Watches for those with a global outlook
THERE’S a case to be made that in the age of global business the ultimate executive watch is a world timer. For anyone whose work sees them regularly jetting between time zones, or who simply needs to know the hour in different markets around the globe at any given moment, a world timer – in which an adjustable ring around the dial shows cities in numerous time zones and the corresponding time on a 24 hour scale – is the suave mark of a truly internationalist outlook.
For this sophisticated design we have Louis Cottier to thank, a genius watchmaker who invented one of the first such watches during the 1930s.
Cottier‘s nifty world time mechanism could simultaneously display the hour in 24 time zones around the world. It was a highly exclusive piece, but Cottier had sussed that, with the rising popularity and glamour of air travel, a world timer would hold a special appeal for the new, globe-trotting elite.
Houses that adopted the mechanism included Vacheron Constantin, Rolex and Patek Philippe, who used it to create some of the rarest and most desirable watches ever made. Sotheby’s New York sold a 1937 Patek Philippe Ref 96 HU “Heure Universelle” at auction in December last year for a cool $482,500.
The industry remains inspired by Cottier’s example, with Patek Philippe still one of the key protagonists, eking out low volume specialities like the Ref 5131. The watch contains one of Patek’s lissome automatic movements, but what makes it so collectable is its dial, which is hand-decorated with cloisonné enamel in the form of a colourful world map. So rare are dials like this that Patek will only sell you the 5131 if it’s absolutely sure you’re the right sort of chap to own one. Less hard to track down is the Ref 5130 [1] – without the beautiful world map, but this year newly available on a stunning Patek-designed bracelet.
Vacheron Constantin is none too shabby in this department either, as proved by its Patrimony Traditionelle World Time, which can tell the time simultaneously in 37 of the world’s time zones, including the half and quarter hours of Myanmar and Nepal.
Just as technical is Girard-Perregaux, whose collection of world time watches includes the WW.TC Financial, which indicates the business hours of the stock markets in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Those of a politically correct persuasion look away now: GP also offers a ladies version – the WW.TC 24 Hour Shopping, which swaps city names for the world’s most famous shopping districts, Bond Street and Rodeo Drive among them.
Watches from this hallowed triumvirate occupy the upper strata of the collectible market, but there are plenty of options under £10k, thanks largely to the rush of new world timers being presented this year.
Zenith and IWC both launched a collection of pilot’s watches: Zenith’s Pilot Doublematic (main picture, £8,600 in steel) is loaded with functions, adding a chronograph, an alarm, an alarm power reserve and a grand date to its world time function, while IWC’s Pilot’s Watch WorldTimer [2] (£7,500) has an anti-magnetic soft-iron inner case and has been designed to cater for sudden drops in air pressure.
Talking of aviation, Breitling’s Transocean Chronograph Unitime [3] (£8,380 in steel,) is a looker inside and out, fuelled as it is by the brand’s new Calibre 05 in-house movement; and then there’s Bremont, the young British brand known for its love of the skies, which has just launched the pilot-inspired ALT1-WT [4], its first world timer.
Two global time-keepers stood tall this year because of their remarkable price points. Frédérique Constant lived up to its mantra of accessible luxury with the handsome Classic Manufacture Worldtimer [5], which is powered by an in-house movement, yet retails for a barely believable £2,710. Also challenging the status quo on cost is Ball Watch (a brand worth keeping an eye on), whose Trainmaster World Time Chronograph [6] is a snip at £2,300.
One other watch worth mentioning is Seiko’s new Astron GPS [7] (starting from £1,750), a whizzy piece of electronic kit that automatically adjusts its display to tell the time wherever you are in the world by picking up signals from GPS satellites, which it also uses to correct itself daily. Cleverer still is that this is all sustained by the sun – the shiny dial is a solar panel.