17 Best World Time Watches for Travelers in 2023

Recently, we showcased some of our favorite GMT watches on the market today. Whereas a GMT watch is designed to simultaneously display the time in both a traveler’s local time zone and his or her home time zone, a world-time watch allows its wearer to quickly glimpse the time in numerous other time zones across the world in addition to the local and home time, often in visually spectacular fashion with globe-themed dial designs. Here we’ve found 17 world-time watches that are worthy of your notice, with price tags ranging from eminently affordable (Tissot, Ball, Nomos) to exclusive and expensive (Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe). Unlike our roundup of GMTs, we didn’t disqualify watches with additional complications but we did err on the side of watches more recently introduced to the market. And you’ll be happy to discover a few of them that you can purchase directly from our online store.

Arnold & Son Globetrotter Gold

Price: CHF 41,900, Reference: 1WTAR.U01C, Case Size: 45mm Case Height: 6.55 mm, Crystal: Domed Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic A&S 6022

The original Globetrotter, with its eye-catching 3D “globe on the wrist” design, debuted in 2018 in steel and received a precious-metal update in 2021. The 18k rose-gold case, dominant on the wrist at 45 mm in diameter, is topped by a highly domed sapphire crystal and frames a predominantly blue-toned dial with a miniature global map of the Earth viewed from the North Pole, with rhodium-plated continents and hand-painted, blue lacquered oceans and coasts. This domed world-map dial rotates under a central gold bridge to indicate the time in all 24 of the world’s major time zones, as indicated by a central GMT hand that points to a 24-hour scale aligned with the globe’s meridian lines. The haute horlogerie finishing on the watch’s automatic movement, Caliber A&S6022, are on display on the opposite side through a sapphire window; these flourishes include NAC treatment and Geneva waves on the plates and bridges, circular brushing on the wheels, and guilloche accents on the skeletonized rotor made of 22k-rose-gold that swings in both directions to build up a xx-hour power reserve.

Ball Watch Engineer Master II Diver Worldtimer

Price: $3,299, Reference: DG2232A-SC-BE, Case Size: 42mm Case Height: 15mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 200 meters, Movement: Automatic BALL RR1501-C, based on ETA 2836-2

This 42 mm-diameter stainless steel timepiece from Ball Watch does double duty as a professional-grade divers’ watch and a user-friendly world timer. Its fluted bezel, which ratchets in one direction, hosts both a dive scale and a ring of 24 world cities to check the time in various locales throughout the globe.  The crown, with its stylized “RR” emblem (for the “railroad” watches that Ball made famous back in the 19th century), screws down securely into a double-shouldered crown guard. Like every Ball Watch, its dial boasts a high level of nighttime luminescence thanks to its generous use of micro gas-tubes filled with tritium, which unlike the more common Super-LumiNova doesn’t require any charging by an external light source for its superior, long-lasting glow; these tubes, with variously colored glowing gases, are found on the hour numerals, indices, and hands. The watch’s movement, the ETA-based Caliber RR1501C, is chronometer-certified by COSC. 

Breguet Marine Hora Mundi 5557

Price: CHF 71,000, Reference: 5557BR/YS/5WV, Case Size: 43.9mm, Case Height: 13.8mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Breguet 77F1

Breguet unveiled its travel-friendly Hora Mundi complication in its Classique collection back in 2012* and has incorporated it into its sport-luxury Marine series this year. The world-map dial of the Marine Hora Mundi 5557 achieves its stunning visual depth with the use of superimposed plates, as traditionally guillochéd ocean waves on a gold base plate wash up against the filigree, turquoise-edged continents depicted on a sapphire crystal pane positioned above it, which also hosts the longitude lines. A tiny sun, in rose gold, and moon, in rhodium-plated gray, indicate day and night in a window at 4 o’clock. The world cities representing each time zone time zones rotate on a disk at 6 o’clock inside a semicircular window, with the city of the local time indicated by the emblematic anchor symbol of the Marine collection. Most importantly, the watch is equipped with the patented Hora Mundi “mechanical memory” function that allows the wearer to switch between two selected time zones instantly via the pusher and crown. The self-winding movement inside the 43.9mm gold case, Breguet’s in-house Caliber 77F1, accomplishes this feat through a complex system of cams, hammers and an integrated differential to calculate both the time and date in a chosen second time zone.

