The newest in-house movement from the house of Breitling for 2012 is the caliber 05. It builds on the original caliber 01 by adding a handy world time ring to the dial. The movement debuts in the good looking Transocean Unitime watch, which will now be promoted by new Breitling brand ambassador David Beckham. I go hands-on with the watch to tell you what it is all about.

Recently Breitling unveiled the modern Transocean collection with a three-hand and chronograph model which I reviewed hands-on here. The Transocean is a slick, retro-looking boardroom watch in a contemporary size, fitting for today’s “Breitling guy.” That means the three-hand automatic isn’t dainty being 43mm wide. This new Transocean Unitime however is larger at 46mm wide. That certainly isn’t too large for a Breitling, but is probably close to the size ceiling for what people want in a classic looking timepiece.

Functionally, the Transocean Unitime adds a world time ring and aesthetically it also adds a globe in the center of the dial. When I first saw pictures of the Unitime I thought the globe look glossy and might have been in mother-of-pearl. No, not for this manly watch. The center globe is more a blue with a natural looking color gradient with gray-colored land masses. It certainly conveys the message of “this is a travelers watch” – no confusion there. Everyone loves a nice 24 hour disc-based world time feature. You’ve seen this on pieces from Patek Philippe, down to entry level luxury watch brands. It is very handy. For a long time if you wanted a good world timer watch with a chronograph you’d get something like a Girard-Perregaux ww.tc (reviewed here). Now you can add a Breitling Transocean Unitime to that short list.