Edouard Koehn World Heritage II Review

I feel that over the past quarter century of collecting watches that I had heard of just about every long established European brand, so it came as a big surprise to me to be in the dark about the manufacture Edouard Koehn. I found out about Edouard Koehn while talking to their US based distributor "Totally Worth It" about unrelated business.

Alexis from Totally Worth It thought I would really enjoy spending some time with an Edouard Koehn piece and offered to send us a World Heritage II to review. I'm always up for getting a chance to spend some time with a new watch, especially one from brand I haven't handled in person.



While Edouard Koehn was reborn as a brand in the Spring of 2020, the brands roots extend all the way back to 1891 when Edouard Koehn established his own manufacture in Geneva. Prior to creating his own manufacture, Koehn studied to become a master watchmaker and had tremendous respect for his outstanding abilities as a watch and clockmaker. During this time Edouard has also risen from being a clockmaker to becoming a part own and shareholder at Patek Philippe. Before setting up his manufacture, Edouard took many trips around the world gaining much interest for his soon to be created manufacture, most notably in North America.

Soon after the launch of the Edouard Koehn manufacture the firm was known to be at the same if not higher level of watchmaking then the most respected manufactures in Geneva. Koehn also expanded his production past just producing chronometers to also releasing extra thin watches as well as master complications.



Edouard would go on to pass his expertise as well as the manufacture to his son Edouard Jr who kept the firm in operation well into the 1930s, continuing the extreme high level of watchmaking that his father was known for. Under the control of Edouard Jr the manufacture also achieved a high level of uniformity and precision in their timepieces.

In 2015 the brand was acquired by former Vulcain CEO Bernard R Fleury and totally re-launched in the spring of 2020. Keeping Edouard Koehn as a family brand, Bernard has also brought his children, Allissia and Axel, who have been immersed in horology their entire lives into the brand. Fleury is now producing timepieces that are in the vein of watches Edouard himself would produce today. Since Edouard traveled so frequently himself, complications like worldtimers and alarms were integrated into the brands newest creations.



The watch sent for us to review includes both the worldtime and alarm complications inside of it. The World Heritage II is an evolution of the original limited edition World Heritage I featuring a just stunning blue guilloche ring housing the applied hour markers. The World Heritage II also features a stunning central image of the northern hemisphere. Like the first World Heritage, the World Heritage II is also limited to just 88 pieces per dial color.

The first thing I noticed about the World Heritage II when it arrived was its size. Typically when dealing with more traditional or dress watches the case sizes tend to max out around 40 mm or smaller. The World Heritage II is a very nice 42 mm with a 51.4 mm lug to lug. I typically prefer watches with a larger than 42 mm case size and greater than 50 mm lug to lug length. The World Heritage II falls right in that sweet spot and fits my 7.25 inch wrist with a 58.5 mm flat area perfectly.



The next thing I noticed about the World Heritage II was the stunning ice blue guilloche ring on the dial. Being that I mostly gravitate towards sports and dive watches, guilloche especially on the dial is not something I'm used to. The execution of the guilloche pattern on the World Heritage II is just stunning and the hue of blue Edouard Koehn used is just beautiful.

The final thing I noticed about the World Heritage II on my initial viewing of the watch was just how lightweight it was. The World Heritage II is a large watch and based on it not being a sport or dive watch, you'd assume by its looks that it would be crafted out of stainless steel, white gold or platinum. Well you'd be completely wrong, the World Heritage II is crafted out of polished grade 5 titanium. This makes the watch extremely light and clocks in at only 74 grams on our scale with the leather strap and deployant clasp.



Now that we've gone over my initial thoughts of the watch, let's take a look at the technical specifications for the World Heritage II. The watch has a 42 mm case diameter and a 51.4 mm lug to lug measurement as previously discussed. The World Heritage II is 15 mm thick and only weighs 74 grams.

The World Heritage II features a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides. Under the crystal clear sapphire you get to admire the masterclass of a dial. At the center of the dial is a silver and grey image of the Northern Hemisphere which is then surrounded by the corresponding cities and time zones that line up with the global image. After this ring of cities is the 24 hour ring for setting the worldtime function.



When you get past the 24 hour time ring, you then have the beautifully executed ice blue guilloche pattern that contains both the applied hour markers with Superluminova as well as the Edouard Koehn branding and logo at 12 o'clock. You also have the "Swiss Made" text at 6 o'clock contained within this layer.

Finally on the very exterior of the dial you have a minutes scale broken down into 15 minute intervals used for setting the alarm function of the World Heritage II. The handset comprises of lumed hour and minutes hands along with a central running seconds hand. The alarm setting is signaled by a long central hand that is capped off with a red pointer.



As I mentioned earlier, the case of the World Heritage two is completely crafted out of grade 5 titanium. Also something not often seen with titanium watches is a fully polished case. Typically you see titanium cases that are either satin or brushed. The result of the polished titanium gives off a look slightly between stainless steel and platinum. It does look rather distinct and knowing that the watch isn't steel or a precious metal I can kind of tell it has a slight titanium hue to it.

