, this latest Ingenieur model is united with the legendary footballer Zinedine Zidane. The most important element in this case is the colour coding. Only a watch in the French national colours, which are reproduced both on the dial and in the blue crocodile leather strap with its red decorative stitching, is appropriate for a footballer who played for France 108 times over a period of twelve years. One distinctive feature characterizes the glittering blue dial with its redand- white minute graduations: the Arabic numeral "10" in a brilliant shade of red stands out against the eleven appliqued, metallically lustrous hour indices. Regarded as a magical number by footballers, the squad number "10" on the back of the strip always characterizes the striker, the brains of a team, the role played by Zinedine Zidane for many years in the "quipe Tricolore".

The back engraving makes the Ingenieur Automatic Edition Zin�dine Zidane an absolute must for fans of this exceptional footballer. Situated at the centre of the solid stainless steel back are the engraved portrait and the autograph of the sportsman, framed by the inscription �Zin�dine Zidane � World Champion 1998� and the model esignation �Ingenieur�. The back also carries the serial number of the limited edition of 1,000 watches.

The Ingenieur Automatic Edition Zin�dine Zidane was introduced by Georges Kern, CEO of IWC Schaffhausen and the world-renowned footballer himself at an exclusive event on 16 June at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris.