Patek Philippe

World Time (Enamel Dial)

Name: Patek Philippe World Time (Enamel Dial)
Brand: Patek Philippe
SKU: 5131J-001
Availability: PreOrder

Ref. 5131J-001

On requestSourced to order

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Case39.5mm 18k yellow gold

DialSilver enamel

Movementcal. 240 HU

ComplicationWorld time

StrapYellow gold

Year2011

Patek Philippe’s World Time descends from Louis Cottier’s 1930s mechanism showing all twenty four zones at once. No complication is more associated with the house.

Patek Philippe's World Time presented in 39.5mm 18k yellow gold with a world time display, finished with a silver enamel display. The cal. 240 HU movement drives it.

Fun fact: The world time mechanism on the dial was invented by Louis Cottier in the 1930s, a Geneva watchmaker Patek worked with directly. Twenty four cities rotate against a central hour disc, all set from a single pusher.

A world map in cloisonné enamel

Reference5131J-001, World Time in yellow gold

Case39.5mm 18k yellow gold, Patek Philippe signature engraved on the bezel, not printed on the dial

MovementCalibre 240 HU, self-winding 22k gold micro rotor, 48 hours maximum (Patek specifies a 38 hour minimum)

Introduced2008. In 2019 Patek launched the 38.5mm 5231J, which took over the enamel world timer in the collection, and the 5131 was discontinued thereafter

Why this one matters

Patek's world timers descend from Louis Cottier, the Geneva watchmaker whose system let one dial carry 24 time zones at once. The references built on it before and after the war, 1415 and 2523 among them, are some of the most valuable Patek wristwatches at auction. The house brought the complication back in 2000 with ref 5110 and its single pusher at 10 o'clock.

The 5130 followed in 2006 with a 39.5mm case. In 2008 the 5131J took that case and replaced the guilloché centre with a cloisonné enamel map, gold wires bent into cells and filled with enamel that is fired again and again. Because the dial is enamel, nothing is printed on it, and the Patek Philippe signature is engraved on the bezel instead.

The movement

Calibre 240 HU joins Patek's slim 240 automatic, in production since 1977 and wound by an off centre 22k gold micro rotor, to Cottier's world time module. It runs at 3Hz, with a power reserve Patek gives as 38 hours minimum and 48 hours maximum. The pusher at 10 does all the work: each press moves the hour hand one step and turns the city ring and the 24 hour ring with it, so every zone stays correct and the watch is never stopped.

On the wrist

39.5mm in yellow gold and a little over 10mm thick, so it sits under a cuff without argument. This is a dial first watch: the enamel shifts with the light, warmer under a lamp, cooler in daylight, and the gold wires only show properly up close. To many eyes the yellow gold sits closest to the warm palette of the map.

Questions we are asked about this reference

Why is there no Patek Philippe name on the dial?

The dial is enamel from edge to centre, and printing on it would spoil the surface. Patek engraved the signature on the bezel of the 5131 instead. Later enamel world timers handle it differently, so the engraved bezel is specific to this generation.

How do you use it when travelling?

Press the pusher at 10 until the city you have landed in sits at 12. The hour hand, the city ring and the day and night ring advance together, the minutes are untouched, and the watch keeps running throughout.

How does it compare with the 5231J that replaced it?

The 5231J came in 2019 in a smaller 38.5mm case with faceted lugs, a plain bezel and a revised city ring, running the same calibre 240 HU. The 5131 is the 39.5mm generation, and the first series-produced cloisonné enamel world timer of the modern era.

World Time

All 24 time zones on one dial, a Patek complication since the 1930s

Patek Philippe has made world time watches since the 1930s, built on the mechanism the Swiss watchmaker Louis Cottier devised in 1931 to show all 24 zones on a single dial. A city ring names one place per zone, a 24 hour ring inside it separates day from night, and the central hands read the time for whichever city sits at 12. A single pusher at 10 o'clock selects the city and its time zone. The family today runs from time only models at 36 mm through the 5330G, which indexes the date to local time, to the 5935A flyback chronograph in steel.

city ring, one name per zone

24 hour ring for day and night

single pusher at 10 o'clock

hand guilloched dial centre

Sizes in the family

36 mm to 40 mm, with the flyback chronograph at 41 mm

Who it suits

For the buyer who crosses time zones often and wants all of them readable on the dial rather than counted off a bezel.

See every World Time we have