SJX Watches
Baltic’s Affordable Heures du Monde Worldtimer
The value-forward, design-savvy French micro-brand Baltic debuts its first worldtimer, the Heures du Monde with a trio of stone dials – sodalite, tiger’s eye and labradorite, each limited to 200 pieces as a lead up to a future regular production version. It’s a fully functional and sharp-looking vintage-styled worldtimer, with a modern set of features that includes a brushed ceramic bezel, plenty of lume, and a surprising 100m depth rating, for a reasonable price. Initial thoughts Stone dials and worldtimers are each in vogue, and it is only natural to combine the two – especially as worldtimers as a genre are predisposed to vibrant dials, such as enameling, engine turning, or miniature painting. It doesn’t hurt that the Heueres du Monde is a competent watch and fair value proposition over all. Baltic pitches the model as an homage to the work of Louis Cottier, who invented the format. It specifically takes after his earliest worldtimers, which comprised a simple 24-hour disk geared to the hands, and a rotating bezel with the names of cites arrayed around its perimeter. The sodalite, tiger’s Eye and labradorite dials are tasteful, fit the overall watch, and will no doubt age better than many other stone dial offerings from micro-brands today. That said, it was the probably the right decision on Baltic’s part to make these colourways limited, as it doesn’t fit with what I suspect is a more vintage, rather than neo-vintage, vision for the model. Given the br...
