Crossing Continents – The Chopard Quadruple Timezone Watch
In 2021, 14 months into a life with no international travel, do we stiil need multi-timezone watches? Dual time zone watches became very popular with the advent of recreational international air travel and the particular need for pilots and travelers to have a watch that allowed them to keep track of both local and home time. But what’s the point now? Well, I believe that now more than ever, international digital co-working being the norm, we need to keep our eyes on more than home time!
If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that the digital age truly has made international communication a seamless part pf everyday life. I am sure that I’m not alone in feeling a little odd when first undertaking important meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex and a host of other video formats. Being the adaptable creatures that we humans are, pretty quickly we got used to it and “sorry, you’re on mute” became part of our everyday language. In any one day we can be on Zoom with Europe, the USA and Hong Kong on one call or all together. Can you conjure up the images of big multi-national offices with four clocks on the wall, all showing different time zones? How about if you could have that on your wrist? Step forward the Chopard Quadruple Time zone watch…
Standard Dual Time
The Chopard Dualtime reference 2030 was a cool watch in a gold case that feature two manual wind movements in one calibre. These watches were made in beautiful 18kt gold curvex cases. The curvex was itself an aesthetically very beautiful case, having first appeared in the first quarter of the 20th century, with one of the most famous examples being the Cartier Tank Cintree. The fluid way in which these cases sit on the wrist is both visually very beautiful and also supremely comfortable. The two dials were often marked home time and local time, allowing the wearer to set both ‘watches’ independently. A dual time is different to a GMT watch, where two time zones are monitored on the same dial using a 24-hour bezel and 24-hour hand.
There were other dual time zone watches too, such as this stunning Royce in stainless steel. The large 36mm case features two independent manually wound watches that can be set to monitor two time zones simultaneously. The case remains in great condition. The steel case features a setting and winding crown on each side – so cool!
Non-Standard Quadruple Time
I mentioned earlier those multi-national offices with four clocks on the wall, each one representing a country around the world in a different time zone. Chopard made this watch but for your wrist. And it’s a serious piece of kit. Essentially, using the maison’s in-house jewellery expertise, they seemingly took two reference 2030s and cased them together in 18kt yellow gold. Further testament to this is the fact that the rear of the case has two 2030 signatures. The watch is essentially four independently adjustable watches in one case impressive case – it measures 45 x 35mm! The four dials on the face are marked Eastern, Pacific, Mountain and Central. From this we can deduce that it was made for an American customer, as these are US timezones.
I can imagine this was probably a very valuable watch when ordered and was most likely for either a very successful sales executive who travelled a lot or a CEO of a large national company who like to keep in touch with the various offices around the US. For today’s watch collector it makes a lovely and unusual piece from an esteemed brand. However, if like me you are spending a lot of time on Zoom holding meetings and talks in different parts of the world, this watch could actually prove to be very useful. Maybe it truly is the perfect Covid-Era watch!
