Launched in 2015, the Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite is perhaps the most completely equipped travel watch on the market. Not only can it track 36 time zones, including the 13 that differ in half and quarter hours, but it also comes with a Daylight Savings Time function – an esoteric yet necessary feature that ought to exist in any travel watch. And despite the surfeit of information it can read, the watch retains a remarkably minimalist dial with a monochromatic palette. Indeed, at a glance one would be hard-pressed to know it’s a proper world time watch.

While it was previously available only in white or red gold, with the commensurate price tags, Glashütte Original has just unveiled the stainless steel version ahead of Baselworld 2018. The new Senator Cosmopolite is decidedly less formal in appearance, perhaps even more functional, featuring dark blue Arabic numerals instead of Romans over a matte white lacquered dial that also has a simplified minute track.

The case remains the same 44mm in diameter and 14mm in height. And so does the movement and functions. Local time is displayed with the central hands while home time is indicated in the subdial at 12 o’clock. A tiny aperture in the subdial shows the day or night at home while a power reserve indicator charts the movement’s 72 hour power reserve.

While a ordinary world time watch can only handle the 24 common time zones that are offset by one hour, the Senator Cosmopolite includes all of the world’s 36 time zones, each indicated by the three-letter official IATA location code that refers to the international airport in the zone.”BKK” is short for Bangkok and “PEK”, Beijing.

The 24 time zones offset by an hour are indicated in a black font, the nine time zones with half-hour offsets are in blue, while the remaining three are in red, allowing one to identify the offset from GMT at a glance.

The watch is straightforward and simple to operate: home time is set via the crown at two o’clock while local time is selected using the crown at eight. Local time can be adjusted in 15-minute steps using the crown at four o’clock, with the world time discs at eight o’clock moving in sync with the time setting. As the local time changes, the corresponding change of date is also reflected in the brand’s signature outsized date display. The day and night display at nine similar moves with the local time zone.

The caseback reveals the automatic cal. 89-02 with the large off-centre, gold-rimmed rotor over the three-quarter plate. Finished in typical Glashütte Original style, the movement features Glashütte ribbing, a hand-engraved balance cock and double swan neck regulators.

Price and Availability

The Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite in stainless steel is priced at €21,000 or S$32,700, or about half of what the 18k gold versions cost.