Wristwatch Journal
Modern days mean working in international environments and frequent travelling. As such, what’s certainly the most practical of all complications is the dual-time or GMT watch, which allows displaying two or more time-zones at a glance. Well, this is the easy way… And Glashütte Original doesn’t like to take shortcuts. Their vision of a traveller’s watch is named the Senator Cosmopolite and, despite a relatively simple display, it is one of the most advanced watches of its kind. And today, there’s a new edition coming, with a new Midnight Blue dial, steel case and subtle visual updates to modernize this impressively complex watch.
The “Cosmopolite” concept
There are multiple ways to displays several time-zones on a watch, in order to help travellers. The easiest and most common solution is the central 24-hand (so-called GMT watch) that allows displaying the hours of a second time-zone (not the minutes) and sometimes a third one thanks to a rotating 24-bezel. Some watches apply an equal concept, yet with a sub-counter that can feature independent hours and minutes. Finally, there’s the world-timer watch, which displays a world map and a 24-hour city ring to have the time of major time-zones at a glance. And there’s Glashütte Original’s “Cosmopolite” concept, a clever hybrid that mixes the simple display of a GMT watch and the flexibility of a world-timer.
The magic of the Senator Cosmopolite lies in this capacity of displaying the time in no fewer than 35 time-zones without needing to decipher the time on a complex and cluttered dial with a world map. The movement allows displaying the time of day in two time zones at once, freeing the wearer from the need to calculate the time difference. A time zone ring offers a choice of all 35 world time zones currently in use, each of them displayed using an official IATA location code representing an international airport in the relevant time zone.
In addition to the usual 24 time-zones that are offset from Greenwich Mean Time by a full hour (represented by an IATA code in white), the Senator Cosmopolite also includes eight time zones with half-hour offsets and the three time-zones with three-quarter hour offsets, all indicated by an IATA code in light blue. The two windows at 8 o’clock allow the wearer to set summer time (Daylight Saving Time – DST) and standard time (Standard Time – STD), and day/night indicators for both home and destination (local time) can be read at a glance.
And while this description seems complex at first, the beauty of this watch is in a display that remains relatively simple regarding what’s ‘under the hood’. Central hours for the local time, a sub-dial at 12 o’clock for the home time, the two city apertures and day/night indicators and voila… You can read and adjust easily the time for every single time-zone around the globe.
Finally, setting the watch is equally simple. The crown at 2 o’clock allows you to set the home time and wind the watch. The crown at 8 o’clock allows you to set the city corresponding to the local time in the DST or STD window. When travelling, the adjustment of the local time is made with the 4 o’clock crown: the central hour and minute hands shift forwards or back in 15-minute steps. A corrector at 9 o’clock lets you set the date.
And to end up with this display, the Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite also incorporates a small second at 6 o’clock, a discreet power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock and the brand’s signature Panorama Date function. And yet, it remains legible, clear and intuitive.
The new Senator Cosmopolite Midnight Blue
First introduced in 2015 in white gold or red gold, the Senator Cosmopolite was updated in 2018 with a stainless edition, including a redesigned silvery-white dial, more modern numerals and blued accents on the dial. Today, we have a fourth edition of the watch, which retains its stainless steel case and adds a modern, handsome blue dial with a redesigned layout… A more casual and slightly sportier version.
Despite its new attire, the case of this blue edition of the Senator Cosmopolite remains equal to all other versions, meaning a rather imposing 44mm diameter and 14mm height. Due to the complexity of the movement and its multiple indications, the case needed to be larger than a PanoMaticLunar for instance. Yet, its shape remains ergonomic and the lugs are short and positioned low, allowing for a watch that feels more compact once strapped than expected. The case is here stainless steel, with polished surfaces on top (bezel and lugs) and brushed finishing on the caseband. The triple-crown architecture is also bold but adds a certain charm to this complex piece.
The main novelty in this edition comes both from the colour of the dial but also its layout. First, the base plate is galvanized blue, a process often used by Glashütte Original that results in lively metallic colours. The midnight blue attire gives more casual and modern looks to this edition, which is also visible in other elements of the dial. Indeed, replacing the usually blued spade and whip hands (used on the gold editions and the previous steel model) are some sword-shaped filled with Super-LumiNova. The applied indexes that mark the hours follow the same style and are now simpler batons (again luminous), in lieu of Roman or Arabic numerals. This combination makes the watch sleeker and also more legible, day and night.
Powering this edition is a powerful and complicated in-house movement, calibre 89-02. From the back, it gathers all the classical elements of a German engine, with a 3/4 plate, a 3/4 off-centred automatic rotor, thin stripes, blued screws and gold chatons. It also includes the brand’s handsome duplex swan-neck regulator for fine adjustment of the beat and the rate of the movement – with a cock that is hand-engraved. The finishing of this 72-hour power reserve movement is impeccable, with bevelled and polished edges, polished steel parts, polished blued screws and a skeletonized rotor with 21-ct gold oscillation weight. And the movement is oversized and fills the large case perfectly.
Strap, availability & Price
This new edition is delivered on a blue Louisiana alligator leather strap, with choice of pin buckle or fold fastener. A stainless steel bracelet with an 8-step fine adjustment mechanism is also available.
The new Glashütte Original Senator Cosmopolite Midnight Blue will be available from all Glashütte Original Boutiques and selected retailers as of July 2020. Its price will be EUR 20,700.
More details at www.glashuette-original.com.
