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How an American Watch Designer Made a World-Beating World Timer Without Hands

The latest edition of an award-winning modernist marvel is equal parts functional globetrotter and head-turning work of art.

Close-up of a silver world time watch showing cities including Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney on the bezel.Alterum
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By Steve Mazzucchi

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The older I get, the more I see the appeal of minimalism. Something about a clean, uncluttered design just sets the mind at ease.

Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to the fourth and final iteration of the Alterum Worldtimer.

Silver metal wristwatch with a white dial featuring world city names and a minimalist hour hand.
The dial of the Alterum Worldtimer Horizon is essentially a photo negative of the OG award-winning watch.
Alterum

Like its predecessors, it does the hard work behind the scenes to achieve a stunningly streamlined result.

Specifically, telling time around the globe without the use of traditional, you know, hands.

Clean machine

The Alterum Worldtimer is the brainchild of Justin Walters, who started out designing skateboards in Kansas City before moving on to designing watches in New Mexico. 

“The Alterum story starts with a lesson in simplicity,” says Walters, an unabashed devotee of modernism. “Designing less, cutting away the chaos, to simplify.”

Close-up of a world time watch dial showing cities and a 24-hour scale with a silver bezel.
Instead of hands, the watch employs four concentric discs to tell time all over the world.
Alterum

Those words find physical form in the Worldtimer, which won the inaugural Dubai Watch Week × Grail Watch competition in 2024.

That inaugural matte black and silver version sold out instantly, followed by New York and LA editions with gold, black and gray color schemes. 

Silver stainless steel watch back with city names engraved around the edge and "ALTERUM WATCH CO." logo in the center.
In an interesting wrinkle, the caseback swaps out Singapore for Hong Kong, which resides in the same time zone.
Alterum

Now comes the fourth and final member, the Alterum Worldtimer Horizon, whose dial is essentially a photo negative of the original.

“The white dial brings the design language back to its purest form,” says Walters. “The use of white emphasizes legibility, openness and precision, allowing the world-time display to be clear and present, inviting the wearer to see the world with clarity.”

Discing it all

Of course, the essence of its appeal is the eschewing of conventional hands in favor of four concentric discs.

The innermost disc indicates minutes, encircled by one that tracks hours. The disc beyond that one displays the 24-hour time, shaded to delineate day and night.

Silver metal wristwatch with a white dial displaying world cities and a single black hand, worn on a wrist with a navy suit.
The on-trend 38.5mm case sits nicely on a range of wrists. Note the shadows cast by the hour markings.
Alterum

The outermost disc features the names of 24 major cities, letting users monitor each time zone. As the home of Revolution, with whom Alterum partnered on this watch, Singapore is highlighted in red.

Depth of field is achieved by placing the markings on the underside of the flat sapphire crystal, an effect emphasized on this particular edition via the shadows cast on the white dial.

Produced by renowned Swiss white label watch factory Roventa-Henex, the watch is powered by the reliable automatic Sellita SW330-2 GMT, which boasts 56 hours of power reserve.

Close-up of a silver metal watch bracelet with vertical grooves and a matching silver watch case and crown.
The sole bit of ornamentation on the integrated bracelet are the engraved lines on the lugs and links.
Alterum

Two slightly recessed crowns reside at the 2 and 4 o’clock positions on the stainless steel case. These set the bidirectional city disc and wind the watch/set the time, respectively.

The vapor-blasted 38.5mm case and integrated bracelet are similarly free of frills, though the former has a stepped bezel with polished bevels and the latter has engraved lines on the lugs and links.

Availability and pricing

The Alterum Worldtimer Horizon is available now for $3,650. Don’t snooze if you are interested — it’s limited to 100 pieces.

About the Author:

Now managing editor, Steve has served in a variety of roles with GP since 2019. Having previously written and edited for such publications as Men’s Health, Men’s Journal, Esquire and ESPN, he enjoys covering a range of topics — but mostly those pertaining to cycling, snow sports, pocket knives and motos — and dreams of a utopian world in which everyone’s bike seat is at the proper height.

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