Today we live as global citizens of the world, with our fates and lives very much intertwined, thanks to the various technologies and systems that power international exchange. One individual who played no small part in envisioning and weaving the threads of our interconnected world today is 19th century master watchmaker Moritz Grossmann from Glashütte Germany. A man ahead of his time, he advocated a universal standard time based on the meridian and penned a seminal essay in 1884 entitled “Universal Time and the Introduction to Civilian Life”. Grossmann was a champion of universal time to the day he died — quite literally. He passed away shortly just after delivering a lecture on the subject at the Polytechnic Society in Leipzig.

Grossmann did not see universal time established in his lifetime, but this is being corrected in a manner of speaking. Grossmann Uhren GmbH, founded to convey the ideals and philosophy of Moritz Grossmann in timepieces of the highest quality and craftsmanship, is celebrating its partnership with Sincere Fine Watches with the launch of a visually stunning and unique time zone watch befitting the grandmaster from Glashütte.

While most time zone watches rely on numerous hands, bezels and cities disc to display multiple time zones, Moritz Grossmann has adopted a far simpler and more intuitive format that is most elegant in its execution. Aptly named Universalzeit, Moritz Grossmann’s latest release presents an exquisitely crafted dial featuring a world map with six windows precisely aligned to six cities, displaying the correct hour from 1 to 24 in each. Along with local time indicated by the hour hand, it offers world time literally at a glance, across six different time zones (make that seven, if local time differs from the six designated cities).

A galvanized blue dial with sunray finish denotes the oceans, perfect in its depiction from the way sunray finish plays with the light, yet subtle enough that it robs nothing of the limelight from the principal: namely the continents, here rendered in a most fetching salmon pink. Six windows tell the hour at six cities on the map, namely Phoenix, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, Dubai, Tokyo and of course, Singapore, the home city of Sincere Fine Watches. These are complemented by flat polished central minute hand that indicates the minutes for all time zones, an hour hand that serves the hour for local time, and one of the slimmest seconds hand we’ve seen, a mere sliver of light to tell us the watch is running. All the hands are manually crafted, as are the faceted hour markers.

While a conventional three-hand watch with date will have a numbers wheel underneath the dial painted with a single ring of numbers from 1 to 31 to denote date, the Universalzeit is painted with six rings of numbers ranging from 1 to 24 for the hours. It is attached to a ratchet wheel with 24 teeth, that moves one position on the hour, each time the minute hand passes 12.

Operating the Universalzeit proves remarkably intuitive as well. Time is set continuously via the crown at three o’clock, with the hours in the windows jumping accordingly backward or forward on the hour. Another feature that is especially convenient for the frequent traveler is the ability to adjust the local hour in discrete one-hour steps by operating the pusher at 10 o’clock, independently of the hours in the windowed time zones. In actual use, it will be a breeze for the globetrotter to set local time whether eastward or other westward bound, without affecting the window time display for the designated cities.

Driving all this is the in-house developed manual wind caliber 100.7, beating at 2.5Hz, with a power reserve of 42 hours. All movement components are finished by hand, including the delicate hand-engraved floral pattern on the balance and escape wheel cock, and lettering on the wheel bridge. These details and the traditional finishes on the plates, ratchet wheel which exemplify the best of Glashütte watchmaking, are visible through the display caseback.

IMHO

The Universalzeit weaves together two threads in Moritz Grossman’s legacy — firstly in displaying seven UTC time zones, a part of the future that Grossmann envisioned; and secondly in expressing Glashütte’s distinctive watchmaking traditions to the highest level. Indeed, the exquisite detailing and craftsmanship on display rival that of its famous Glashütte neighbors as well as top Swiss watchmaking houses. But beyond drawing from its storied past and the legacy of its namesake, the manufacture is also looking at the present and towards the future with this exceptional timepiece for the modern world traveler. And to launch the Universalzeit, Moritz Grossmann and Sincere Fine Watches could hardly have picked a more international global city than Singapore.

To celebrate its partnership with Singapore-based retailer Sincere Fine Watches, the Moritz Grossmann Universalzeit will be launched from Singapore and made exclusively available through Sincere Fine Watches from February 23 to March 23, 2022. Viewings via appointment only at Sincere Fine Watches.

Tech Specs

Moritz Grossmann Universalzeit, Ref: MG-003072

Movement: Manual winding caliber 100.7; 42-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, and six additional time zones
Case: 44.5mm; stainless steel
Dial: Solid silver, windows with rhodium-plated bevels; steel hour markers
Strap: Hand-stitched alligator leather; steel pin buckle
Price: SGD 76,500

More information: sincere.com.sg