Bremont ALT1-WT

Price: $6,395, Reference: ALT1-WT, Case Size: 43mm, Case Height: 16mm, Lug width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic BE 54AE

British pilot-watch specialist Bremont offers two complications in its ALT1-WT model, a world-time indicator, operated by a bidirectional crown at 8 o’clock, and a chronograph with pushers at 2 o’clock and 5 o’clock. The tricompax dial includes a date display window inspired by the dashboard of a C17 plane and a distinctly aviation-inspired 24-city ring, which identifies the world’s time zones by the cities associated with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) airfield identifiers and rotates in both directions to align with the central GMT hand. The 43mm steel case is built in Bremont’s now familiar three-part “Trip-Tick” construction and uses a screw-down crown with a relief propeller motif to help ensure its water resistance. The case also includes a see-through sapphire window in the back that allows a view of the movement, Bremont Caliber BE-54E, a modified ETA 7754 with automatic winding via a skeletonized rotor, a 42-hour power reserve, and a COSC chronometer certification.  

Bulgari Octo Roma Worldtimer

Price: $8,550, Reference: 103486, Case Size: 41mm, Case Height: 11.35mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic BVL 257

In keeping with the Italian jeweler-watchmaker’s pursuit of high luxury, the Bulgari Octo Roma Worldtimer, launched in 2021 and aimed squarely at world travelers emerging from extended pandemic isolation, is a world-time watch with a twist: the locales depicted on its 24-hour city ring include a handful of substitutions for the traditional time-zone representations: tony St. Bart’s, for example, replaces Bermuda as the marker for the Caribbean region. The city ring, which also includes cities with current or future Bulgari-branded hotels, works in concert with the inner 24-hour ring surrounding the bright blue dial to   track the time in all of the 24 major time zones while the local time is displayed on the central hour and minute hands. The familiar octagonal case that gives the Octo collection its name measures 41mm in diameter and 11.35mm thick and comes in either brushed and polished stainless steel (on an integrated steel bracelet) or black DLC-coated steel (on a black textured fabric strap). Beating inside is Bulgari’s self-winding BVL257 caliber, an in-house movement storing 42 hours of power reserve.

Christopher Ward C1 Worldglow

Price: $2,195, Reference:C1 FC-718DGWM4H6, Case Size: 43.5mm, Case Height: 11.55mm, Lug width: 22mm, Lug to Lug: 51.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita SW with in-house JJ03 model

If reading the time around the world in a darkened airplane cabin is a necessity for you, Brit boutique brand Christopher Ward has you covered with the C1 Worldglow, whose four-layer sapphire world-map dial is enhanced with SuperLumiNova Grade X1 BL C1, a highly luminous substance that emits a neon-like glow in the dark The hands and the GMT numerals on the rotating world-time disk are also coated in the material, ensuring easy reading of multiple times in any light condition. The 24-hour disk is controlled through the crown with a clockwise turn; a counterclockwise turn engages the red, wedge-shaped ‘city selector’ on the dial to set your preferred city for reference time. The Sellita-based JJ03 automatic movement does its duty inside the 43.5 steel case, behind a sapphire exhibition caseback.

