Harry Winston Ocean DualTime Monochrome

At the 2013 Baselworld, watch-and-jewelry brand Harry Winston had the watch press’s collective tongue wagging about its haute horlogerie creations, the Histoire de Tourbillon 4 and Opus XIII. Not to be overlooked, however, is the interesting new GMT watch in the brand’s sporty Ocean collection, the Ocean Dual Time Monochrome.

The watch is different than most other GMT watches in that it displays the traveler’s home time and local time, along with separate day-night indications for each, on separate subdials. (In most such timepieces, there is only one day/night indicator, for the home time, or none at all.) The other unusual feature is the large date, which is presented with the two digits in a horizontal orientation rather than a more traditional vertical arrangement. Harry Winston’s designers strove for a visual indication of the passage of time in this watch, which features a dial the company refers to as “pre-aged.” The framing areas around the various subdials are coated with a special layer of oxidized platinum that is then hand-brushed to create a patina that mimics the effects of aging. Because of this manual process, Harry Winston says, each dial can be considered a unique piece. The 44-mm-diameter case is made of Zalium, an alloy composed of aluminum and zirconium that is proprietary to Harry Winston. Zalium has a distinctive gunmetal sheen — making for a striking contrast with the “pre-aged,” hand-finished dial — and is lighter and more corrosion-resistant than steel. The case has a sapphire display back, a titanium crown with an embossed Harry Winston “HW” logo, and a water-resistance of 100 meters.

The movement at the heart of this unconventional travelers’ watch is Caliber HW1001, based on Girard-Perregaux’s automatic GP3300 movement, with a module (AGH2841) exclusive to Harry Winston. It includes 272 components, including 35 jewels; a customized rotor with black DLC treatment; and côtes de Genève decoration. The Harry Winston Ocean Dual Time Monochrome is limited to 250 pieces. Detailed specs on the watch are below the photos.