Alpina is a brand that draws inspiration from the history of aviation. Not surprisingly, world timers because critical instruments to aviators – and here, Alpina brings us a watch that will let you track the times with considerable style.
As the post title suggests, this model is known as the Worldtimer Manufacture. To track the different timezones, this piece doesn’t utilize the GMT hand that we might be more familiar with. Rather, it relies on two rotating rings set on the outside of the dial.
The outer-most ring contains the names of 24 cities (representing the timezones), and you rotate this ring to set what city the main time display is showing (in the pictures of this post, Geneva is the “home” city). You can then look over to the secondary city (say, Dubai) and see the secondary dial showing a 13 – so it’s just after 1pm there. It seems complex at first, but I think it would be simple to get the hang of.
So, how is all this mechanical wizardry driven about? It has an in-house movement, the AL-718, which has 28 jewels and features a 42 hour power reserve. You’ve got sapphire crystals on both sides of the case, helping to net a water resistance rating of 10 ATM. Last, but certainly not least, you’ve got a black leather strap (crocodile embossed) to hold it on your wrist.
All in all, this is a very nice looking watch, and has a pretty great way of allowing you to track multiple time zones. I’m also really digging the layers in the dial that the various rings (and the date subdial) afford.
Were you to pick one up, you won’t see that many out there in the world, as this is being limited to a quantity 0f 8,888 pieces. This, combined with the fact that you’ll need to get to an authorized retailer (no online sales), means that this is likely priced out of the reach of most of us.