Frederique Constant Classic Worldtimer Manufacture

Price: $4,195, Reference: FC-718DGWM4H6, Case Size: 42mm, Case Height: 12.1mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Manufacture Caliber FC 718

Frederique Constant has been at the forefront of offering high complications at head-turningly affordable prices, and the Classic Worldtimer Manufacture is one of the most essential examples, equipped with a easy-to-use world-time function for under $5,000. Its 42mm case has a luxurious polished finish, a convex sapphire crystal, and a dial etched with a textured world-map motif and bordered by concentric rings: an inner 24-hour day-night scale and a 24-city ring that rotates to set the time in any time zone in the world. At 6 o’clock, beneath the javelin hands that point to the local time, a sundial hosts an analog date indicator with a 1-31 scale. The ingenious in-house movement inside, Caliber FC-718, allows adjustment of all the timing and world-time functions through the crown without the need for additional pushers — also a rarity at this price point. 

Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite

Price: $21,500, Reference: 1-89-02-01-04-30, Case Size: 44mm, Case Height: 14mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Manufacture Caliber 89-02

Glashütte Original’s Senator Cosmopolite, sporting a new midnight blue dial as of its most recent iteration in 2020, offers an array of user-friendly functions for frequent travelers and features several subtle enhancements to enhance legibility. The galvanic, sunray-pattern blue dial now has sword-shaped hands, replacing the pear-shaped hands of its predecessors and luminous hour indexes, replacing the earlier model’s Arabic numerals. An off-center subdial with its own set of hands allows the wearer to view the time in all 35 of the world’s current time zones rather than the standard 24 indicated by most world-timers. Those 24 zones, which correspond with Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) by full hours, are indicated in white, while the rest, differentiated by three-quarter hours or half-hours from GMT, are indicated in light blue. What makes the Cosmopolite further distinct from other world-timers is its use of official three-letter airport codes (i.e., JFK for New York City) to denote the time zones for local and home time in two windows. Day/night indications for both time zones can be found on subdials at 9 and 12 o’clock. The 44-mm steel case has an array of brushed and polished finishes and houses Glashütte Original’s automatic manufacture Caliber 89-02, with a substantial 72-hour power reserve.

IWC Pilot’s Watch Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium

Price: $17,400, Reference: IW395505, Case Size: 46mm, Case Height: 15mm, Lug Width: 22mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 60 meters, Movement: Automatic Manufacture Caliber 82760

IWC applies its proprietary Ceratanium material, which combines the toughness of titanium with the scratch resistance of ceramic, to its Top Gun family of Pilot’s watches for the first time in this new version of its Pilot’s Watch Timezoner. The case, with its matte, jet-black surface, measures 46 mm in diameter and 15.1 mm thick and resists water pressure to 60 meters thanks to  screw-down crown. Framing the black dial is a ceramic city ring with 24 world cities representing the major time zones. IWC’s automatic Caliber 82760, which powers the Timezoner, features a patented world-time function that allows the wearer to quickly and easily re-set the time, along with the date and 24-hour display below 12 o’clock, with a single turn of the city-ring bezel. The wearer simply presses it down to turn it until the city of the desired time zone is positioned at 12 o’clock; the hour hand and 24-hour disk will move in unison with the bezel in either direction for a quick change of the local time and date while the minute hand is unaffected. Mounted on a black rubber strap with a textile inlay, the Timezoner Top Gun Ceratanium is limited to 500 pieces.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic Universal Time

Price: $14,000, Reference: Q8108420, Case Size: 41.6mm, Case Height: 11.8mm, Lug width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic JLC Caliber 722

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Geophysic collection traces its origin to a 1958 model specially engineered for scientific research missions to some of the world’s most harsh, unexplored regions. The Geophysic Universal Time takes the international adventure theme to a new level, with an eye-popping world-map dial featuring ocean areas in multiple shades of lacquered blue and sunburst-finished engraved continents. A mobile city disk, easily operable via the crown rather than a separate pusher, borders the dial, enabling the wearer to simultaneously read the time in 24 major world time zones. Once the “universal time,” or second time zone, is set, it won’t need adjusting during travel. The wearer only needs to adjust the local time by moving the hour hand backward or forward, independently of the minutes and seconds to prevent loss of precision. This functionality comes courtesy of JLC’s automatic Caliber 772, made in-house and featuring the maison’s friction-resistant Gyrolab balance wheel, which beats within a 41.6mm stainless steel case.

