Mar 21, 2019
Reading time 3 min.
Racing 'Round the World: The Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC
BASELWORLD 2019:
Although it made its name with sleekly engineered chronographs, Porsche Design has been dabbling in "travelers' watches" since 1995, when it introduced a world-timer with an alarm. The latest globetrotting timepiece from the brand, founded by Ferdinand A. Porsche, inventor of the legendary 911 sports car, makes its debut at Baselworld 2019 this week and offers a new level of user-friendliness and legibility. Read on to discover more detail on the new Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC.
The Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC allows the user to change the local time with chronograph-like buttons.
PR
The main talking point of the 1919 Globetimer UTC is the simplicity of its dual-time functionality: with a simple press of its ergonomic pushers, engineered like those of a chronograph, the wearer can move the central, 12-hour hand in one-hour increments to change the local time while the UTC hand (which displays the home time) and the minute hand remain unaffected. The "+" pusher advances the hand clockwise while the "-" button sends it in the opposite direction, and a circular window at 9 o'clock serves as a day-night indicator that helps ensure the local time is set properly for AM or PM: the aperture is white during daylight hours and black at night. The date, indicated by a pointer hand on a 1-31 scale on the dial's interior, is linked to the local time and automatically shifts backward or forward as necessary.
The watch's wearer can see whether he is setting an AM or PM time using the day-night aperture at 9 o'clock.
PR
The watch's three-part case is made of titanium — a metal that Porsche Design takes pardonable pride in being among the first companies to introduce into watchmaking — and is uncommonly thin (just shy of 15 mm) as well as lightweight. The dial aperture has been designed to be as large as possible, all the better for an easy reading of two time zones. Under a sapphire crystal with seven layers of nonreflective coating and extra-hard treatment, the dial, in its three colorways of black, brown, and blue, uses Super-LumiNova on the hands, indices, and numerals. In keeping with its automotive heritage, Porsche Design says that it designed the pushers so they could be operated easily even for a wearer behind the wheel of a car, thus there is no need to unscrew the crown or otherwise unlock the pushers to put them to use.
Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC - All-Titanium - Black - back
PR
Inside the case, behind a specially engraved caseback showcasing the 24 world time zones, beats an all-new automatic movement, dubbed Porsche Design Werk 04.110. Based on the Sellita SW 200 and incorporating a second-time-zone module developed exclusively for Porsche Design by the horological braintrust at Dubois Dépraz, the caliber has a ball-borne, bidirectional rotor in the "Porsche Design Icon" style, a 4-Hz balance frequency, and a power reserve of 38 hours. The movement, in development since 2014, has both met the rigid specifications for COSC chronometer certification and endured the long-term tests to comply with the Chronofiable SA standard.
Porsche Design 1919 Globetimer UTC Gold Edition
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Set to hit the market in September 2019, the 1919 Globetime UTC is offered in four model variations, all in titanium cases except for the limited-edition rose-gold model pictured above, all on either titanium bracelets or Porsche car leather straps, with prices ranging between $6,350 and $31,500. The watches will be available at Porsche Designs stores, specialty retailers, and online at the brand's website.
