Zodiac Introduces the Pan Am World Time GMT, a Tribute to the Golden Age of Aviation

Zodiac is capping off the year with the release of a watch that pays tribute to a love of travel by reimagining a classic from their archives. The Pan Am World Time GMT is inspired by a watch first introduced by Zodiac in 1970 capable of reading the time all across the world simultaneously. The new watch, featuring Pan Am branding and available exclusively through the Hodinkee Shop, adds a GMT complication to a world time bezel for increased functionality whether you’re on the road, in the air, or just sitting at your desk. The classic lines and vintage cues along with the appearance of the iconic Pan Am logo are just as much about capturing a mood as they are about raw function. 

The Pan Am logo, a blue globe with their wordmark running through the center, is immediately familiar even if you were born too late to fly on the airline. The Pan Am story has seeped into our collective subconscious over the years, and rightly so. Pan Am was a truly important airline, modernizing air travel for the masses in the 1950s and 60s through innovations in computerized reservations systems and the use of large jumbo jet aircraft. They are often credited as being the first truly international airline, and have become a symbol, decades later, of the so-called “golden age” of air travel. 

The dial execution on the Pan Am World Time GMT is relatively simple for a watch with so much information being relayed. The heavy work of reading the time in international locales is left to the blue rotating bezel, with a black ring indicating 24 time zones at the dial’s perimeter. The faceted hour markers and hand set will look familiar to anyone who has experienced a Super Sea Wolf dive watch in the past, but a short blue 24 hour hand has been added to track an additional time zone. In addition to the blue Pan Am logo at 6:00, you’ll find a lightly colored globe motif in the dial’s background. 

The case measures 40mm in diameter and is built on the Super Sea Wolf platform, meaning it has the look and feel of a vintage skin diver with graceful lines and long lugs. It’s 13.6mm tall and measures 47.5mm from end to end, and has a full 200 meters of water resistance. It runs on the Soprod C-125 movement, which has “caller” GMT functionality that allows for the independent setting of the 24 hour hand. 

The retail price of the Pan Am World Time GMT is $1,795. It’s a limited edition of 182 pieces, and as mentioned above was launched exclusively via the Hodinkee Shop. At press time, the watch is still available to purchase. Zodiac