Year: 2015
Reference No: 5131R-001
Movement No: 5'901'385
Case No: 6'060'474
Model Name: World Time
Material: 18K pink gold
Calibre: Automatic, cal. 240 HU, 33 jewels
Bracelet/Strap: Alligator
Clasp/Buckle: 18K pink gold Patek Philippe deployant clasp
Accessories: Accompanied by Patek Philippe Certificate of Origin dated September 07, 2015, product literature, wallet, presentation box and outer packaging.

Patek Philippe's reference 5131 is a worthy heir to the lineage of coveted worldtime watches the Patek Philippe brand is famous for. Worldtime watches were invented, as it is the case with most innovations, out of necessity. With the advent of the industrial age came global trade and travel and, as a direct result, there was a need for timekeeping devices capable of tracking time in multiple locations. The worldtime complication, other than being a utilitarian invention, is also a window into history. With the rise and fall of nations, one capital replaced another as reference city for a specific time zone. Surprisingly, watchmakers did not immediately take the opportunity of creating worldtime watches based on the 24hour time zones set up by the International Meridian Conference of 1884. Was this due to the complexity of the mechanism, the lack of demand, national issues with the exact division of the time zones or the legendary Swiss neutrality (not wanting to put forward one nation by having its capital be the city of reference for that time zone)? Whatever the answer, worldtime watches as we know them today remained off the radar until the early 1930s and an invention by genius watchmaker Louis Cottier. It is around that period in 1930/1931 that Cottier designed a movement featuring a local time with hour and minute hands at center, linked to a rotating 24hour ring, and bordered by a fixed outer dial ring with the names of different cities inscribed on it. The city of choice (local time zone) was placed at the 12 o'clock position with the hours/minutes hand set at local time, the watch would then display the correct time in both hours and minutes, night and day, for every time zone in the world simultaneously, all the while allowing easy and accurate reading of local time, and all on a single dial. With reference 5131, Patek Philippe resurrected the line of Cloisonné worldtime pieces - which originally appeared in the 1950s and are now considered among the masterpieces of the brand. Launched originally in yellow gold, it was produced in the three gold colors and in platinum. Cased in pink gold, the present watch is preserved in barely worn condition and is replete with its original accessories.