So like I said, Vogard went with satin-finished hands, and the result is a boldness which should be apparent from the pictures. The dial itself is slighty glossy (which is OK when the hour markers are easy enough to read). The applied hour markers are polished, so they do reflect some light, but when matched with these really nice hands, the dial remains very legible.
Of course the hands have SuperLumiNova lume, and there is a row of lume dots painted outside of the larger hour markers. The dial also has a rather unobtrusive date window as well as an inner 24 hour scale, which is part of the Timezoner complication. As you can see, the dial has four hands, but it isn’t a true GMT. The 24 hour hand is synchronized to the time so it acts like an AM/PM indicator, versus a second time zone. This makes sense, but it would have been great to perhaps indicate this in another way and make the Timezoner complication include a true GMT hand.
Without a GMT hand, the Vogard Timezoner complication watches lack the ability to offer you the local time and a reference time. Of course, this isn’t crucial to a travel watch, but it is a desirable feature that many travel watches have. So while Timezoner allows you to easily adjust the time backward or forward in one hour segments, it does not offer you the ability to keep track of time at home.
Again, it isn’t that GMT functions are crucial, but rather they are a good thing to have on a travel watch, just as world time complications and chronographs are. Sometimes I find a cool watch with a load of travel-friendly complications, but the entire thing feels too busy for me. Sometimes they feel too simple. While the Vogard Business Officer Timezoner is a simple watch, it has a straight-forward elegance that I can appreciate. Inside the watch is their calibre Timezoner 01 movement which is a base ETA automatic with the Timezoner complication added to it by Vogard (which is a proprietary system).
Vogard is a smaller company with a limited production, so their prices are going to be higher than similar watches from higher-volume brands. Nevertheless, I like the unique blend of a conservative masculine style (even on the white strap) and the unique functionality. Price for the Vogard Business Officer Timezoner watch is about $8,500. vogard.com
Necessary Data
>Brand: Vogard
>Model: Business Officer Timezoner
>Price: $8,500
>Size: 44mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Yes
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: Frequent traveler who just wants to easily change their timezone, but requires a stylish mechanical watch.
>Best characteristic of watch: Very easy-to-understand complication and attractive dial.
>Worst characteristic of watch: Might be better with a true GMT function, also quite pricey.
