The New Byrne Star Worldtimer with a Time Flow Indication

Byrne is an independent watchmaker that debuted in 2021 and is known for its original design and playful dial animations featuring customisable, changing indices. At the heart of its innovation is the Gyro Dial complication, which allows the cuboid indices at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock to rotate instantly at midnight or on demand with a simple crown twist. Now, the indie brand builds on this concept with the new Byrne Star, introducing a fresh take on the worldtimer complication. We have yet to experience the watch firsthand to explore the details, yet here’s what we know now.

The new Byrne Star is presented in a grade 5 polished titanium 38mm case with a hollowed midsection, which appears sandblasted. The case is 11.4mm thick, provides 50m water resistance and has sapphire crystals front and back. The crown is at 3 o’clock; there is likely a pusher for the time zone selector; perhaps it is positioned on the left side of the case, which the available images do not show.

The signature Gyro dial remains; it is divided into four sections by the rotating cubes at cardinal positions, with the central part as a time zone locations disc. The space between the cubes looks sunray brushed, and the screw-head-like indices mark the hours not indicated by cubes.

The cubes in this new model are part of the “Time Flow” complication, each bearing four location names. Do not let the 3-6-9-12 position of the cubes confuse you; it has nothing to do with the hours at the location shown.

The 12 o’clock cube is for Hanoi, Paris, Rome and New York; the one at 3 o’clock is marked Male, Tokyo, Baku and Rio; the 6 o’clock is for Taipei, Hong Kong, Oslo, Bern and finally, the 9 o’clock is for Doha, Sydney, Noumea and Dubai. The cubes provide the time of the day indication at the location that is face up, like a day/night indicator – morning, noon, evening, and night, with coloured backgrounds to help differentiate: blue for the early morning, turquoise for the noon, dark blue for the evening and starry sky for the night. 

The 12-hour worldtime central disk has an outer ring with locations spaced by a 2-hour difference, London, Athens, Abu Dhabi, Dhaka, Macau and Brisbane, and the middle with the arrangement of Midway, Juneau, La Paz, Havana, Brasilia, and Azores following the same principle, with Brisbane and Midway in gold to show the reading sequence. The skeletonised yellow gold hour and minutes hands indicate the passing time. For hours around the globe, consult the locations disc in the order suggested by design and refresh your geography and time zone indicative cities that fall between the 2-hour spacing.

The new Byrne Star is powered by the manually wound Caliber 5558 with a 66-hour power reserve. It comprises 274 components and operates at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations/hour. The watch is offered with a blue alligator leather strap closed with a pin buckle, and a folding clasp is optional. The price is CHF 32,500 (ex. VAT). 

As said, we’ll surely come back on this watch once we have had the chance to see it in the metal, to fully understand how it works. For more details, visit byrnewatch.com.