Time zone

The world is divided into uniform time zones, and watches often include functionality for displaying the time in different zones.

Time Zone Watches

There are three common multi-time watch complications

GMT watches were developed first, designed with a special display of GMT time for use by pilots, the military, or frequent travelers
Today, many dual-timezone watches are looser in their display, still showing two timezones but no longer assuming GMT
Worldtimers show many or all timezones at once

Time Zone Display

Most GMT and dual timezone watches do not include a display of the selected timezone. Rather, they simply allow two timezones to be displayed at once. But some dual timezone watches and most worldtimers include labels for different timezones.

Selecting which label to display has become an interesting and telling aspect of watch design, with many options possible for each location. These reflect heritage alternatives (Paris, Berlin, or Geneva for GMT+1) and market forces (Hong Kong vs. Beijing or Shanghai for GMT+8).

For example, here are the timezone labels selected by some notable manufacturers

	Ball	Breitling	Girard-Perregaux	IWC	JLC Master	JLC AMVOX	Nomos GMT	Nomos Weltzeit	Patek Philippe	Tissot	Zenith
-11	Midway	Tonga	Midway	Samoa	Samoa	Midway	APW	Samoa	Midway	Midway Is	Midway
-10	Tahiti	Honolulu	Hawaii	Hawaii	Hawaii	Honolulu	HNL	Honolulu	Hawaii	Honolulu	Hawaii
-9	Juneau	Anchorage	Anchorage	Anchor.	Alaska	Anchorage	ANC	Alaska	Anchorage	Juneau	Anchorage
-8	L.A.	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	L. Angeles	Los Angeles	Los Angeles	LAX	L. Angeles	L. Angeles	S. Francisco	L. Angeles
-7	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver	DEN	Denver	Denver	Denver	Denver
-6	Chicago	Chicago	Chicago	Mexico	Chicago	Mexico	MEX	Mexico	Mexico	Mexico	Mexico
-5	NYC	New York	New York	New York	New York	New York	NYC	New York	New York	New York	New York
-4	Caracas	Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	Santiago	Caracas	St. Barth	SCL	Santiago	Caracas	Santiago	Caracas
-3	Rio	R. De Janeiro	Rio De Janeiro	R. Janeiro	R. Janeiro	R. Janeiro	RIO	Rio	Rio	Rio Janeiro	Rio
-2	S. Georgia	S. Georgia	S. Georgia	S. Georgia	S. Georgia	S. Georgia	FEN	F. Noronha	S. Georgia	Atlantic	S. Georgia
-1	Azores	Azores	Azores	Azores	Azores	Azores	PDL	Azoren	Azores	Azores	Azores
GMT	London	London	London	London	London	London	LON	London	London	Greenwich	London
+1	Paris	Paris	Paris	Paris	Paris	Paris	BER	Berlin	Paris	Geneva	Paris
+2	Cairo	Kiev	Cairo	Cairo	Cairo	Athens	ATH	Athen	Cairo	Cairo	Cairo
+3	Moscow	Riyadh	Riyad	Riyadh	Moscow	Riyadh	MOW	Moskau	Moscow	Baghdad	Doha
+4	Dubai	Moscow	Moscow	Dubai	Dubai	Moscow	DXB	Dubai	Dubai	Mauritius	Moscow
+5	Karachi	Karachi	Karachi	Karachi	Karachi	Karachi	KHI	Karatschi	Karachi	Bombay/ Calcutta	Karachi
+6	Dahka	Dhaka	Dhaka	Dhaka	Dhaka	Dhaka	DAC	Dhaka	Dhaka	Dhaka
+7	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok	BKK	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok	Bangkok
+8	Hong Kong	Beijing	Hongkong	Beijing	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	HKG	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Shanghai	Hong Kong
+9	Tokyo	Tokyo	Tokyo	Tokyo	Tokyo	Tokyo	TYO	Tokio	Tokyo	Tokyo	Tokyo
+10	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney	SYD	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney	Sydney
+11	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea	NOU	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea	Noumea
+12	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland	AKL	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland	Auckland

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Time zone

Time Zone Watches

Time Zone Display