Porsche Design Updates the 1919 Globetimer UTC with an All Black Colorway

Porsche Design has unveiled a new version of their very smart 1919 Globetimer UTC. The Globetimer, introduced in 2019, is a travel watch with a trick up its sleeve in that it uses pushers on the side of the case to jump the local time as the wearer moves across time zones. A jumping local hour hand is one of our favorite features in a travel watch – it’s just a far more elegant solution to resetting the local time than messing with a 24 hour hand, stopping the balance, and so forth. It’s a bonus that it comes on a watch with an interesting contemporary design, and pulls off a successful fake-out with pushers that don’t do what you think they’re going to do. Let’s take a look at the 1919 Globetimer UTC All Black.

The idea behind the 1919 Globetimer UTC is relatively straightforward:  create a travel watch that doesn’t cause the wearer to lose time in resetting it as they travel. Plenty of higher priced GMT watches have local jumping hour hands (think Rolex and Grand Seiko) but push button functionality is rarefied air for watches that you can conceivably think of as value oriented. The 1919 Globetimer improves on the functionality of something like a modern Rolex GMT Master II by eliminating the unfortunate step of having to unscrew the crown. A “+” button on the side of the case advances the local time, and a “-” button moves it back. There’s even a pointer date function on the watch to keep your calendar in sync, along with the requisite 24 hour hand to use as a home or reference time. 

Now, is this push button function really going to add hours back into your life? You’d have to travel a lot for the Globetimer to be justified as an actual life hack. Unscrewing a crown, setting the local time, and screwing the crown back in is the type of thing that can be done quite easily before the pilot switches off the “Fasten Seat Belts” sign after landing a plane. This is a watch for the gadget nuts among us, and those who simply appreciate a tactile, handy tool. It’s also a watch for people who enjoy Porsche Design’s unique and modern aesthetic. Like all Porsche Design watches, this is a pure design object and doesn’t resemble a classically styled watch at all. The case sports wide open lugs and appears as a cylinder supported within a frame. This edition, in black coated titanium, is particularly sleek. It’s 42mm in diameter and 14.9mm tall, but we’re guessing it wears quite a bit smaller given the open lug design (we’ll be going hands on with this watch soon, so a full report on wearability will follow). 

Powering the Globetimer is the Porsche Design caliber WERK 04.110, which is a heavily modified Sellita SW200 (it carries that base movement’s 38 hours of power reserve). The retail price is $6,750, which is to be expected given the functionality Porsche Design has added to such a humble caliber. But if you’re looking for an ultramodern travel watch with a cool feature that’s rare even at twice the price, Porsche Design has you covered. More here.