The fact that it's beautiful doesn't hurt either.
Tatler Focus
Business in Tokyo, friends in New York, and family in Singapore? Even the most fastidious of us all will have inadvertently lost track of time and called an overseas friend at 2am instead of 2pm. What we need is a watch that, at a glance, will be able to tell us the time anywhere in the world, be it Hawaii, Norway or Dubai.
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas World Time does just that, and displays the time in 37 different zones, no less. Earlier this January, the Swiss watchmaker released an overhaul of its Overseas collection with five new models (and three new in-house movements). It added the World Time to its portfolio a couple of months ago, the World Time, arguably the most representative of its Overseas moniker.
Very few world time watches have the ability to display 37 time zones, and this allows Vacheron Constantin to showcase the time in countries like India, Sri Lanka or Myanmar that have 15min or 30min discrepancies. It is truly an accolade to the watchmaking skills of the Swiss horologer.
Despite the complexity of this function, the World Time is easy to read. The dial is divided in three sections: at the centre is a depiction of the northern hemisphere as projected by the Lambert map, which is connected to a sapphire disk that denotes day/night and 24-hour indications— simply read off the city name with the corresponding hour to get the time anywhere in the world. Here, the artistic skills of the craftsmen come to the fore, as the oceans of the Lambert map have been velvet-finished, and the continents are satin-brushed. A minute track on an opaline disk completes the triptych.
Constructed with the frequent flyer in mind, who does not want the hassle of winding and setting the time of his watch with every trip, this timepiece is equipped with the in-house manufactured calibre 2460WT, a self-winding movement that offers 40 hours of autonomy.
The timepiece is available in three versions, with a silver-toned dial, blue dial or brown dial, and is certified for excellence by the Geneva Seal.
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