Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph Review

Personally, I prefer clean dials over busy and less information over more. Going just on this information alone, you would think I’d strongly dislike the Patek Philippe World Time Chronograph. The dial includes 24 cites, a 24-hour display, a traditional 12-hour display, a flyback chronograph, and a hand-guilloched pattern. Even with all of that… I can’t stop admiring this watch.

Although the dial is rather busy, this Patek Philippe watch is designed in such a way that it seems balanced rather than cluttered. The blue, white, and silver color scheme is consistent and easy to read, the layered rings are distinct, and most importantly, the time is legible.

Movement

This watch features a new movement that combines the world time mechanism with the manufacture’s self-winding flyback chronograph CH 28-520. The CH 28-520 is the base caliber and it was modified slightly to make room for the 24-hour ring. Even with the world time and flyback chronograph complications, the movement is only 7.91mm thick. This is much thinner than other, similar watches.

World Time and Chronograph Complications

In the outer ring, there are 24 cities for 24 unique time zones. You can adjust the time zone with the pusher at 10 o’clock. Each push will advance the time and city clockwise.

The chronograph is the ring between the city disk and the 24-hour ring, and it includes a 30-minute counter at 6 o’clock. The chronograph is easily readable since it’s subdivided into quarters of a second. Additionally, this watch includes a flyback chronograph which means the seconds hand can be stopped, returned to zero, and restarted instantly by pushing only one button. Typical chronographs need to be stopped, returned to zero, and started with three separate steps. The 2 o’clock pusher is used to start and stop the chronograph time, and the 4 o’clock pusher is used for the flyback function or to reset the chronograph after it is stopped. When the chronograph is not in use, the hand can be used as a normal seconds hand.

Appearance

The white gold case and navy blue alligator strap gives this watch a modern appearance, making it more youthful than the previous Patek Philippe world time watches. The watch features a sapphire crystal caseback, so you can watch the movement at work.