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Which cities would you choose for your world timer?
Inspired by some recent discussion (in the comments to a post on Patek Philippe 5230G Mexico limited edition), I thought it could be fun/interesting to ask our members the following:
- If you could choose from the scratch, which city names would you select for your (actual or hypothetical) world timer? Or would you rather prefer e.g. airport codes instead of city names (and if so, which ones)?
To set the stage and for reference, below is one set of typical city names, as seen e.g. on Patek Philippe 5110. You could post just the time zones you would change, or a complete list.
UTC+12: Auckland (New Zealand)
UTC+11: Noumea (New Caledonia) [France]
UTC+10: Sydney (Australia)
UTC+9: Tokyo (Japan)
UTC+8: Hong Kong (Hong Kong S.A.R.) [China]
UTC+7: Bangkok (Thailand)
UTC+6: Dhaka (Bangladesh)
UTC+5: Karachi (Pakistan)
UTC+4: Dubai (U.A.E.)
UTC+3: Moscow (Russia)
UTC+2: Cairo (Egypt)
UTC+1: Paris (France)
UTC+0: London (UK)
UTC-1: Azores [Portugal]
UTC-2: South Georgia [UK]
UTC-3: Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
UTC-4: Caracas (Venezuela)
UTC-5: New York City, NY (U.S.)
UTC-6: Mexico City (Mexico)
UTC-7: Denver, CO (U.S.)
UTC-8: Los Angeles, CA (U.S.)
UTC-9: Anchorage, AK (U.S.)
UTC-10: Hawaii (U.S.)
UTC-11: Midway Islands [U.S.]
For completeness, I have added the country/region to which the city belongs to in parentheses. Note that in the case of some smaller places, the name is actually not that of a city but of the whole territory (e.g. Azores, Hawaii). Brackets ([ ]) indicate that the area belongs to the country in brackets, but is an autonomous region / not part of the country proper.
Note also that certain (major) countries/cities become automatically left out from a standard classical world timer because they use non-standard (non-full hour) offsets to UTC, e.g. India with UTC+5:30.
Photo credit: Phillips (I'm sure Nicolas could post a better picture!)
Picture credit: Wikipedia (link to the original bigger version)
Which cities would you choose for your world timer?
Inspired by some recent discussion (in the comments to a post on Patek Philippe 5230G Mexico limited edition), I thought it could be fun/interesting to ask our members the following: - If you could choose from the scratch, which city names would you selec...
I'll start with my list:
UTC+12: Auckland UTC+11: Noumea UTC+10: Sydney UTC+9: Seoul * UTC+8: Hong Kong UTC+7: Bangkok UTC+6: Dhaka UTC+5: Karachi UTC+4: Dubai UTC+3: Moscow UTC+2: Helsinki * UTC+1: Geneva * UTC+0: London UTC-1: Azores UTC-2: South Georgia UTC-3: Rio UTC-4: Bermu...
This is interesting exercise
UTC+12: Matakana (New Zealand) UTC+11: Magadatan (Russia) UTC+10: Sydney (Australia) UTC+9: Tokyo (Japan) UTC+8: Ubud [Indonesia] UTC+7: Hanoi (Vietnam) UTC+6: Almaty (Kazahkstan) UTC+5: Hulhumale (Maldives) UTC+4: Medina (Saudi Arabia) UTC+3: Moscow (Rus...
Nice to see some very interesting choices.
I must say I could easily replace Dhaka at UTC+6 and Karachi at UTC+5 as well, but these being in Bangladesh and Pakistan, respectively, help to remind of the time in Mumbai and New Delhi (at UTC+5:30). For UTC-8 it's a toss between LA and San Francisco.
I wouldn't change any of them. I'm satisfied.
I'm good with all of them. It's simply knowing which cities are in similar timezones as other cities. For instance, Riyadh is a very important city, but so is Moscow. I just need to remember that the two and Istanbul are all in the same timezone. I consta...
Good point. On a practical level it would be enough (and perhaps even preferable) to have cities that are representative of the respective time zones, and that may even help to remember which other cities are in the same time zone.
For many of the time zones there are several (almost) equally good candidates, as is the case with some of those you pointed out. However, personally I would like to see cities that also have some special meaning or connection - be it due to business, fam...
They definitely took that into consideration at Patek Philippe.
They looked at historical significance, population significance, travel/tourism significance, and financial hub significance. They even took into consideration political stability, which countries were unlikely to change what timezeone they were a part of...
Hmm, they definitely managed to get a good default set of cities. Not sure you can do much better for a completely generic city ring (i.e. before taking into account personal preferences).
