Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Limited Edition World Time Watches
The luxury Swiss watch brand revives an icon of international travel from 1970
With their new Limited Edition Super Sea Wolf World Time Automatic Stainless Steel Watch collection, the historic Swiss brand Zodiac looked to their illustrious legacy to revive a classic design and apply fresh flourishes. Originally introduced in 1970, the Super Sea Wolf World Time became an icon of international travel for its stylish utility. The wristwatch pairs a traditional universal Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) indicator with a bi-directional rotating bezel that nods to 24 global cities. With a quick glance, wearers can track two timezones at once—and easily switch to others.
Zodiac’s inspired revival offers two bezel color variations (luscious red or classic black), each with an appropriately paired dial style (sunray for the former; matte gray for the latter)—but each model employs the same 40mm brushed stainless steel case and regardless of color both bezels feature a coin edge. Zodiac’s logo is also inscribed upon the crown. Downturned lugs and a seamless three-link stainless steel bracelet with fold-over clasp complete the dynamic design presentation.
In referencing one of their successful original designs, the brand evokes nostalgia for the early days of frequent flying. But they’ve taken this vintage inspiration and made it pop with contemporary relevance. As expected, the components inside got an upgrade, as well—a Swiss-made Soprod C125 automatic movement keeps the watch ticking. Altogether, the automatic world timer category is an alluring one and watches with this level of functionality typically sell for far more than the retail price here.
“There is something deeply nostalgic about vintage watches and the art of traveling,” Ryan White, Zodiac’s creative director, tells us. “When we decided to pull this design from the archives, we wanted to pay homage to the Zodiac designs, and also to the way people traveled when the watch originally launched in 1970. In the ’70s, to travel by plane was truly a luxury—from the way people dressed, sipped cocktails and mingled with other ‘worldly’ passengers if they were lucky enough to visit international destinations.”
“While the convenience of modern-day travel might have caused some of that ‘wanderlust’ feeling to lessen,” White adds, “our team felt that the vintage design of this watch evoked the magic that still exists in travel. We hope wearers feel nostalgic about world travel when times were simpler in the past and that this reminds our community to cherish the modern ability to travel the world.”
Anyone familiar with the Zodiac catalogue will see design signatures from their Sea Wolf diver model, as well, which they introduced back in 1953, even earlier than the original Super Sea Wolf. It’s an apt correlation, as these new timepieces deliver 200 meters of water resistance. That, coupled with superluminova on the indices, makes this a worthy dive watch itself. Further, attributes like the red GMT hand contribute to a sense of legibility. And the 24-hour time ring hones in on day/night tracking. In light of this abundance of features, it’s still an intuitive read.
Zodiac will produce only 1,000 of these watches, 500 of each variant. They retail for $1,795.
Images courtesy of Zodiac