Junghans Meister Worldtimer

Price: $2,150, Reference: 027/5012.02, Case Size: 40.4mm, Case Height: 10.5mm, Lug width: 20mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 100 meters, Movement: Automatic Sellita Caliber SW330-1

In keeping with its starkly streamlined, Bauhaus aesthetic, German watchmaker Junghans has kept things relatively simple on its Meister Worldtimer, unveiled at the end of 2021. The dial is not dominated by a visual map motif but hosts a simple layout consisting of an outer ring of 24 cities (you guessed it, one for each time zone); an inner rotating ring for hours, color-coded to easily identify day and night; and a pair of long, sharp-tipped Dauphine hands in the center to point to the local time on similarly long hour markers. A minutes scale is eschewed here for the sake of legibility, always a challenge in a watch with 24 time zones in evidence at the same time. Behind a screwed, sapphire caseback beats the self-winding J820.5 caliber, gathering a 42-hour power reserve. The 40.4mm case is relatively thin at just below 11mm and is available in either stainless steel or gold-coated PVD steel for an extra level of understated elegance. 

Montblanc 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygene

Price: $8,600, Reference: 129624, Case Size: 44mm, Case Height: 17.10mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 50 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber MB 29.27

Montblanc takes its mountain-exploration theme to a new height — or perhaps, a new summit — with the 1858 Geosphere Chronograph 0 Oxygene, freshly introduced earlier this month at Watches & Wonders Geneva. As its name implies, it is the world’s first “zero oxygen” timepiece, meaning it has been constructed to be utterly devoid of oxygen inside the case, which eliminates fogging and oxidation that might otherwise occur when using the watch at the high altitudes and freezing temperatures that one would encounter on a mountaineering expedition. As part of the Geosphere series, the watch features a unique world-time display via two turning globes on the dial, one for each hemisphere, along with a 24-hour scale, a day-night indicator, and a date disk. This model — which Montblanc says has actually been tested on an expedition up Mount Everest — also features an integrated chronograph. The oxygen-free automatic movement is ensconced inside a titanium case, between the “glacial blue” dial and the solid caseback with a laser-engraved, photorealistic rendering of Everest.

Nomos Zurich Weltzeit

Price: $6,100, Reference: T0786411603700, Case Size: 39.9mm, Case Height: 10.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic DUW 5201

Like Junghans, Germany’s Nomos has attracted an avid following for its minimalist, Bauhaus-styled watches, most of which are fairly understated in their level of complication. With the Zurich Weltzeit “(German for “world time”), the brand manages a higher level of horological complexity without sacrificing its characteristic streamlined aesthetic. The case is in stainless steel and measures 39.9mm in diameter (large for Nomos but relatively modest for a world-timer), with a galvanized white dial under a domed sapphire crystal. On that dial, two faceted hands indicate the local time while a disk at 3 o’clock shows the time in 24-hour format with a red pointer. A pusher above the crown advances the city ring between the outer track and the dial’s center to reveal the times in the 23 other time zones outside the wearer’s home time. Nomos’ in-house DUW 5201, with a 42-hour power reserve and proprietary “swing system” escapement, ticks inside. 

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer Master Chronometer

Price: $8,900, Reference: 220.12.43.22.03.001, Case Size: 43mm, Case Height: 14.12mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 150 meters, Movement: Automatic Master Chronometer Caliber 8938

Founded in 1848, Omega waited until 2017 to roll out its first world-time complication, appropriately outfitted in the brand’s elegant Aqua Terra collection. The multi-level dial dazzles the eye, with an exterior section of sand-blasted platinum-gold alloy with applied yellow-gold indices and a circle printed with the names of world cities in three distinct colors — red for London, aka GMT 0; black for locations with daylight savings times; and blue for non-DST locales. Bienne, Omega’s Swiss hometown, stands in for Paris at GMT +1. The center of the dial is a sapphire disk with a hand-crafted enamel world map as seen from the North Pole and an outer 24-hour ring in day and night color segments. The case, also in a platinum-gold alloy, is 43 mm in diameter, with a wave-edged exhibition caseback that displays the movement, Omega’s self-winding Caliber 8939, which earns its Master Chronometer certification through its elite level of precision, performance and magnetic resistance as determined by the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS). The original watch was limited to 87 pieces, and followed by a non-limited version in steel, which Teddy reviews here.

