Calibre de Cartier Multi Time Zone Travel Watch

SJX introduces the Calibre de Cartier Multi Time Zone, a watch that redefines the travel complication with an innovative display. This article delves into Cartier's Fine Watchmaking approach, spearheaded by Carole Forestier, highlighting how the brand consistently pushes boundaries beyond traditional horology. Readers will appreciate the detailed breakdown of its unique home time indicator and city disc functionality.

Two notable travel watches were launched at SIHH 2011. One was the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Traditionnelle World Time (click here to read more about it), in the classic Louis Cottier world time style. The other was the Calibre de Cartier Multi Time Zone, a fresh and innovative take on what is typically a boring and common function.

This novel approach to a traditional complication is a thread that runs through the entire Cartier Fine Watchmaking range – witness watches like the Astroregulateur, Astrotourbillon – thanks to the genius of Carole Forestier who heads the manufacture’s technical department. Carole wanted to create a travel watch that was usable yet different, and she succeeded.

The Multi Time Zone displays local time on the main hands while the home time is displayed in the window from three to nine o’clock. Home time is indicated by a sun/moon hand from six to six hours, to differentiate between day and night without the need for a large scale running from one to 24 hours.

Above: Two o'clock in the morning at home

Below: 12 noon at home

Local time is set by a pusher integrated into the crown guard at two o’clock, eliminating the need for unsightly buttons spoiling the lines of the case; this is a pet peeve of many, including me. What makes this clever is the fact that the time zones are linked to the cities disc, though strictly speaking it is a cities cylinder, on the side of the case.

The cities disc is cleverly executed for two reasons. Being on the side of the case it utilises the height of the Calibre de Cartier case to display the cities legibly and preventing the dial from becoming cluttered.

In terms of functionality the cities disc is an improvement over ordinary travel watches for it accounts for both summer and winter time where the time is an hour apart depending on the location. The cities are shown on two lines, the upper line for the Northern Hemisphere in winter and the Southern Hemisphere in summer, and vice versa for the lower line. Not a radically complicated solution, but a simple and eminently usable function.

The final function of the Multi Time Zone is the jet lag indicator. This is amusing indicator between four and eight o’clock that displays the difference between local and home time, in other words how bad the jetlag will be on arrival and how much worse it will be on return. Another interpretation of this is the quantity of melatonin supplements one needs to pack.

A 19 hour difference - lots of melatonin 

At Calibre Multi Time Zone is a large watch with a 45 mm diameter, partially due to the additional volume required to accommodate the cities disc circling the movement which is based on the 1904 MC in-house automatic calibre. The case is only available in white or rose gold, which is a shortcoming because there is definitely a significant segment that prefers travel watches less delicate and lower priced.

And because this watch only advances in one hour increments, travellers to places like Caracas and Kabul would not find this too useful. Also, this watch lacks the date. It would be extremely useful, especially to have a date that can advance and retreat in sync with the local time.

And when I first saw the watch, I though the font and style of the cities disc on the side was jarringly simple compared to the design of the rest of the watch. But I was told that this style was chosen for its readability and I can’t disagree.

Nevertheless this ranks as one of the cleverest and most interesting – and useful – travel watches I have recently encountered. In fact, a titanium version might even make it the best travel watch I have recently encountered.

- SJX