Patek Philippe grows travel watch collection
With travel at an all-time high, the luxury brand keeps up with the demand for jet-setting timepieces
PATEK PHILIPPE HAS KEPT PACE with the growth of global travel since the 19th century, rolling out world-time and GMT models that allow travellers to juggle all the different time zones. In recent years, with an eye on the post-Covid travel surge, the Swiss luxury watch brand has expanded its travel repertoire even more.
5520RG Alarm Travel Time
From Patek Philippe’s Pilot line comes a dual-time watch in rose gold. It features one central hour hand for home and another for local time, both easily adjusted by pressing two white gold pushers.
But the main feature of the Alarm Travel Time, as the name implies, is a patented 24-hour alarm, which is fixed with a hammer striking a classic gong. The model is the only Patek Philippe chiming watch with a water-resistant case. The alarm, operated on another two white gold pushers, is accompanied by a digital alarm display in 15-minute increments in a charcoal-grey white gold applied frame with rose gilt.
The Alarm Travel Time is powered by a patented in-house self-winding movement. The watch is worn on a chestnut calfskin leather strap with a vintage finish and contrasting cream stitching, secured by a rose gold clevis prong buckle.
Price: S$375,400
5330G-001 World Time
A world first, this World Time model has a date display indexed to local time; that is, that of the time zone selected at the 12 o’clock position and indicated by the central hands. Other world-time watches with a date indicator always require the user to adjust the time zone and date independently.
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The new timepiece first appeared last year in a limited edition in the Patek Philippe Watch Art Grand Exhibition in Tokyo. Reference 5330 is now part of the brand’s regular collection.
The distinctive Ref 5330G-001 World Time sports an opaline dial in an elegant shade of blue-grey that is decorated with a carbon motif, giving it a dynamic modern touch. Framed in a 40 mm white gold case, the dial also displays a 24-hour disc which is subdivided into day and night zones, indicated by a small gilt sun and a gilt crescent moon, respectively. A red dot on the city disc marks the International Date Line, while luminescent coated hands and hour markers indicate the local time in the time zone selected at 12 o’clock.
The watch, which is paired with a calfskin strap, runs on a newly developed in-house ultra-thin automatic mechanical movement with a power reserve of 38 to 48 hours.
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Price: S$110,900
5269R-001 Aquanaut Travel Time
Watch fans who prefer timepieces minus the bling may welcome the new Aquanaut Travel Time. The two-time-zone travel timepiece still comes in a rose gold case and is quartz-powered, like the first, but without the decorative gems.
Even so, the new watch remains striking, thanks especially to the opaline blue-grey dial with an embossed Aquanaut motif, matched with an integrated strap in an ultra-resistant blue-grey composite material bearing the Aquanaut pattern. The 38.8 mm case is also enhanced by contrasting polished and satin finishes.
Home time is indicated by a skeletonised central hour hand and local time by a solid one. When changing the time zone, the local time hand can be adjusted forward or backward in one-hour increments – just pull the crown out to the intermediate position.
Meanwhile, the skeletonised hand continues to indicate home time, along with a day/night indication at 6 o’clock. This patented Travel Time system can also be used to display the time in another zone where a loved one is.
Price: S$51,200
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