FLOAT 100 · Watches · No. 35
Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 5230
When Moscow moved one hour closer to London, Patek Philippe redrew its famous 24-city travel watch, and the result, a slim gold watch built on a 1930s Geneva invention, became the canvas for a decade of city tributes, from the Manhattan skyline to Ed Sheeran's hometown.
- Year
- 2016-present
- Maker
- Patek Philippe
- By price in watches
- 47 of 100
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Create a free account- Maker
- Patek Philippe, Geneva
- Introduced
- Basel fair, 2016, replacing all of the maker's previous World Time models
- Main versions
- 5230R in rose gold and 5230G in white gold (2016); 5230P-001 in platinum with a blue dial (2022)
- What it does
- Shows the time in all 24 time zones at once, with a pusher at 10 o'clock that moves the local time and city ring together
- Case
- 38.5 mm by 10.23 mm, water resistant to 30 meters
- Movement
- Caliber 240 HU, self-winding with a 22K gold micro-rotor, 3.88 mm thick
- Price at launch
- CHF 42,300
- Invention behind it
- Louis Cottier's world time mechanism of the 1930s, later refined and patented by Patek Philippe
- Special editions
- At least ten city or country editions, including 300 'New York' watches in 2017
A Geneva father and son and a map of the hours
The world time watch began in Carouge, Geneva. In 1885 the watchmaker Emmanuel Cottier presented a concept he called 'heures universelles' to the Société des Arts in Geneva and filed for a patent. It drew little interest, and he never built a working version. His son Louis, born that same year, took up the idea. In 1931, at 46, he developed a working mechanism and filed a patent: an inner dial with the hands, a 24-hour ring turning the opposite way, and a ring of city names, so that each city lines up with its current hour.
Cottier offered his invention to the leading Geneva houses. Patek Philippe, run since 1932 by the brothers Charles and Jean Stern, took it up. In 1937 Patek made the 605 HU pocket watch and three experimental wristwatches; the first serially produced world time wristwatch, the ref. 1415, followed in 1939 and ran until 1954. Watches were sent to Cottier unassembled, and he fitted the world time module and, by tradition, cut the hands himself. In 1950 he added a second crown to turn the city ring, which led to the ref. 2523 from 1953.
Patek made no new world time models from 1965 until the 2000s. The modern line began in 2000 with the ref. 5110, the first fitted with the maker's mechanism patented in 1999: one press of a pusher at 10 o'clock advances the hour hand and turns the city disc and 24-hour ring together. The 5130 replaced it in 2006, bringing back Cottier's ringed hour hand.
2016: redrawn because the world changed
Patek Philippe introduced the ref. 5230 at the Basel fair in 2016 with an unusual explanation: the map had moved. Moscow had shifted from UTC+4 to UTC+3, and some time zones were now better known by other cities, such as Dubai instead of Riyadh and Brisbane instead of Noumea. The maker said it was discontinuing its earlier world time watches and launching the 5230 with updated city names, replacing all previous models.
It used the change to redesign the watch. Under Sandrine Stern, the president's wife, the design department gave the Calatrava case winglet-style lugs and a narrow polished bezel. The ringed hour hand and Dauphine minute hand were replaced by a pierced hour hand whose outline evokes the Southern Cross constellation and a lozenge-shaped minute hand, both in the same gold as the case.
The black dial center is hand-guilloched in a woven basket pattern taken from a pocket watch in the Patek Philippe Museum, cut on a manually operated rose engine the maker says is nearly 100 years old. The 5230 launched in rose gold with a brown strap and white gold with a black strap, priced at CHF 42,300.
How it works and how to read one
The local time is shown by the hands for the city under the small red arrow at 12 o'clock. The other 23 zones are read on the 24-hour ring, which turns counterclockwise inside the city disc, with day and night colors and sun and moon symbols. When the wearer flies into a new zone, each press of the 10 o'clock pusher moves the hour hand forward one hour and steps both rings. The mechanism is uncoupled from the movement during the jump, so the minutes and the balance keep running undisturbed.
Inside is the caliber 240 HU, an ultra-thin self-winding movement only 3.88 mm thick. Its solid 22K gold micro-rotor, based on a design patented in 1977, sits within the level of the bridges. The maker lists 239 parts, a power reserve of at least 48 hours, a Spiromax balance spring and a rate within -3 to +2 seconds a day. Its technical sheet gives 33 jewels, while the same release mentions '10 of the 35 ruby jewels', an inconsistency the maker did not resolve.
In 2022 the maker retired the 5230R-012 and 5230G-014 and introduced the 5230P-001, which for the first time paired a platinum case with a blue dial, and a new hand-guilloched circular pattern inspired by the ref. 5110. Like the 5110, 5130 and 5230 before it, the 2024 World Time with Date ref. 5330G uses the 10 o'clock pusher. A check of the maker's online collection on October 1, 2026 listed the 5330G and other world time models but no 5230.
