I get a strong sense of apathy when it comes to GMTs. I’m not sure why but the addition of another time zone read out adds nothing to the appeal of a watch to me, and the functional limitation of the standard 2893 set-up baffles me further.
Chronographs, dates, day-dates, pointer dates, power reserves, triple calendars, repeaters, are all welcome. Even a moonphase speaks of a certain elegance to me.
It’s like there’s a piece of me missing but every time I see one, I think I’d rather that was a three-hander and 20% cheaper. By all means keep a jumping hour hand: very handy for flying.
I recognise that there are watches where the function is integrated into the design a little better but is that not because of a bicolour bezel? Technically, that could serve the same function with 12hr markings and no extra hand.
Am I on my own? Maybe I just need to buy one and wear it to understand.
Disclaimer: No disrespect meant to anyone who enjoys them, of course!
I completely understand what you mean, but from the other side. I like GMTs and have no time for Daytonas or Speedys. I’m happy with the fact that different complications are for different people. It’d be dull if we all wanted the exact same watches. I absolutely support your opposing view! Enjoy what you enjoy!
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Are you missing something?
A second time zone for a start....
As a feature / complication I think a GMT hand is the most useful. I use them for referencing time in other countries for business and for travelling.
I don’t get moon phases, they are pointless and never look great IMO.
Apart from the time, date, chronograph or timing bezel, it's pretty close to the most useful complication I can think of for those that travel. It's just a novelty most if the time though.
I have one GMT, it's my holiday watch watch. We tend to pass through several time zones when on holiday these days and I set the GMT hand to, well GMT, so I know at a glance what time it is in Blighty. So I do actually find it useful. Lately of course, when I wear it, it just reminds me that I'm not on holiday (I tend to set it to Sydney time where we should have been this January).
Equally, I have a Speedy pro, and while I love the watch, I can't remember the last time I used the chrono function.
Yep. all different, thank goodness.
Never appealed to me, I just don’t like them. If I’m overseas in a different time zone I can work out what the time is at home, it isn’t hard.
I always used to use a GMT at work as all technical paperwork had to be filled out in "zulu" time. Occasionally I needed 3 time zones when away - local, zulu and home.
Aha! Someone agrees with me!Originally Posted by walkerwek1958
I don’t disagree with others about the importance of variety of taste but I’ve never heard of anyone who shares my view. There’s at least two of us then!
Before covid, i used to travel for business and the GMT function was useful to keep track of what time it is at home (easily to setup meetings and know when to call family).
I know there are 12 hour bezels that do the same thing but i always feel wierd with bezels not lined up at 12 and could not bear to use them.
As for chronos, i found i never used them and a pain to reset moonphases to correct phase when i rotate my watches (moonphases are on dress watches, which are rewlly rarely worn these days)...
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I have one because I like the aesthetics of the watch but find the function pretty pointless. I can add or subtract a number between one and ten to what I see on the dial in a fraction of a second. If we're all really honest, we buy these things for the way they look, and sometimes their history, rather than what they can do. I have several chronographs, and don't use their functionality either. Much easier to do it on a phone if timing is needed. Same with the dive watches. Who has ever used the helium escape valve...or indeed the depth capability? Maybe one or two but not many.
I dont think you are missing anything, I lived abroad for years it wasnt hard tracking back or forward a few hours to UK time if I needed to and I never owned a GMT when abroad. Perhaps if you are in the UK and dealing with people in different countries its useful who knows? Again it was never a big deal to contact friends abroad working out the time there.
That being said I dont see much point in a chronograph or moonphase either but I own several chronographs and one GMT watch.
I think I personally would find it very useful when travelling in addition to keeping time back home now I live abroad. I usually have to go through multiple timezones when travelling between the US and the UK, and being able to quickly set the hour hand on a true GMT without hacking the movement would definitely be useful (I imagine especially if you have a HAQ and want to avoid hacking the movement as much as possible to track accuracy over the year! :P)
I've never owned a true GMT however, only a "callers GMT" with quick adjust 24 hour hand, which I didn't find very useful.
I guess some people use complications more often than others though! I read about people rarely or never using the chronograph feature on their watches, but I use mine on my speedy constantly (cooking, keeping track of how long computer code has been running, timing the puppies pee breaks...).
