Breguet : an unconventional timezone display

Classique Hora Mundi

CASE : 18K white (or pink) gold, fluted caseband, sapphire crystal caseback, water-resistant to 30m

DIAMETER : 43mm

MOVEMENT : mechanical self-winding (Caliber 77FO, 55h power reserve), silicon balance-spring, inverted in-line Swiss lever escapement with silicon horns

FUNCTIONS : hours, minutes, seconds, instant time-zone display system, synchronized 24-hour and city indications

DIAL : gold with three guilloché motifs (Clous de Paris, flame pattern, basketweave)

STRAP : black leather, gold folding clasp

Five years after the launch of the Classique Hora Mundi, with its lacquered globe motif on the dial of the 2011 version that left no doubt as to its multiple time-zone function, its 2016 interpretation is distinctly more mysterious. Only its 6 o’clock aperture successively showing the cities corresponding to local time might lead one to think that a subtle time indication is taking the place of the main one clearly displayed on the entire dial surface. But with which hand ? The very same one, programmed via a concealed and patented mechanism, enables the owner of the Hora Mundi 5727 to set and memorize the time in another city of the world, alongside local time. This second time-zone is displayed by pressing a pusher at 8 o’clock. The date is also automatically adjusted to the time-zone being indicated, a touch that represents another original feat. Highlighted by a circular-tipped hand jumping across a dragging disk at 12 o’clock, it displays the time both simultaneously and legibly. A final distinctive feature serving a dual aesthetic and functional purpose takes the form of the figures 6 and 18 appearing in a 3 o’clock counter and relating to the day/night indication, with a “basketweave” guilloché motif adorning the first half of the 24-hour cycle in the lower part of the subdial bearing the number 6 (and the individual number of the watch); and a flame pattern embellishing the upper part. This visual refinement is also reflected in the “Clous de Paris” motif of the hand-crafted dial, the finely fluted caseband and the sapphire crystal caseback revealing the self-winding in-house caliber.

Brice Lechevalier is editor-in-chief of GMT and Skippers, which he co-founded in 2000 and 2001 respectively. He has also been CEO of WorldTempus since it joined the GMT Publishing stable, of which he is director and joint shareholder. In 2012 he created the Geneva Watch Tour, and he has been an advisor to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève since 2011. Also closely involved in sailing, he has published the magazine of the Société Nautique de Genève since 2003, and was one of the founders of the SUI Sailing Awards in 2009 and the Concours d’Elégance for motor boats at the Cannes Yachting Festival in 2015.

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