Porsche Design (PD) is an interesting a unique company. It was created in 1972 by F.A. Porsche who had created the legendary Porsche 911. The point of Porsche Design is to bring the same iconic and unique designs to other aspects of life. As a watch brand, Porsche Design is famous for having created some of the first titanium watches in the 1980s (in collaboration with IWC).
What I like about Porsche Design is their consistent use of color and design elements and look and feel. If you have ever been to one of their many boutiques you can easily appreciate my point. Just spend some time looking at the belts, bags, and wallets before even seeing the watches. You will notice a contemporary feel for all of their products. They all resemble each other while being functional and exulting quality. This is not unlike the consistent look and feel that the Porsche brand has had over the year and of its most important product: the Porsche 911.
While I don’t own any Porsche Design watches (yet) I have for the past three years stopped by their booth in Baselworld to appreciate the new releases. Last year’s chronograph with integrated pushers was a hit and this year, they did not disappoint with what I believe is another one: the UTC 1919. This is not another UTC or GMT watch, but instead a somewhat fresh take on the popular and useful complication that I believe will charm many world travelers. Let’s take a closer look.
Globetimer UTC 1919
Porsche Design watches have a unique look to them. It’s not only that they are created in titanium which gives watches a certain tone down metallic shine, it’s also the dial and case design. For the UTC 1919 you can clearly see that PD wanted to not deviate much from that classic look, yet also offer a “unique” complication.
Unlike other UTC or GMT watches, for example the Rolex GMT Master II which requires manipulation of the crown and the bezel to set the second timezone. Though this is not a small watch At 42 mm in diameter and almost 15 mm in height with a generous lug to lug at above 55 mm due to the long lugs, Porsche Design did create a watch that is relatively easy to wear (due to its lightweight titanium construction) as it is to operate.
The case includes two pushers “+” and “-“: 2 o’clock and 4 o’clock, similarly found on chronograph watches. But instead of activating a counter for time, these are used to increase and decrease the hour hand one hour at a time.
The rationale is that as the user travels and arrives at their destination, they simply need to advance, press the “+” pusher (when traveling east) and reduce, press the “-“ pusher (when traveling west) one hour at a time. The number of presses matching the number of timezones they have flown over. To keep track of AM and PM, the dial includes a small whole at 8 o’clock that will transition to white for day and black for night.
To keep track of the home time, the watch includes a third hand with an arrow tip that points to the 24 hours graduation around the dial. This is similar to many other GMT watches. This GMT hand is called the home time since it always points to the time at home and gives the user information about the time at home in case they wanted to call or to get a reference for their jet lag.
Werk 04.110 Movement
To execute the UTC 1919, Porsche Design created (in collaboration with Dubois-Depraz) a proprietary “in house” module for the Sellita SW 200 base movement resulting in the WERK 04.110 caliber that is COSC certified and has 38 hours of power reserve. Interestingly, there are two noteworthy features that one should mention about this module. First the pushers can be used at any time without risk of causing damage to the movement. So whether it is 11:59 AM or PM and you just landed to your destination, you can adjust the time without any worries.
The second feature is that Porsche Design went above and beyond in guaranteeing the the pushers usages by testing them with over 10,000 presses. This is far beyond what these would typically experience even for the most ardent of travelers. However, that’s also part of what makes PD watches similar to the vehicles with the same name. They are design to last not only in design looks but also in operation.
Competitors
While I could not think of direct competitors in the same price range to the Porsche Design 1919. That is a UTC or GMT watch that includes two pushers for advancing the time quickly. There is at least one with such a mechanism (priced much higher) and many with a single pusher to circle through the time.
Patek Philippe’s Aquanaut Travel Time and Nautilus Travel Time Chronograph watches (references 5164A and 5990/1A respectively) offer a similar pusher and also dial indicator. Naturally both of these Patek watches are way beyond the price point of the Porsche Design offerings which starts at $6,350. The Aquanaut is above $35,000 and Nautilus goes for over $55,000 but also includes a chronograph. That’s also if you can even find any of these two steel Pateks at any retailer for purchase. Even the gold UTC 1919 is priced at half the price of the Aquanaut Travel Time.
There are a variety of GMT / Worldtimer watches from some brands that have also used pushers to easily advanced the hour hand. Most only have one pusher and you need to circle through 24 hours to get the correct time if you happen to miss it the first time. My NOMOS Tangomat GMT that I reviewed in 2018 is one such watch and so is the NOMOS Zurich world time.
Porsche Design continues to impress me with their releases. The classic look and feel remains and every year they seem to add one simple complication or feature that adds value but does not distract from their overall ethos. The UTC 1919 is one such release.
By including two pushers Porsche Design created a watch for the jet setter that needs to quickly adjust their watch during their many stops during their travels. Few other watches offer anything close for this price point so this can be a differentiator for the design-heavy brand.
With a variety of dial colors and straps and a bracelet option, you can find Porsche Design UTC 1919 that matches your taste at their online store or at their many boutiques around the world. porsche-design.us
One of the winners in the 2019 GPHG awards in the first week of November was a two year old upstart watch brand from Kuala Lumpur named MING Watches. The young brand won best watch in the Challenge category at the Geneva show to the delight of its founder and watch aficionados who have regularly helped sell out the brand’s 11 prior releases since its debut of the 17.01 watch.
MING watches are not limited per we but are produced in small batches of a few hundreds, which in effect make them limited. A quick perusal to their web site shows that all models, except for the two new 2019 models have sold out. Interestingly the new models are also priced much higher than the previous ones. However, before getting ahead of ourselves, how does one go about seeing or trying on a MING watch?