Each to their own! But if be first in line for a well executed true GMT with chrono :D
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I used to find them useful when working with 2 offices in different TZs. Wizzing the bezel was comforting during meetings too.
I like chronograph & GMT complications with a date. It's not that I really use them much, but being a watch lover, the fact that beneath the face of the watch there lies a micro-mechanical marvel that can 'deliver' accurate time information. I was fascinated as a schoolboy when my sports master used his stopwatch to time us over certain distances, 100/200/400 & 1500 meters, I really wanted one. When I became interested in watches, of course, a chronograph had great appeal because it could accurately measure elapsed time. Same with the GMT function, it's just nice to know that your wristwatch can track a 2nd timezone, or with a rotating bezel a 3rd or a 4th with a chronograph with 24 hr subdial. So, other than a two hander, or even a one hand watch, everything else is a complication which makes me smile and gives me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing a little about what's happening within.
So for me, a GMT, gets a big thumbs-up, I love 'em.
I have had a few but it was more for the watch design.
I like to know several time zones where i do business with people and simply remember how many hours to add or subtract for them all.
I’ve only got one, a 40mm Explorer II, but it is one of my favourite watches. When I used to travel, I could usually do the maths of knowing the time at home, so arguably a GMT watch wasn’t that useful.
When I bought mine I evaluated it back to back with a 36mm Explorer, and felt the GMT hand and the 24h bezel added useful visual interest, which was why I bought it. The jump hour hand is very cool when travelling.
Do count me as a fan, as long as there is an independent hour hand. The office GMT such as unmodified 2893s I don’t get, particularly when this is combined with a comedy sized GMT hand. The attached B&R is an example of a watch that would be better as a 3 hander.
Dave
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I’ve had a few - Rolex GMT masters, Exp II’s and a couple of Seikos, and I found the extra hand distracting somehow - at a glance I’d sometimes have to check the time again as the gmt hand threw me off. I wouldn’t buy another.
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I have two.
Omega Seamaster 50th anniversary. Just about the perfect watch. I will never sell it.
Rolex GMTMaster II with black ceramic bezel. Is okay, but not up to the hype. Bracelet is unbalanced and when you have three hands near the date the time is pretty much unreadable. Not a patch on the Omega.
In any case: I find the GMT function very useful. I’m either 7 or 8 hours ahead of UK. Useful to check UK time at a glance. Was doing some work in NYC recently - that’s 13 hours behind. Great to be able to check at a glance.
I am thinking of buying the white faced Seamaster to match my black one.
I’d sell the Rolex if it hadn’t gone up by 150%. Keeping it for my daughter, she’s three.
Never wear it now. Not through fear of theft (I don’t live in UK) but because walking around with three years salary for the average person on my wrist just seems...a bit off somehow?
Personally I find GMT hands quite hard to read, so in my case I can normally convert more quickly in my head. I only normally work with the East coast though and over the years it's just become second nature to me.
I still quite like the classic GMT aesthetics though, and the GMT master is the only Rolex I would actually buy if it was possible.
I get your point...but I still like some of them
The actual GMT function is hardly used, but the aesthetics of some of them appeal to me- a splash of colour with an extra hand, the bezel colours or whatever it may be. Not green though- I don't like green on a watch.
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I've had a few variations on the theme; one was an "Office" Fortis Pilot Pro GMT chronograph - where you set the local time first, then adjust the GMT hand to the time zone you want. This had potential for someone needing to call different time zones overseas, but not much use for travel.
The next was a semi-traveller type Fortis Cosmonaut GMT Chronograph, where the GMT hand was set to the desired time zone first, then the local hour hand was set to local time; but the date was slaved to the GMT hand, which was unhelpful when there's a 9-11 hour difference between local time and GMT.
By far the most useful is my Rolex GMT Master II, because the GMT hand remains set to the desired time zone, but the local hour hand can be jumped back or forward an hour at a time, and the date is slaved to the local hour hand. Until Covid put a stop to travel last year, I was making multiple international return trips a year, mostly Australia-UK, meaning that with the interim stop, and seasonal time zone changes, I was having to reset local time two or three times a month on average.
