Patek Philippe travels in style

PATEK PHILIPPE IS BIG ON travel watches – and not just minute repeaters, perpetual calendars and chronographs. The luxury Swiss watchmaker is a prolific producer of dressy and sporty dual time zone and worldtime watches for jetsetters. Since 2015, it has extended the two time zone system to nearly all its collections, pairing it with other useful functions and dial designs.

Just this year, with borders fully reopened after Covid and travel returning with a vengeance, Patek Philippe rolled out at least four dual time zone and worldtime travel models, including the Calatrava 24-Hour Display Travel Time Reference 5224R-001 and the Calatrava Pilot Travel Time Chronograph Ref 5924G.

Ref 5224

The most novel of the new watches – in fact of all Patek Philippe’s travel watches to date – this two time zone watch is distinguished by a 24-hour dial with two central hands tracking the home and local time. The last time Patek Philippe made a watch with a 24-hour display was in 1905, in the Gondola pocket watches for a Brazilian watch retailer.

While a throwback to a historical timepiece, Ref 5224 has all the trappings of a modern watch – and more. The striking navy-blue dial is framed in an elegant Calatrava case in rose gold and is strapped onto the wrist by a matching navy blue calfskin band. The 42 mm case is larger than the usual 40 mm Patek Philippe case, but this is tempered by the watch’s slim profile.

The dial features a double railway-track scale for the hours and minutes. The 24-hour display consists of alternating Arabic numerals and hour markers and five minute indices. Noon is at 12 o’clock, not the standard 6 o’clock in a 24-hour display; rather it’s like the standard 12-hour display watch. Patek Philippe says this ensures visibility during the day.

Instead of the correction pushers for local time found in earlier Patek Philippe travel watches, Ref 5224 has a patented correction system operated on the crown. The watch is powered by an in-house micro rotor automatic movement, calibre 31-260 PS FUS 24H, which is used in most Patek Philippe worldtimers.

Ref 5924

This is Patek Philippe’s first pilot-style travel time watch with a chronograph – a flying chronograph with a 60-minute counter and pushers at 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock, not at the usual 8 o’clock and 10 o’clock. The dual time zone display shows Patek Philippe’s standard two central hands – a skeletal sword hand telling home time and the solid hand local time; the hand in the sub-dial at 12 o’clock indicates the date.

The 42 mm white gold timepiece, equipped with an in-house automatic movement, has two variations: a sunburst blue-grey and a military-inspired lacquered khaki green, each with a matching calfskin strap. Both have gold numerals with luminescent coating.

Ref 7130

Patek Philippe has no new travel timepieces for ladies in 2023; its current collection is probably already the most complete in the market. The brand launched the first worldtime watch for ladies, Ref 7130G, in 2011. The watch dazzles with a diamond-decked bezel crowning a 36 mm white gold case, holding a hand-engraved brown guilloche dial with a bi-coloured centre ring and 24-hour indication, as well as a sunburst outer chapter ring marked by 24 global cities.

SEE ALSO

Omega debuts new watches for the adventure traveller

The most recent version of the model appeared last year, in a lime green dial encased in rose gold. However, it’s still the one rolled out in 2017 that’s most remembered. This features a new peacock blue dial matched by an alligator strap. Like the other two watches, it runs on the same movement – calibre 240 HU – used in most of Patek Philippe’s worldtimers. Complete with a micro-rotor and 48-hour power reserve, the movement is also housed in a 36 mm case with a diamond-encrusted bezel – though in a white gold case, like the first Ref 7130.

Price: S$76,400 (Ref 5224), S$100,800 (Ref 5924) and S$78,800 (Ref 7130).