The Best Affordable World-Time Watch Gets Even Classier

There aren’t a whole lot of world-time watches out there for under five figures, let alone under $2,000.

So when Farer launched its line of World Timers back in 2019, it seemed like a bit of a fever dream. How was something like this even possible for this price? Today, there’s more competition in the space, but I still believe Farer makes the best affordable world-time watches out there.

Now, the British brand has added to its esteemed World Timer lineup with a trio of new models, including, most notably, the first versions with gold (PVD) cases.

Farer

Go for the gold

Originally, no two Farer World Timer references were alike, as each colorway sported a different dial design. But now, Farer has based the entire lineup on the most popular model and my personal favorite — the Roché — with only the colors and lume treatments differing.

Of these three new models, there’s actually just one new dial color, which is used on two models: one in plain steel and the other in gold PVD-coated steel. The third new model adds the gold PVD treatment to an existing dial style.

The new design is dubbed Thorne, and it features a burgundy dial with a barleycorn guilloché pattern. The rotating inner bezel, featuring 24 cities of the world, is also burgundy with white printing, while the world map in the center of the dial features burgundy oceans and gold-colored continents.

Farer

The indices are solid white blocks of Lumicast, a Super-LumiNova-impregnated ceramic material, and the handset is lume-filled and silver-colored on the plain steel version of the Thorne.

In addition to the steel Thorne, there’s also the Thorne Gold, which swaps in a gold-colored handset and coats the entire 38mm stainless steel case — including both crowns – with yellow gold PVD coating.

The gold treatment looks quite high-end here, especially when paired with the warm burgundy dial. The case also retains its intriguing finishing, including its microblasted side cutouts, which seem even more noticeable in gold.

Farer

In addition to the two Thornes, Farer has also given the gold treatment to its green-dialed Foxe. It’s the same basic design as the Thorne, but the dial uses forest green in place of burgundy and mint green instead of gold.

All three versions feature small, round, color-matched date windows at 3:00 and are powered by the Sellita SW331-2 automatic movement. Essentially a modified version of Sellita’s SW330 GMT movement, it features a rotating 24-hour disc in the center of the dial in place of a GMT hand.

To use the world-time function, just line up the hour with your current city’s time zone on the inner bezel, which is rotated via the 10:00 crown. You then can read the time simultaneously in 24 cities around the world (time zone shenanigans notwithstanding). As usual, the movement has a globe-themed rotor and is visible through a sapphire caseback.

Farer

Availability and pricing

The two new gold references, as well as the plain steel Thorne, are all permanent additions to Farer’s World Timer catalog, joining the existing Roché and plain steel Foxe to form a lineup of five world-timer watches.

The plain steel Thorne is priced at $1,715 — the same as the other two steel World Timers — while the Thorne Gold and Foxe Gold command a slight premium, with both listed at $1,790. As usual, Farer offers a bunch of different strap options, and these new references are still an absolute steal for a world-time watch.

Farer

Farer World Timer Thorne Gold

Specs

Case Size	38mm
Movement	Sellita Cal. SW331-2 automatic world time
Water Resistance	100m

• $1,790 at Farer

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