Looking at the side of the case you can see that the lugs are rather long and slope down nicely to follow the shape of your wrist. You can also tell that the case has a three part construction with the bezel, middle case and case back. There is an indentation between the lugs and bezel that adds nice depth to the case.



On the right side of the case you have two crowns, one at 2 and one at 4 o'clock. Neither crown is screwed down and both are nicely scalloped providing exceptional grip. The crown at 2 o'clock deals with all of the watches time setting tasks, while the crown at 4 o'clock handles the alarms functions. We'll leave the functions of the two crowns for a little later after we speak about the movement.

Flipping the World Heritage II over shows off the automatic EK-MVTWTA01 movement through the sapphire case back. The movement was created in partnership with highly regarded Swiss movement manufacture Concepto also based in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Just like Edouard Koehn, Concepto values both traditional Swiss finishing and excellence with bleeding edge technology.



The movement is based off of an A. Schild AS5008 base movement which consists of twin barrels and offers a 48 hour power reserve. The movement beats away at 28,800 vph (4 Hz) and its functions are hours, minutes, seconds, world time and alarm. On our timegrapher the watch averaged around 0 to +1 seconds per day in accuracy, which is well inside of chronometer specifications. This accuracy isn't that much of a surprise given that Concepto is behind the movement.

The movement is beautifully finished with an Edouard Koehn branded rotor featuring Geneva striping. The movement also has Geneva striping along with perlage and blued screws. Concepto is probably most well known for making the crazy movements for Jacob & Co. like the new Bugatti Tourbillon and Godfather watches. Selecting Concepto to create the movement for the World Heritage II was a great move in my opinion since the watch is fairly complicated by having both world time and alarm functions. The cricket style alarm is also a nice nod to Vulcain from Bernard Fleury.

The World Heritage II comes on a very supple brown alligator leather strap and has a lug width of 22 mm. The strap tapers down to 18 mm where it connects to a single deployant clasp featuring Edouard Koehn branding. The clasp closes with a nice firm click and requires triggering both buttons to release the strap.



Now going back to the functions of the watch, the World Heritage II features the following complications: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, World Time and Alarm. The crown found at 2 o'clock with allow you to manually wind the watch in the initial position. Pulling the crown out to position one will let you set the current city/time zone you are currently in by rotating the world time disc. Finally pulling the crown out to position two allows you to set the time. After setting the time, pushing the crown back in doesn't cause the minutes hand to jump at all, allowing accurate time setting.

The bottom crown is used to control the alarm function. In the initial resting position the crown is used to wind the alarms power reserve. Pulling the crown out to position one will now allow you to set when you want the alarm to sound. To activate the alarm you need to leave the bottom crown pulled out and once the current time reaches the desired time you want the alarm to sound the alarm will go off. The alarm is a pleasant buzzing sound and should wake up most non-heavy sleepers. Also on the wrist the buzzing can be felt when the alarm goes off. Pushing the crown back in will turn off the alarm function.



Typically I don't tend to wear dressier watches for the simple fact that my personal style is very relaxed. I have found that some dressier pieces from Glashütte Original and Nomos went fairly well with my t-shirts, shorts and sneakers dress. The World Heritage II actually fit in just as well if not better than the last two dress pieces I had in for review. I think the larger case size and also how much visual impact the ice blue guilloche adds to the dial helps the watch work with a larger range of outfits. I also feel that swapping the watch on to a black or white sailcloth strap or a more colorful strap in general would really give the watch a more lighthearted feel.

During my time with the Edouard Koehn World Heritage II I tried to wear the watch as often as possible. Typically this just includes running pretty boring errands like going to FedEx or the grocery store and then also to going to dinner or drinks in the evening. I really loved how the watch fit my wrist with its larger lug to lug length, typically dress pieces seem a bit too dainty to me but that's not the case with the World Heritage II. The leather strap being a nice 22 mm wide also kept the watch centered on my wrist and with the lightweight titanium case, the watch never felt top heavy or gave me any wrist fatigue.



I didn't use the world time feature too much in day to day use since I wasn't traveling… but it was nice to know the time in Switzerland since I do get lots of emails from people based there. I did use the alarm feature more than few times to remind of things like "OK it's time to wrap things up and get home in time to put our daughters to bed." while being out. Typically I could hear the alarm going off, but even in slightly louder environments I could feel the alarm buzzing on my wrist. The alarm is a pretty useful feature that I hadn't really used before.

The World Heritage II didn't attract too much attention when I wore it out, which is something pretty common unless you are wearing a hyped up sports watch or something crazy like an Ulysse Nardin Freak. The friends I did show the watch to did remark on how nice the blue guilloche looked and how the dial looked very complex. After showing them how the dial worked it ended up making total sense to them. Another comment was on how light the watch was for its larger size.



I feel the World Heritage fit in just fine when being worn with a t-shirt and shorts, naturally the watch would go better with more semi-formal to formal attire though. This is a watch that could be worn pretty much every day in most conditions. The OEM strap would be fine for weekday activities, while changing the strap to something less formal would make the World Heritage a great weekend watch. I just wouldn’t use the watch for any water activities more than a quick dip in the pool though.

