Baltic Hermetique Dual Time x Enduropale Edition Takes On Sand Motorbike Racing

If you look at the evolution of the Baltic, it was the launch of the Aquascaphe GMT that really made the watch world sit up and pay attention to the French microbrand. A few short years later and Baltic have more or less graduated from microbrand status into the mainstream of the industry. So, there’s a certain poetry to the fact that the Hermetique, the model most associated with this modern era of Baltic, is finally receiving a multi-time zone version of its own: the Baltic Hermetique Dual Time x Enduropale Edition.

The information that a dual time watch and a GMT display is technically the same, the difference comes from how they display that information. They both allow you to keep track of two time zones simultaneously, but a GMT does so with the addition of a fourth hand that points to a 24-hour scale. A dual time does so by adding a rotating 12-hour scale that corresponds to the existing hour hand, meaning the hour hand points to two scales at the same time.

This latter style of display is clear to see on the Hermetique Dual Time x Enduropale Edition. It has grey central disk with 12/3/6/9 hour scale interspersed with baton indexes, surrounded by a rotating hour scale in black, teal and purple. The coloured section actually serves as a form of racing timer – Enduropale being a three-hour motorbike race on sand with over 2,800 racers taking part. You can set the rotating scale so that the teal section coincides with the start of the race and then the purple section will tell you when you’re in the last hour, on the final stretch.

I still wouldn’t personally recommend wearing the watch while taking part in the actual race because it genuinely looks like a scene from a Mad Max film. Yes, you can claim that the 37mm case is made from scratch resistant steel with 150m water resistance, but the simple fact is with that much sand flying around, scratches and sand-logged crowns feel like an inevitability. Instead, pass it off to a friend on the sidelines so they can track the time while they anxiously wait to learn if you’ve become an impromptu apocalypse warlord.

Inside the 37mm case, which features an additional crown at 9 o’clock for setting the internal 12-hour bezel, is housed the Miyota 9039 automatic movement. It’s a widely used movement with 42-hour power reserve, meaning you could run the Enduropale 14 times between windings. I’m sure there are some mad racers out there who would take that as a personal challenge.

The Baltic Hermetique Dual Time x Enduropale Edition is limited to 200 pieces at a price of €600 on FKM rubber strap or €665 on steel bracelet, either beads of rice or flat link, excl. taxes (approx. £500 / £550). Here’s hoping a non-limited Dual Time is in the works for the future.

More details at Baltic.

​Oracle Time 

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