You haven’t traversed the world properly until you have done so with a Patek Philippe as your globe-trotting companion
By now, you’d be well-versed in the means and methods of luxury air travel. Would the call be to Jet Vista or TAG Aviation? Is it going to be a Gulfstream, or the Bombardier Global 5000? Whichever permutation you desire, your demands are the same: to get to these places as fast as you can, with minimal fuss and cloistered in supreme comfort. You’d have to pack, too, and if you knew any better—as we’re sure you do—a Patek Philippe World Time watch would be one of the first things you’d have on you.
A travel companion that needs no introduction, it is a watch that not only shows that you have arrived as an elite traveller, but literally funnels the entire planet, with all its beautiful diversity and idiosyncrasies, into a piece of mechanical art that is no larger than a postage stamp.
FLIGHT PLAN
Right from the start, when Patek Philippe introduced its first World Time model in 1939, the Reference 1415 HU (Heure Universelle), the company was bent on setting the bar high for its continent-crossing wristwatch. Just as opulent cabins, attentive service and in-flight gourmet meals were par for the course, so too, was the spirit of timeless elegance that the Reference 1415 HU sought to evoke as the horological expression of aviation’s golden age.
And it wasn’t just about jetting in gilded style, either. Patek Philippe enlisted the help of Geneva- based watchmaker, Louis Cottier, to make the Reference 1415 HU an epochal travel timepiece— allowing travellers to tell the exact time across multiple world cities at a glance.
Cottier had distilled the 19th-century idea of the world being divided into 24 time zones (so that the entire world could operate on a global standard time) in a mechanism that would show exactly that. This was done via an ingenious system comprising an inner dial that displays the time at the wearer’s current location, which was synchronised with two outer rings—a 24-hour ring and another with names of the world cities—that showed the various world cities’ respective time zones.
Patek Philippe’s first World Time wristwatch instantly enthralled both horology buffs and the jet-set. It not only made the world more expansive and accessible, but also fired up the imagination of travellers and watchmakers, constantly urging them to explore horizons farther and wider beyond their wildest realities.
NEW FRONTIERS
Today, Patek Philippe aficionados are spoilt with a varied selection of travel-inspired timepieces—a repertoire that has been exponentially bumped up this year with a quartet of outstanding creations. Three of the four watches feature charming cosmetic updates, while the latest World Time model, the Reference 5330G-001, is hailed by the brand as a “new-generation” breakthrough.
The vintage-like Pilot Travel Alarm, among Patek Philippe’s most brazenly sporty and nostalgic watches, returns in a rose gold case with a beautiful grey sunburst dial. Like its predecessor from 2019, this version also features a second time zone display with a 24-hour alarm mechanism. Elsewhere, the youthful but no less athletic Aquanaut collection welcomes two models: a quartz-driven Travel Time in a rose gold case, and another automatic version in a white gold case with an opaline blue-grey dial.
But it is the new World Time Reference 5330G- 001, which bears direct lineage to the Reference 1415 HU from 1939, that has generated the biggest buzz. Eagle-eyed Patek Philippe fans will find this watch familiar. The Reference 5330 was launched as a limited edition at the Patek Philippe grand exhibition in Tokyo in June 2023. With this year’s iteration, however, the Reference 5330 is now officially a part of the brand’s regular collection.
The watch boasts a sportive demeanour, encased in 40mm white gold and featuring a blue dial with woven chequered motif—a look borrowed from the Calatrava Reference 6007A-001 limited-edition that was issued to commemorate Patek Philippe’s new production building in 2019. The design is a clear departure from the stately look of previous World Time models, which often flaunt beautifully rendered maps of the Americas, Africa and Europe on its dials. However, it is from the watch’s inner workings that Patek Philippe has worked in the most significant upgrade.
The World Time Reference 5330G-001 now features a date display for the first time in the collection’s history. Lest you think that it is hardly an earth-shattering improvement, the engineers at Patek Philippe will have you know the number of technical hurdles they’ve had to overcome.
Regular world time watches require the wearer to change the date display to his current time zone each time he travels. The World Time Reference 5330G-001, however, automatically switches the date to the local time whenever the user adjusts his current time. Not only that, the mechanism is able to compute and switch to the correct date—both forwards and backwards—depending on whether the time zone has passed the midnight mark and crossed the International Date Line.
Patek Philippe is proud to announce, too, that the date system, which comprises a series of cleverly engineered star-shaped wheels, cams and gears, is a patented invention. And if previous innovations by the brand are anything to go by, we are sure we won’t be seeing the last of this invention—or the perpetually forward-looking World Time watch.
But still, the ultimate questions remain. Would it be Shanghai or New York for the holidays? And what about the toss-up between the nostalgic Pilot’s Travel Time, the stylish Aquanauts and the epic Reference 5330G-001—all highly coveted travel companions that will soon be spoken for? For elite travellers the world over, pressing decisions will have to be made. And fast.
This story first appeared in the August 2024 issue. Purchase it as a print or digital copy, or consider subscribing to us here