One watch, many cities
With 24 city names on its dial, the 5230 became the maker's favorite way to salute a place. For the Art of Watches Grand Exhibition in New York in 2017, Patek made 300 examples of the 5230G with a relief image of the Manhattan skyline on the dial, sold only in the United States at $53,299 each.
More followed. Editions for retailers' anniversaries put Bogotá in red on the city ring in 2018 (ten in rose gold and ten in white gold), Rome in 2019 (25 pieces), Liverpool in pink in 2018 (50 pieces) and Taipei (50 pieces). There were editions for Bahrain in 2017, with Manama replacing Moscow; for Mexico in 2019 (40 pieces in white gold); for Shanghai in 2022 (25 pieces), the only city edition in platinum; for Doha in 2020 (150 pieces); and for Kuwait.
The most personal is a unique 5230G made for the singer Ed Sheeran, with his hometown of Framlingham in place of London and a pale blue dial never before seen on a World Time.
The vintage shadow
The modern World Time lives beside some of the most valuable watches the maker has produced. A rare 1954 ref. 2523/1 sold for $2.5 million at auction in May 2016, the year the 5230 was introduced. A platinum ref. 1415 with a silver dial sold for CHF 6.6 million in April 2002, and only eight enamel-dial 1415s had appeared at auction by 2017.
Gianni Agnelli, the head of Fiat, famously wore his 1415 over his shirt cuff. By one count there have been 17 world time wristwatch generations at Patek Philippe across more than 80 years, and the 5230 stands in that line as the version that carried Cottier's design into the era of shifting time zones.
The 5230 itself is a modern production watch, not a rarity, but the special editions are made in small numbers. To identify the standard model, look for the winglet lugs, the Southern Cross hour hand and the woven guilloché center inside the 24-hour ring.
The numbers
- Reference
- 5230R (rose gold), 5230G (white gold), 5230P-001 (platinum, from 2022), plus limited and unique city editions
- Caliber
- 240 HU, self-winding, 22K gold micro-rotor, 27.50 mm by 3.88 mm, 239 parts, min. 48 hours, 3 Hz, Spiromax, Patek Philippe Seal
- Case
- 38.5 mm by 10.23 mm, 18K gold or platinum, sapphire case back, 30 m water resistance
- Production
- From 2016; total undisclosed. The 5230R-012 and 5230G-014 were discontinued in 2022; no 5230 was listed in the maker's online collection in October 2026
Timeline
Emmanuel Cottier presents his 'heures universelles' concept in Geneva; his son Louis is born the same year.
Louis Cottier develops a working world time mechanism and files a patent.
Patek Philippe makes the 605 HU world time pocket watch and three experimental world time wristwatches.
The ref. 1415, the first serially produced Patek world time wristwatch, begins production.
Cottier creates a two-crown world timer that lets the wearer change the reference city.
The two-crown ref. 2523 enters production.
Patek stops making new world time models until the 2000s.
Patek patents its one-push world time correction mechanism.
The ref. 5110 revives the world time line with the new pusher at 10 o'clock.
The ref. 5130 replaces the 5110.
The ref. 5230 is introduced at the Basel fair in rose and white gold, replacing all earlier world time models.
300 'New York' 5230G watches with a Manhattan skyline dial are released in the United States at $53,299.
Limited editions for Bogotá and Liverpool follow.
Rome and Mexico editions are made.
A Doha edition of 150 pieces is produced.
The 5230R-012 and 5230G-014 are discontinued and the platinum 5230P-001 with blue dial is introduced; a 25-piece platinum Shanghai edition marks ten years of the maker's Shanghai salon.
The World Time with Date ref. 5330G-001 enters regular production.
The world in 2016
The World Health Organization announces an outbreak of the Zika virus.
The Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents on offshore finance, are published.
The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union.
A faction of the Turkish Armed Forces stages an unsuccessful coup.
The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro, the first held in South America.
Donald Trump is elected the 45th president of the United States.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $53,299 | Asking price, not a saleU.S. retail price of the 5230G 'New York' limited edition of 300. |
| Mar 2022 | $53,820 | Asking price, not a saleReported U.S. retail price of the white gold 5230G-001. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, Patek Philippe World Time Ref. 5230 is number 47 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (35 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- The 5230 exists because of geopolitics: Moscow's move from UTC+4 to UTC+3 forced a new city ring.
- The hour hand's pierced outline is modeled on the Southern Cross constellation.
- Louis Cottier was born in 1885, the same year his father presented the world time idea that Louis would make work.
- The basket-weave guilloché in the center of the dial is cut on a hand-operated rose engine that the maker says is almost 100 years old.
- Patek's world time watches have never shown daylight saving time, so in summer the wearer has to account for it.
- Ed Sheeran's unique 5230G replaces London with Framlingham, his hometown.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026