Tackling The Brilliantly Practical Porsche Design Globetimer

On the occasion of Porsche launching the 911 992.2 Hybrid, Porsche Design introduced a new watch collection to its custom-built program. Mechanically based on the previous generation of the Globetimer, Porsche Design now puts it in the titanium case of the chronograph. Made to order, and with tons of custom options on offer, you can go either sleek and stealthy or add a bit bolder colours, tying the watch to your car if you want. Whichever direction you go in, the fact of the matter is the Porsche Design Globetimer is still one of the most practical Worldtimer watches on the market.

Prior to this new iteration of the Globetimer, it was part of the 1919 collection. This range is known for its unique and rather pleasing case construction and comes in a variety of styles. We quite love this range of watches, and more specifically the Globetimer, for its sleek fit and finish, but above all, the hassle-free travel complication it offers. With this new generation, Porsche Design sets it apart from the 1919 collection and adds it to the custom-built program where you can design a watch with multiple bespoke options, and the potential to match it to your car.

It all starts with a titanium case, a material deeply rooted in Porsche Design’s history. The new Globetimer uses the same exterior housing as the Chronograph (not the Chronograph 1, mind you!), which can come in a glass bead-blasted finish or a black titanium-carbide coating. In terms of dimensions, we’re talking about 42mm in width, with a height of 14.68mm. This makes it quite a sizeable watch, but ergonomics is a fundamental element in Porsche Design’s products, and it shows. At no point does it feel overly large or unbalanced. The screw-down crown is flanked by a pair of pushers, previously used for the chronograph function but now used to move the local hour hand forward or backwards (more or that in a bit).

The dial relies on the same base design as the previous 1919 Globetimer models. Centrally mounted hands indicate the hours, minutes and seconds, as well as the date and a second timezone on the outer 24-hour scale bezel. Again, you have a choice of glass bead-blasted titanium or a black titanium-carbide coating and if you don’t want the 24-hour scale there’s also a tachymeter scale available. Bit of a weird one on a non-chronograph, but ok. In addition to the five central hands, there’s also a day/night indicator at 9 o’clock. The dial shows a lot of depth thanks to its multiple levels, and its outer-most ring can be finished in a whole range of official Porsche paint colours, or a Paint-to-Sample tone. Our version came with a Vanadium Grey ring, black rhodium-plated ‘Performance’ hands and a white central seconds hand, but you can mix and match whatever you want.

Underneath the solid caseback engraved with the world’s timezones, Porsche Design installs its WERK 04.110, which is a modular movement using an automatic Sellita SW200 base calibre and a world timer module by Dubois-Depraz. This runs at a rate of 28.800vph and offers 38 hours of running time. More importantly, thanks to the special module on top, it becomes a genuinely practical world timer. The + and – pushers adjust the local hour hand in one-hour steps in both directions, with the date pointer and day/night indication moving forward or backwards in conjunction. This makes it super easy to adjust to wherever you touch down for business or pleasure, and check the time of day back home should you want to call or text.

Just as with other watches by Porsche Design, the new Globetimer comes on a leather strap made of the same material as the car interiors. This too can be ordered in a range of colours, even down to its stitching. Ours had a Vanadium Grey leather strap (as well as two black ones) with black titanium carbide-coated hardware, for instance, perfectly matching the 992.2 generation Porsche 911 Cabriolet we had for a day or two. Additional straps can be ordered of course, and there’s also a full-titanium bracelet with optional black titanium-carbide coating. The base price of the Porsche Design Globetimer is set at EUR 5.950, but options can push this price up quite substantially (the downside of personalisation).

For more information, or to configure and order your own, please visit PorscheDesign.com.