Even if this Hora Mundi were not a one-off, created by Breguet for Only Watch, it would still be a collector’s dream, simply because it is the most brilliant dual-time watch of recent years. While not a new invention (its ancestor, Ref. 3700, was introduced in 1996), through constant revisits and ever more perfected modules, it has achieved a rare degree of maturity.
Extreme simplicity
The many circuitous explanations of what this watch does run counter to its inherent simplicity. The Hora Mundi displays, on demand, the time in either of two time zones. Imagine, for example, that the user chooses London as one time zone and Hong Kong as the other. A press on the pusher at 8 o’clock enables them to go back and forth between the two, at their convenience. No more city disc to rotate, no additional hour hand, no more multiple apertures, and no mental arithmetic required.
Embedded intelligence
It seems so simple as to be obvious. Breguet has relieved the user of the various calculations, conversions and multiple adjustments by the crown implied when switching between time zones, letting the movement do the work instead. The Hora Mundi isn’t “smart”; it is intelligent, connected not to a virtual reality but tradition. Reference 5557 in the current collection, now 5555, a “unique piece” for Only Watch, is a renewed opportunity for the Manufacture to demonstrate its artistic talents. Taking advantage of the auction’s location in Monaco, Ref. 5555 Only Watch plays its ocean theme to the full. The “wave” pattern that washes over the dial is highlighted in an invigorating sea-blue. Each hour numeral is paired with a luminescent red insert. Red luminescent material is repeated on the hour and minute hands, as well as on the anchor at 6 o’clock that marks the reference city for the current time zone. A tip of the hat to the Association Monégasque Contre les Myopathies, the charity behind Only Watch, Paris is replaced by the principality of Monaco, also highlighted in red.
Precision mapping
Also new is the treatment of the continents, in midnight blue on a sapphire plate. Clusters of gold dots recreate the Earth viewed at night from space. Breguet has chosen an azimuthal equal-area projection: the equator is at the centre of the dial, forming an imaginary midline between 9 and 3 o’clock.
The depiction of the continents is that of a Gall–Peters projection, James Gall (1808-1895) being a contemporary of Abraham-Louis Breguet. The advantage of this projection is to retain the correct proportions of the continents, whereas the more common Mercator projection enlarges their size the further they are from the equator. One final detail is the lightly blurred (brouillé) finish for the date. An updated version of a traditional decoration in watchmaking, it creates an effect that is both matte and shiny. This is reflected in the alternating polished and satin finishes of the 44mm case in rose gold.