Of course, a watch with a jumping hour hand is useful too - my Omega Seamaster 2264 has this feature, as do several other Omegas with the 8500 movement, but they don't help you tell local time; you still have to do the maths. I once arrived in the UK after a 24 hour flight, and called my wife at home in Sydney at 5 am due to being a bit tired and confused, and subtracting the 9 hours time difference rather than adding it. A true, travel type GMT avoids that problem, and that's why I've stuck with the Rolex GMT, though I might have preferred a Sea Dweller for most of the last year, given the lack of travel.
I bought my first GMT 20 years ago because I liked the red and blue bezel - no other reason what so ever. In fact, when I bought it I’m not really even sure I knew it had a GMT hand or what it was used for. It was purely aesthetic. I remember thinking at the time that’s nice, although I’ll never need that.....
Fast forward to a couple of years back and I found myself working overseas, sometimes two different tine zones in a week. I have to say that being able to have a quick glance down and see the time back home for calls and meetings was a real help. In the days of the smart phone a little old fashioned maybe, but I found it useful.
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I don't travel for work or do business across timezones, so I don't think I'd have much use for the complication.
I think I'd feel a bit pretentious having one as a result. That is ridiculous as they often look good, and very little about our hobby is about practicality and much is about what you like. I probably need to grow a (red and blue) pair!
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There's a "time & place" for every complication. If you travel a lot the gmt function may get used more but fundamentally we all buy watches that do something for us individually. Beauty is in the is in the eye of the beholder....and it's clearly different for everyone. Fundamentally mechanical watches are a waste of time...except as an investment....and that's a whole other complication....
Last edited by Rich; 14th March 2021 at 09:46.
I never really wanted a GMT. I bought one only because I thought the Rolex GMT was a classic, stylish design. Having said that though I did use the GMT function when travelling, and found it useful. I don't think I'd travel with it now, though.
I'm much the same with my Speedmaster and the chrono function. I don't use it.But I like Speedmasters.
Big fan of the GMT function , have a GMT II and an Explorer 2. Use it a lot when travelling .
Are you missing something? No. Are you the only one? Obviously not. We don't all like the same things. Me, I don't like chronographs.
love a GMT, love the bezels and the extra hand, otherwise most people don’t actually use the functions
on their watches, don’t know many people that use their chronograph function to time stuff for example
or the helium release valve for saturation diving, GMT watches are always good looking with their colour themes though
I too have no need for a GMT nor do I think the extra complication does anything for the aesthetics... somewhat contradictory, I love the date hand on my Oris BCP
Until recently, spending around half my year in a different country, I found a GMT a very useful function on a watch.
It's just a matter of time...
I like the 'romance' of GMT (and world time) watches - the 'harking back' to the golden age of air travel when it was an event and not akin to a bus ride. The watch itself needn't be vintage or vintage inspired, just the mechanism of a GMT (or a mechanical watch in general) is enough in the current era of smartphones and watches that set themselves to the current time zone.
Being slightly eccentric in my watch taste I plumped for a Ulysse Nardin Dual Time which I love the look and ease of adjustment of, it's the easiest to read and set travelers GMT I've encountered.
I love a GMT. Something about the complication and it's history is appealing. It helps that the GMT Master is a gorgeous and timeless design. Even before the pandemic I wasn't traveling a huge amount or in need of one, maybe 2 or 3 times a year in a different time zone, and usually just CET/CEST so not exactly hard to figure out the time back home. I bought one because I like the watch. I usually use mine to track the time zone of a friend abroad so I'm not worrying about messaging/calling them in the middle of the night or something.
I have a friend who is a pilot in France and she doesn't get GMT either and has to ask me to translate her roster so she isn't late for work!!!!
Goodness, I'd be slightly worried if she were flying me.
Can she navigate by dead reckoning for instance, or does she have to phone you?
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I like the look of many GMT's but it's not a complication that I would ever use. I'm quite capable of adding and subtracting small numbers.
Mind you I like chronographs too and never use them as I don't really have to time anything.
Cheers,
Neil.
I have a couple of watches with the GMT function. Always set it to normal time and forget about it, so never really use it. Mind you I've got chronos and never time anything! Wonder how many people actually do, I mean it's not that often you need to time a 'burn'.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
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