SIHH 2013 - TREND: World Timer

I guess you could say there are two types of watches that has the multi-timezone feature. One is where there is a second dial/hand or a 24 hour hand to indicate another particular timezone. So you always have the time in two countries, but two countries only. This would be useful if you travel a lot and need to keep an eye on your "home" time. The other would be for those who may stay at "home" but needs to deal with various people from different parts of the world. This is where the world timer watches come in handy, as you can set the watch up so you can find out either at a glance or a quick turn of the crown (or push a button or something) the time in any given country.

At SIHH 2013 we can see there are quite a few different brands all offering their interpretation on the worldtimer feature. Now the thing with mechanical watches is that it is extremely difficult to meaure time in cities where their timezones are different to other cities in increments of 30min. (say, Adelaide or Mumbai) Up till quite recently, if you lived in these cities well... your best bet is a Casio G-Shock. If I recall correctly both Vacheron and Blancpain (?) managed to overcome that issue recently, but in 2013, JLC brings you a watch where you can set the time accurate to the minute! How's that in advancement in ye-olde-world technology?

IWC jumped the gun on their Richemont sister brands last year with the pilots Worldtimer. Let's see what we have from this year. Again, all the different price points are covered so if you're after a worldtimer, here are your SIHH 2013 choices.

(in alphabetical order)

Baume & Mercier Capeland Worldtimer - I've tried to find a decent pic but the only one I can find on the internet is a pic tweeted by @classiccreation and retweeted by @baumeetmercier. I have a feeling it's not meant to be seen 'officially' yet? Or did I just not look hard enough? This is a classic worldtimer, reminds me of the Longines version...

Cartier Tortue Multifuseaux - Ok, so Cartier also released a world timer last year in the Calibre de Cartier case. This year, in case you don't like round watches, you can have one in the Tortue case.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Unique Travel Time - You can set the second time to the nearest minute. But you'll need to know your GMTs, otherwise there's a chart on the case back outlining which city is at which timezone.

Montblanc TimeWalker Worldtime Hemispheres - it's also a bit of a trend to feature the 'world' on the worldtimer isn't it? Montblanc looked after everyone with 2 versions - northern and southern hemispheres. Wonder which one will sell more?

Ralph Lauren Sporting World Time - If the layout of the dial looks familiar to you, it should. This RL watch runs the JLC Geographic movement (which is also used minus the 'cities' disc in Vacheron's Overseas Dual time watch and AP's Royal Oak/Jules Audemars Dual time watches and a few others)

Richard Mille RO058 Tourbillon Jean Todt Worldtimer - If anyone needs a world timer watch Jean Todt would be it. President of the FIA he's bound to talk to people in various timezones. Most likely all at the same time too...