Patek Philippe Ref. 5930-001 Self-Winding World Time Flyback Chronograph

Price: $100,538, Reference: 5930P-001, Case Size: 39.5mm, Case Height: 12.86mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic Caliber CH 28-520 HU

Occupying the highest level of complication, and highest ticket price, in our roundup is this elaborately styled timepiece from Patek Philippe, which combines a flyback chronograph with a world-time display. Its inspiration comes from a complicated model from the 1940s but many elements, including its verdant green dial, are decidedly modern. The dial’s combination of finishes includes a hand-guillochéd circular motif in the center, which is surrounded by a world-time ring with two city disks. Printed in green on said disks are the names of 24 cities, one for each of the 24 world time zones. White-gold Dauphine hands reveal the locl time on gold hour markers and the green sundial at 6 o;’clock tallies up to 30 elapsed chronograph minutes.  The gleaming, hand-polished platinum case measures 39.5mm in diameter, with a sapphire exhibition caseback to showcase its movement, Patek’s in-house, self-winding Caliber CH 28-520 HU. The self-winding movement uses a column wheel to drive the chronograph function and incorporates a patented mechanism that uses a single pusher to adjust all the time and date indications simultaneously when the wearer changes time zones.

Tissot Heritage Navigator Automatic 160th Anniversary COSC Certified

Price: $1,650, Reference: 805, Case Size: 39.9mm, Case Height: 10.9mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 30 meters, Movement: Automatic ETA 2893-3

 For its 160th anniversary in 2013, Tissot issued a modernized version of a world-time watch that it debuted in 1953, its centennial year. Its distinctive design uses a stationary bezel with alternating, engraved hour numerals and markers for the local time on a 1-12 scale, and a 24-hour dial, with each of the 24 numerals corresponding to a city name, to indicate the time in every other time zones around the world once the local time has been set. The 43mm case is constructed from 316l stainless steel, with a water resistance of 30 meters, and contains an ETA-based automatic caliber whose golden rotor can be glimpsed behind an exhibition caseback. As is typical of Tissot, the whole travel-friendly package comes in it a very wallet-friendly price, just $1,650. 

Vacheron Constantin Overseas World Time

Price: $36,700,  Reference: 7700V/110A-B172, Case Size: 43.5mm, Case Height: 12.6mm, Lug Width: 21mm, Crystal: Sapphire, Water Resistance: 150 meters, Movement: Automatic Manufacture Caliber 1260 WT/1

Taking its aesthetic cues  — some of them, anyway — from the 1970s’ “222” sport-luxury watch (itself recently revived in a Historiques edition; see here), Vacheron’s Overseas collection has gone upscale with many of its recent additions, including the Overseas World Time, which is the first in that product family equipped with the manufacture’s ultra-complex Caliber 2460WT, which debuted in a Patrimony model in 2011 and was one of the first, and still among very few, that operated a world-time function that could display the time in all 37 world time zones rather than the 24 based around the Greenwich Meridian (GMT). The dial framed by the case’s Maltese-cross-inspired multifaceted bezel features a polar map with satin-sunburst continents and velvet-finished oceans, along with a lacquered city ring. In a unique and inspired take on the traditional day/night indication, a sapphire disk above the globe disk, reveals AM and PM in the various time zones with its smoky, shaded tints. The movement has the gold rotor with the engraved wind rose emblem that serves as both a symbol of the modern Overseas collection and a visual nod to seagoing travel and adventure.