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Patek Philippe: World Time & More info

The World Time system was invented around 1935 by Louis Cottier, a famous independent watchmaker in Geneva. This system was used by Patek Philippe and also by other major names in the Swiss watch industry, such as Agassiz, Vacheron Constantin and Rolex. Patek Philippe created various series of World Timers and the earliest known is a probably unique rectangular galbé pink gold model, Ref. 515, made in 1937. With Cottier's system, the wearer selects a city by moving it's name to 12 o'clock. The hour hand and the middle ring adjust simultaneously to show the proper time for each city. Throughout the day, the middle ring rotates counter-clockwise as the minute hand moves clockwise. All of the cities adjacent to the black part of the middle ring are experiencing darkness (ignoring daylight savings and the variability of sunrise and sunset). The World Time watches are doubly notable for the frequency of Cloisonne dials. Cloisonne is the art of welding fine gold wires into a pattern or image on a dial, and filling the pools and gaps with liquid enamel with a strand from a goose feather. The technique requires incredible skill and patience, and as many as 50 firings in an oven. Any one firing can easily ruin the project. The result is a unique, permanent, and beautifully translucent dial, which are highly sought. Now, after a 35 year hiatus, Patek again began producing a World Time watch, the reference 5110, which is the first automatic version, and the first with push button for city selection. I wouldn't be surprised to see one with a Cloisonne dial as well.
Ref	Type	Calibre	Start	End	Quant.	Details	Cost Est.	Examples
515	World Time	12-120HU	1937	1937	1	Unique piece rectangular rose. Likely the earliest Patek world time. Crown winds, adjusts hands and sets 24 hour ring.	$388 1994	515 Huber 246
542	World Time	10HU	1937		4	One crown which winds, adjusts hands and sets 24 hour ring.	$90-165 1994	542 Huber 244
1416HU	World Time	10HU	1939		3	One crown which winds, adjusts hands and sets 24 hour ring.		Huber 244
96HU	World Time	12'''HU	1939	1939	1	One crown which winds, adjusts hands and sets 24 hour ring.		Huber 244
1415HU	World Time	12/12-120HU	1939	1950+		One crown which winds, adjusts hands and sets 24 hour ring.	$40 99	1415 1415 Clois Huber 243 Negretti 152-158 160-161 PL Antiq 6/00 HK 446
1415/1	World Time Chronograph	13'''CC	1940	1940	1	Unique Piece. 23J 13''' Valjoux ebauche. 862,442 for Dr. P. Schmidt YG	$786 1994	Huber 270 & Cover
2523HU 2523/1	World Time	12-400HU	1953	1965	7 Rose 4 Clois YRW	Two crowns. The crown at 3 o'clock adjusts the hands and the 24-hour ring; while the crown at 9 o'clock operates the disc with the names of 41 cities in the world. This series features different types of dials:matt silvered, guilloché, either on silver dial plate or on gold dial plate, enameled, such as blue enamel or polychrome cloisonné enamel representing a map of North America, or South America, or Eurasia. Generally all Ref. 2523 wristwatches have the same type of hands with a unique model featuring skeleton luminescent hands	Y: $721 94 Guill R: $950 98 NA Clois W: $791 98 NA Clois W: 1.48 CHF 99	2523 2523 Clois 12-400 HU Huber 240-242 Negretti 158-159 Negretti 162-163
5110	Automatic World Time	30mm 240/188 HU	2000		YRWP	Push button at 10 o'clock changes home city. 3.88mm thick, 48 hour power reserve		5110

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