Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Pre-SIHH 2014: Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Unique Travel Time in Rose Gold
When it comes to watches that can indicate time in your own timezone and an additional timezone, you will find there’s a whole world of choice out there. However be aware that you choose one that suits your requirements. There are traveler GMT watches, office GMT watches and worldtimers, all with their own limitations. Except the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duomètre Unique Travel Time, which makes it possible to adjust the second timezone to-the-minute.
Most worldtimers are build to indicate the time in 24 different timezones around the world, however some nations felt the urge to create an additional timezone and with that they also created a problem for the watch industry. Creating a worldtimer with a ring that rotates once in 24 hours, isn’t going to help for people traveling to Iran (GMT+3.5), Afganistan (GMT+4.5) or India (GMT+5.5). Want to visit Birma? You will have to adjust your worldtimer to GMT+6.5 hours and still keep your hometime at the correct time at home. Vacheron Constantin already developed the Patrimony World Time, which indicates time 37 time zones. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Duomètre Unique Travel Time, can be set to any second timezone, even the GMT+12¾ of the Chatham Islands!
The Duomètre Unique Travel Time features two sub dials, the right one is for your hometime, while the left one, with jumping hours, is meant for a second timezone (travel time). Everything can be adjust via the single crown, and the pushers at left side of the case make it easy to adjust the jumping hour indication of the second timezone. The second timezone’s minute hand can be adjusted via the crown, in order to set it to the timezone with no full hour deviation.
On the lower end of the dial is a world map, surrounded by the time-zone indications and the day/night ring. It rotates once every 24 hours, and is synchronized with the travel time. Although this world map is the worldtimer function, it looks too small to exactly see in which timezone Shanghai, Tokyo, New York or Amsterdam are. So while I do not consider the Duomètre Unique Travel Time to be a full-fledged worldtimer, it is a very clever traveler’s watch with a second timezone.
The true beauty, at least to me, is see on the watch’s reverse side. That’s where you can admire the brilliant movement with the revolutionary Dual-Wing construction. This means that there are actually two separate movements, each with a gear train and main spring barrel. One is devoted to displaying the local time, and the second to showing that in a second time zone. They are connected in the middle by a shared regulating organ. The operation of the dual time-zone display does not in any way influence the running of the watch, a fact that considerably enhances the precision of the watch.
Some specifications:
- Case: 18 carat pink gold, 42mm in diameter, 13.65 mm thick, polished lugs and satin-brushed mid case, water resistance to 5 atm (50m)
- Indications: home time (hours and minutes), travel time (jumping hours; digital 2nd time-zone display), world map, indication of the two power reserves
- Movement: manually-wound movement, Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 383, crafted, assembled and decorated by hand, 50-hour power reserve for each of the two barrels, 498 parts, 54 jewels, 28’800 vibrations per hour
More info via the Jaeger-LeCoultre website.
1 response
“On the lower end of the dial is a world map, surrounded by the time-zone indications and the day/night ring. It rotates once every 24 hours, and is synchronized with the travel time”
The world map (just a north polo view in reality) surrounded by the time zone indication does not rotate at all. As you said this is the time zone indication so if this keeps rotating it mean you are changing time zone every hour, which would make impossible to know which time zone time you are reading on the left sub dial.
Instead of rotating, the “world map” remain fixed until you decide to change time zone. That’s the only way to know from which city you are reading the second time in your watch.