The Jet Age shrunk the world.
The advent of transcontinental and transatlantic jet travel made it possible for a person to sip an espresso in the Bar Della Pace in the morning and still make an 8:00 reservation at Lutèce that same evening. To meet the demands prompted by the establishment of railway time in the 1860s, watchmakers such as Hamilton and Elgin developed railroad pocket chronometers that included a third hand to indicate an additional timezone. In the 1930s and 1940s, manufacturers such as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe produced “world time” pocket watches (and later wristwatches) using a special dial layout designed by Louis Cottier that showed the time across the globe’s different time zones simultaneously.
In the 1950s, the advent (and immediacy) of jet travel — and the frequency at which transatlantic and transcontinental flights occurred — made it necessary for travelers to have a wristwatch that could display two time zones at once.
The Patek Philippe reference 5130 is a modern reimagining of just such a watch. It features a classical complication executed in stunning fidelity given its large, 39.5mm case size: On the dial, an inner gray sunburst sector houses applied, polished white gold hour indices, just beyond which sits a bi-color, black (night) and silver (day) 24-hour ring. Beyond this adjustable ring is a silvered city ring — a feature familiar to devotees of classic world time complications. Using this 24-city outer ring and the inner rotating 24-hour ring — all of which is controlled by the 10 o’clock pusher — the wearer can track the time around the world from his or her present location.
This particular example, a reference 5130/1G, features a white gold case in excellent condition. Via its sapphire case back, it’s possible to view the incredible workmanship in the in-house Patek Philippe Calibre 240 HU automatic movement. And included with the watch is its matching 18K white gold, solid multi-link bracelet with signed, locking hidden deployant clasp.
There’s a traveler’s watch, and then there’s a traveler’s watch — this is the latter.