
This is the third instalment of our five-part Watch Trend Report 2022 series on the top trends in horological releases so far this year.
Featuring complications with playful twists, Hermès watches can be quite the trip, and that is certainly true of its new travel timepiece. Housed in a 38mm steel case, the Arceau Le Temps Voyageur has a rotating hours-and-minutes subdial that can be advanced by a pusher at 9 o’clock. As it moves to one of the 24 time zones represented by the cities on the world-time flange, the time shown on the subdial also changes accordingly.
Related: Hermes introduces the first skeleton watch in its Slim d’Hermes family
In February, Moritz Grossmann debuted its world-timer, the Universalzeit, here on our shores. Instead of the usual ring featuring 24 cities, the Universalzeit, a 44.5mm steel watch, shows the time in six specific locations across the globe, including Singapore. The world map on the dial features the continents, oceans, longitudes and latitudes, with the time windows of the six locations positioned on their coordinates. While unusual, the layout makes it a travel watch that allows the viewer to better understand the international time standard in relation to geography.
Why show only the world’s different time zones on a travel watch when you can also deliver a whole lot of astronomical information? That’s what Ulysse Nardin proposes with the Blast Moonstruck, updated in a new Blast case. A descendant of a trio of astronomical watches created by watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin in 1985, the 45mm black ceramic and DLC-treated titanium watch displays the time in 24 time zones, along with the apparent movement of the sun as viewed from Earth, and a precise lunar display.
World maps are a distinguishing feature on many world-time travel watches, but the Calibre 948 goes several steps further with a map that floats above the dial bed on a domed skeleton. The outline of the continents are formed from a sheet of white gold and the continents are decorated with champlevé enamel. Representing the rotation of Earth on its axis, this map, along with the city ring and tourbillon, makes one full rotation in 24 hours.
Patek Philippe is ready for its many fans who have resumed travelling in earnest following the easing of global travel restrictions. This year, it presented a trio of new world-time models — a pillar of Patek Philippe since the ‘30s — at Watches and Wonders Geneva. A collectors’ favourite, the World Time model with a Grand Feu cloisonne enamel map at the centre of the dial is updated this year with a map of South-east Asia and Oceania.
Related: Patek Philippe introduces the Ref. 7234G – in white gold with a navy dial