The world time watches were first introduced by Louis Cottier in the, the famous independent Swiss watchmaker of the 1930s and 1940s. Cottier's world time watches displayed the time in all of the world's 24 time zones simultaneously, working closely for many Swiss manufacturers including Role🐲x and Vacheron Constantin. However, his most important collaboration and the one he is best known for, was his work for Patek Philippe. In 1953, the reference 2523 was the first world time watch to have two crowns, making it one of the rarest and most popular m𓄧odels for many collectors.

The world time complication was reintroduced in 2000 with reference 5110 by Patek Philippe with a pusher replacing the second crown but retaining many of the iconic details of the 2523 including the listing of 24 cities, one in each time zone along the outer ring on the dial, position the city that you are currently in at 12 o'clock, the hour and minutes hands will show the time in that city, the other cities line up with a second 24 hour ring that rotates counter clockwise. Just a simple click of the pusher at 10 o'clock,ও enables the change of time zone, advancing the hour hand by one hour, the city and the 24 hour discs to move one increment counter clockwise.