Universal Appeal

In these travel-parched times, go on ersatz voyages with Patek Philippe’s famed world time complications.

- Celine Yap

Some things have a knack for triggering intense wanderlust. Luggage labels on suitcases, security stamps in passports, souvenirs handpicked from every corner of the globe and, especially for the horology aficionado, a world timer. It’s inevitable because this functional complication rose sharply in importance every time there was a major technical breakthrough in world travel.

Towards the end of the 19th century when railway networks around the world became increasingly synchronised, watches with multiple time zones became a necessity. During the 1930s when advancements in flight technology made intercontinental travel a possibility for the masses, so too did horological innovation push the boundaries of world time display, and none more definitively than the Patek Philippe 24-cities system with synchronised hour ring and an accompanying day/night indication.

Known as the Cottier system after the Swiss watchmaker Louis Cottier who invented and patented the mechanism, it enabled Patek Philippe to produce the world’s first wristwatch with all 24 time zones visible at one glance. Although the mechanical construct was complicated, the principle behind it was simple.