With a retail price of $9,950 the Edouard Koehn World Heritage II is a good value for a watch from a revived classic brand that offers a bespoke movement from one of the top movement manufactures and features two very useful complications as well. Let's now take some time to see what other options there are out there for watches with similar functions to the World Heritage II.



First with a nod to Bernard Fleury's time at Vulcain there is the Cricket Classique 39 mm. The watch has a 39 mm case diameter and is crafted out of stainless steel. With a sapphire crystal display back the Cricket retails for $5,280. While a good deal less than the World Heritage II, the Cricket doesn't offer a world time function and also is made out of much more commonplace stainless steel instead of Titanium like the World Heritage II is made out of.

Next up we have the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Memovox in stainless steel. This watch has a case diameter of 40 mm and a retail price of $14,300, which is fifty percent more than the World Heritage II. The Memovox does have an in-house movement, but lacks the world time function found in the Edouard Koehn.



As you kind of saw with the price of the Memovox adding an alarm function to a mechanical watch adds a lot to its price. So moving on we now have the Breguet Marine Alarme Musicale 5547. This watch is crafted out of titanium like the World Heritage II and has a case diameter of 40 mm. The Marine runs on an in-house Breguet movement that does not have a world time function, but does add a date. The price of the Marine Alarme Musicale 5547 is three times more than the World Heritage II at $31,900.

Finally we have the Patek Philippe 5520P Grand Complication in platinum and measuring 42.2 mm. The 5520P does not have a world time function but does offer a second time zone and day/night indicator. Naturally the watch runs on an in-house Patek Philippe AL 30-660 S C FUS caliber. It's not really fair to compare prices here, since the 5520P comes in at an eye-watering $282,800… but do remember Edouard Koehn used to be a part owner of Patek, so take that for what it's worth.

Looking at the four watches above you can see that the Edouard Koehn World Heritage II is an extremely great value. The Vulcain might be less expensive than the World Heritage II, but it lacks the world time complication and also the World Heritage II being crafted in titanium is a huge bonus to me. The Memovox comes from one of the most respected watch manufactures of all time in Jaeger-LeCoultre but is more expensive and does also lack the world time function while being more expensive. The Breguet and Patek Philippe are both just amazing watches that come from the finest houses, but their prices put them out of direct comparison with the World Heritage II. I do feel that the Edouard Koehn World Heritage II does enough to stand tall against the giants of the watch industry though.



So is the Edouard Koehn World Heritage II for me? While I love the size of the watch and also its titanium construction, classic / dress watches just aren't for me. I used to feel the Patek Philippe 5960P with the grey dial was a grail watch of mine until I had the chance to wear it for a few days. Over that time I accepted the fact that if it's not a sports, dive or pilot's watch, it's just not for me. This is no negative towards the World Heritage II, but more commentary on my personal tastes.

On the other hand, I would fully recommend the World Heritage II to somebody looking for an everyday casual watch with unique complications. Huge bonus points if the person is a traveler and could use the world time and alarm functions. I know your phone will automatically update time zones and also has endless alarm options, but is nice to have a trusty mechanical back up. Now normally I'd ding a $10,000 watch for not having an in-house caliber, but I see the use of Concepto to make their movement as a positive. I've been really interested in Concepto since learning that they produced the crazy complications for Jacob & Co but hadn't had the chance to play around with a watch featuring one of their movements, after seeing their accuracy and how well the alarm and world time were executed, I'm thoroughly impressed.

Also adding the guilloche ring to the World Heritage II was a really nice touch. It's something you don't see too often and adds a softness to the otherwise complex dial layout associated with world time watches. Just like Patek Philippe added some beautiful enamel work to some of their world timers, the addition of the guilloche really helps the World Heritage II stand out.



The World Heritage II was a really nice introduction to Edouard Koehn and I leave the review with a lot of respect for a brand I recently didn't know existed. While the World Heritage II wasn't really for me, the brand does offer the Tempus III which is a watch I can't wait to get my hands on. Owning an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montoya in titanium and being a massive fan of the Royal Oak Concept line, the Tempus III gives me those vibes. The watch being crafted out of titanium and ceramic and also housing a Concepto movement with a skeleton dial just makes the watch a must see for me. Hopefully Edouard Koehn and Totally Worth It can get one over for me to review soon. In closing, I'd really like to thank both Edouard Koehn and Totally Worth It for getting the World Heritage II over to us to review.

For more information about the World Heritage II please visit : Edouard Koehn

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: EK-WTA05IBASBK

Retail Price: $9,950

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 51.4 mm

Thickness: 15 mm

Weight: 74 Grams

Case Material: Titanium

Bezel: Titanium

Strap: Brown Leather Strap with Deployant Clasp

Movement: Concepto EK-MVTWTA01 Automatic Swiss Made

Functions: Hours, Minutes, World Time, Alarm

Power Reserve: 48 Hours

Water Resistance: 50 Meters