Patek Philippe is one of the most respectable manufacturers in the world who has been producing some of the most desired world time wristwatches for almost 80 years. At the Baselworld 2016 watch fair, the watchmaking brand unveiled a new upgraded model dubbed the Patek Philippe Ref. 5230 World Time that replaces all previous models from its so-called Heure Universelle collection.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230G
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230 features a new city scale and the design of its case, dial and hands has been reworked as well. Considering the fact that some time zone designations have changed or were substituted with the new ones, Patek Philippe decided to keep up with these changes. Therefore, for example, Dubai has replaced Riyadh as the internationally recognized representative city of its time zone, while Moscow has moved from UTC+4 where it was located for many years to UTC+3.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230R
This was also the opportunity to rework some design elements, such as the new-style lugs, the narrow, smoothly polished bezel that increases the sense of space on the dial, the new pierced hour hand which takes the place of the former ring-shaped hand, the minute hand is now lozenge-shaped, and there is also the basket weave guilloché at the center of the dial which is based on a pocket watch in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva. This type of guilloche is made by hand using a century-old guilloché machine.
Patek Philippe Ref. 5230 World Time Watch is available in either 18-karat white gold (ref. 5230G) or 5N rose gold case (ref. 5230R). The case retains the well-known Patek Philippe Calatrava case which measures 38.5mm in diameter and 10.23 mm in thickness. The hands, as well as the applied hour markers are made of the same material as the case.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230G
Inside the case ticks a reliable caliber 240 HU automatic movement, which features an off-center 22-karats winding micro-rotor engraved with Patek’s Calatrava Cross emblem. The movement measures only 3.88mm in thickness. The impeccable mechanism is tooled with the patented Spiromax balance spring and offers a power reserve of no less than 48 hours. Furthermore, it offers the utmost precision with the tolerance of -3 to +2 seconds per day, thus exceeding all the usual chronometer standards.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230G Profile
As it is expected, the movement’s haute horlogerie finishes meet the highest standards: the bridges are chamfered and encrusted with Geneva waves, a motif that also appears on the microrotor, the main-plate is decorated by hand with perlage, the golden brass wheels are countersunk and have chamfered spokes, while the rhodiumed bridges have gold-filled movement engravings. The 35 jewels mechanism consists of 239 individual components.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230G Case Back
Patek Philippe World Time shows local time with the hour and minute hands, with the local time zone adjusted to correspond with the red arrow at the top of the dial. In the other 23 time zones, the times are directly readable on the 24-hour ring that rotates counterclockwise within the city disk. The minutes indicated by the minute hand are the same for all time zones.
The pusher located at the 10 o’clock position is used to adjust the watch when going to a new time zone, in one-hour increments, which synchronizes simultaneously with the central hour hand and 24-hour ring. While changing the time zone, the integrated time zone mechanism is uncoupled from the movement, so that balance and the minute hand continue to operate unaffected, thus keeping the accurate time.
Patek Philippe World Time Watch Ref. 5230R
The rose gold version of the Patek Philippe World Time Watch is teamed up with a shiny chocolate brown hand-stitched alligator leather strap with large scales, ending with a rose gold Calatrava fold-over clasp. The white gold model is attached to a shiny black alligator strap, fitted with a white gold clasp. The water resistance of both models is assured down to 30 meters (about 100 feet).
Both models are priced at $47,600 before taxes (the retail price is approximately $73,700 each).
