Patek Philippe 5930g World Time Chronograph – Baselworld 2016 (with Price)

When the concept of World Time watch comes in a conversation, the name Patek Philippe will immediately be mentioned – and for good reasons. Patel was indeed one the first brands to use an idea of Louis Cottier to build a watch showing, in an easy, practical and legible way the time zones all over the world on the dial of a watch. For Baselworld 2016, this complication (that we think is one of the most practical ones here at Monochrome) is coming back under the spotlight, this time combined with a chronograph. And no worries to have, the Patek Philippe 5930g World Time Chronograph is perfectly proportioned and easily readable.

First things to know when handling such a complicated watch – because combining a chronograph and a world timer in a single display is dangerous – are of course the size and the legibility. And with the Patek Philippe 5930g World Time Chronograph, you can be reassured. It’s both easy to read and easy on the wrist.

Concerning the display of the world time function, Patek keep things classical: the hours and the minutes displayed on the central axis, the 24h ring on the periphery of the central part (the first outer ring), with two tone (light for day-time and dark for night-time) and finally a city ring located on the outer edge of the dial, displaying 24 main cities around the world. The use of this world time complication is, as always with Patek, extremely simple, as only pressing the pusher at 10 is required to change time-zone.

The main novelty on this Patek Philippe 5930g of course comes to the addition of the chronograph complication – which wasn’t an easy task in terms of display. Patek relies on its automatic, in-house flyback chronograph (calibre CH 28-520 – seen as a base for example in the ref. 5905p. However, a few changes had to be made. First is the position of the second scale of the chronograph – which usually is on the outer periphery of the dial. It is here located in-between the 24h ring and the city ring, giving a easier legibility to the dial. Then, there’s the 30-minute counter at 6. Usually, it sits much lower on the dial and on this Patek Philippe 5930g, it had to be moved up – it couldn’t step over the world time rings obviously.

Now, we also told you that the size was good… It’s even better than that, because the case of the Patek Philippe 5930g World Time Chronograph is only 39.5mm in diameter – something you don’t expect from such a complicated display – and only 12mm thick – also quite interesting for a chronograph with world-timer… Thus, the watch is superb on the wrist; it sits well on the wrist, makes it rather discreet and can easily be worn with a suit. The case, in 18k white gold, shows the new trend already experienced by Patek for a few years: more angles, more straight lines, rectangular pushers… It’s modern, bolder than before but still elegant.

About the dial of the Patek Philippe 5930g, you have to forget about the press photos you have probably seen. While these make the watch look electric blue, the reality is much more subtle. It is blue but never screaming blue. It makes the watch more casual than a normal 5130 World Time – which perfectly match with the added chronograph function. And what about the guilloche dial… Perfectly executed, as usual with Patek.

Overall, after a certain disappointment when seeing the press photos, we have to admit that in the flesh, this Patek Philippe 5930g is a great novelty from the Old Maison – again… The combination of complications was risky, the choice of colors too. However, it certainly works very well once in front of your eyes. Price: $73,712.