And you are right, on the 5230 Caracas (Venezuela) is changed to La Paz (Bolivia)!
Interesting but tough exercise😁Let me just list three changes that I would make for now (and while I’m at it, submit the same request to Patek for a prompt rejection ;-))
-5: Cambridge (academic reasons); +1: Boccadasse (personal/birth reasons; if neighborhoods of a city are not allowed, then I’m picking the city itself, Genova😎); +9: Seoul (romantic reasons; she is actually from a town further south, but that’s the capita...
Very nice! 👍
I would also include Seoul, partly for reasons that are not entirely dissimilar to yours! 😁
On that particular point, I would have to agree. ;-)
UTC-5 has several significant cities, but NYC would be just about the last city that I'd change, all time zones considered (London being the absolute last perhaps).
Great question
I’ve always wished I could ask Patek for the following personalised changes to the World Time: Berlin for Paris, Sài Gòn for Bangkok and Las Vegas for Los Angeles. Perhaps we can petition Patek for personalisation (naturally for a fee)?!
Now that would be something!
I also think that offering 'simple' personalization like this would be a great service for collectors by the brand (with an appropriate fee of course, like you say, reflecting the costs of producing the one-off city rings). I wouldn't hold my breath, thou...
It would be interesting, but this is extremely unlikely to happen on an individual basis, especially in recent years. Not only for monetary issues, but it's a precise choice of Patek to limit "one-offs".
The best bet is when an AD asks for a limited edition, like we have seen in a few instances here (though even then, understandably, requests are accommodated *very* selectively). More and more other brands, however, offer bespoke services, and you can ask...
What a great post
I've thought about this question the whole time I've owned my 5110, but never so systematically as you're inviting us to do. Looking over the whole world map, I have to admit they've done a good job. Just a few changes I'd like to see: +10 Melbourne (rath...
I just need Athens in there...
which German worldtimer watches tend to do rather than Swiss. Oh, and Chicago as well.
Interesting - have you seen a systematic difference in the city choices between world timers from Switzerland and Germany?
Athens is a strong contender for its respective time zone. I would like to see Chicago, too.
I thought I did....
but apparently it is not the case. For example, Nomos uses Athens... and TX (Timex) uses Athens too which helps the German - Athens argument since Timex is designed in Germany. however A. Lange und Sohne uses Beriut... and Muhle Glashutte uses Cairo. Vach...
Thank you jporos, that is a very interesting comparison you put together!
Seems that there is quite a bit of variation between the brands. It would indeed be interesting to know how those selections are made.
I miss so much long time gone era when my City of Buenos Aires was always present in WT watches...
Regret to think that this probably has a connection with the economic, political and social decay suffered by my Country in the last 50 decades which led to Watch Makers to ignore it in their dials ... Best! Abel. P.S: Photographs obtained from Internet j...
Very nice world timers, these past models.
The smaller font (and relatively wider bezel?) allowing two, or even three, cities per time zone. Would be interesting to see how this looked like on current models. I guess the second photo gives an idea. With more than one city per zone, there would def...
Thank you so much for your comments Countzero. I understand the technical problems it might bring to include so many Countries. I feel that having the same Time Zone Brazil and Argentina...
... it is a matter of market relevance for the makers to include one or another. Argentina was a very wealthy Country and a very important customer for Swiss Watch brands till the 1960's and beginnings of the 1970´s but following decades suffered the deca...
Nice one! I see Toronto, Aruba, Holland.
Is this yours? Or do you know the story behind the custom city ring?
It is in my family's possession for sure.
There were 2 of these made by special permission in 2002.
Wow. Congrats!
If, at some point, you'd feel like sharing some the story of the custom pieces - how did the process go, and what did it take to make it happen - I'm sure you would find a very interested and appreciative audience here. In any case, thanks for posting the...
Vogard?
I think the now-defunct Vogard watches had a custom bezel name option for their world timer - either airport names or spelled out. They advertised to "add your summer home in Aspen" or where you were born, etc. Back in their day I couldn't afford it but I...
Thanks for your comment. I had not come across Vogard before.
Very interesting story, too. The company (founded in 2002 by one man with marketing experience from TAG Heuer) developed, with the help of Thomas Prescher, "the first watch capable of displaying half-hour time zones (as in Nepal, for instance) and Dayligh...
Astana!
I like the mention of Astana on a standard Vogard business Officer bezel. On older world timers there's Dawson, Reykjavik, Madagascar, makes you want to leave home and get out there, into this great big world of ours!
Yes, especially at a time like this, when travel is restricted and many of us are more or less bound to home!
For the time being most can only dream of such travels, but let us hope that normality returns sooner rather than later and we can travel again!