Patek Philippe World Time Ladies 'New York Edition'

Overall Condition: Excellent condition overall. Case is in excellent condition with factory diamond setting intact. Dial and handset are in excellent condition. Factory strap is like-new.

There’s an infinite amount of romance being able to tell the time anywhere in the world.

The advent of transcontinental and transatlantic jet travel made it possible for a person to sip an espresso in the Bar Della Pace in the morning and still make an 8 o’clock reservation at Lutèce that same evening. But nearly a hundred years earlier, to meet the demands prompted by the establishment of railway time in the 1860s, watchmakers such as Hamilton and Elgin developed railroad pocket chronometers that included a third hand to indicate an additional timezone. This set the framework of what was to come.

In the 1930s and 1940s, manufactures such as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe produced “world time” pocket watches: Using a special dial layout designed by Louis Cottier, these showed the time across the globe’s different time zones simultaneously. In the 1950s, the advent (and immediacy) of jet travel — and the frequency at which transatlantic and transcontinental flights occurred — made it necessary for travelers to have a wristwatch that could display multiple time zones at once.

The Patek Philippe Reference 7130R-012 New York Limited Edition is a modern reimagining of just such a watch. Rendered here in 18K rose gold, it features a 36mm case with a sapphire crystal, a signed crown, a stunning diamond-set bezel, and a sapphire exhibition caseback framing the maison’s self-winding Calibre 240 HU micro-rotor movement.

The dial features an outer city disc with blue printing; a bi-color hour ring with silver denoting daytime and a contrasting dark blue tone signifying night; applied rose gold 'dart' indices; a classic Patek Philippe World Time handset; and a stunning inner blue dial displaying a rendering of the New York City skyline. These features function harmoniously with a push of a rectangular pusher positioned at 10 o’clock.

Paired with a signed blue alligator leather strap with a signed 18K rose gold deployant buckle, this piece is an accurate representation of the maison's ability to elevate a classic complication. Furthermore, it comes with its factory goodies and signed Certificate of Origin dated November, 2017.

There’s a traveler’s watch, and then there’s a traveler’s watch — this 7130R is the latter.