World Time. Patek Philippe World Time watches have always sold well in public auctions. A platinum Patek Philippe World Time watch manufactured in 1939, similar to the one pictured below, was sold at auction at the Antiquorum in 2002 for the amount of US$4,026,524. At Basel 2008, Patek Philippe released a new version of its much sought after world time watch, the Ref. 5131.
Patek Philippe Model 2523Patek Philippe Ref. 5131. Patek's system uses a rotating ring with the names of 24 cities inscribed on it. A second rotating ring has 24-hour markers on it. Local time is told by a standard hour and minute hand. Mechanically it has a self-winding movement.
If you look at the picture on top, the City of London is on top of the small red triangle. It means that the hands are representing the time in London. From the hands the time is 10:05 a.m.
Under the name London, you see the number 10, meaning it is 10:05 a.m. in London. Under the name New York, you see the number 5, meaning that it is 5:05 a.m. in New York. Under the name Moscow, you see the number 13, meaning that it is 13:05 hours or 1:05 p.m. in Moscow.
In that way, the Ref. 5131 shows the time around the world in a glance.
The easiest to explain how this all works is to pretend we are setting the watch for the first time. If the user is based in London, the button at the 10 o'clock position should be pressed until the name of London appears at 10 o'clock. Each time the button is pressed the outer ring with the names of the cities moves one city at a time counter clockwise.
If you look at the picture on top, the City of London is on top of the small red triangle. It means that the hands are representing the time in London. From the hands the time is 10:05 a.m.Under the name London, you see the number 10, meaning it is 10:05 a.m. in London. Under the name New York, you see the number 5, meaning that it is 5:05 a.m. in New York. Under the name Moscow, you see the number 13, meaning that it is 13:05 hours or 1:05 p.m. in Moscow.
In that way, the Ref. 5131 shows the time around the world in a glance.
The easiest to explain how this all works is to pretend we are setting the watch for the first time. If the user is based in London, the button at the 10 o'clock position should be pressed until the name of London appears at 10 o'clock. Each time the button is pressed the outer ring with the names of the cities moves one city at a time counter clockwise.
When the correct city (in this case London) is at the 12 o'clock, pull out the crown and adjust the hour and minute hands as you would a conventional watch. Lets say the time is now 10:00 am. Set the hands so that the hour hand points to the ten o'clock position. The inner ring would move so that the number 10 is located right below the name London, which means the watch is set to 10:00 a.m.
Reset the crown and the watch starts to run. How about Moscow, what time is it there? Under the name Moscow the number on the ring is 13, meaning 1300 hours or 1:00 p.m.
After an hour, the hour hand would advance once hour to read 11 o'clock. The inner ring would rotate counter clockwise so that the number 11 would be under the name London, meaning 1100 hours or 11 o'clock in the morning. Under the name Moscow, the number would now be 14, meaning 2:00 p.m.
Now lets say you wanted to change the hands of the watch so that it reflects the time in Moscow. Press the button three time until Moscow is at the 12 o'clock position instead of London. Pressing the three time button would have done the following:
1) Outer ring - Rotate the outer ring counter clockwise three times to go from London to Paris to Cairo to Moscow.
2) Inner ring - Rotate the outer ring counter clockwise three times so that the number at the 12 o'clock goes from 11 to 12 to 13 to 14.
3) Hour hands, the hour hand of the watch would jump forward three times from the 11 0'clock to the 12 0'clock to the 1 0'clock to the 2 0'clock.
With Moscow at the top of the bezel, the hour and minute hands would reflect the time in Moscow which is 2:00 p.m. How about London, well under the name London, the number is still 11, since both the name of the City and the 24 -hour ring rotated simultaneously. The number 11 under London means it is 11:00 a.m. in London.
The number under the name of a city is that time of that city. In this way, the Patek Philippe Ref. 5131 presents the time of 24 cities around the world, representing all 24 time zones all at the same time.
The system is simpler than it sounds. If you did not get it, it is probably because I failed to explain it clearly, rather than because the system is complex.
About Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe & Co. was founded in Switzerland in 1851. It is acknowledged as one of the finest watchmaking companies in the world.
2) Inner ring - Rotate the outer ring counter clockwise three times so that the number at the 12 o'clock goes from 11 to 12 to 13 to 14.
3) Hour hands, the hour hand of the watch would jump forward three times from the 11 0'clock to the 12 0'clock to the 1 0'clock to the 2 0'clock.
With Moscow at the top of the bezel, the hour and minute hands would reflect the time in Moscow which is 2:00 p.m. How about London, well under the name London, the number is still 11, since both the name of the City and the 24 -hour ring rotated simultaneously. The number 11 under London means it is 11:00 a.m. in London.
The number under the name of a city is that time of that city. In this way, the Patek Philippe Ref. 5131 presents the time of 24 cities around the world, representing all 24 time zones all at the same time.
The system is simpler than it sounds. If you did not get it, it is probably because I failed to explain it clearly, rather than because the system is complex.
About Patek Philippe. Patek Philippe & Co. was founded in Switzerland in 1851. It is acknowledged as one of the finest watchmaking companies in the world.
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