9 Reasons Why a GMT Watch Might Be Your Perfect Fit

NOT ONLY FOR FREQUENT TRAVELLERS

GMT watches offer distinctive looks and an impressive versatility from a functional standpoint. Did you know, for example, you can use a GMT watch as a compass? Here are 9 reasons why a GMT watch may just be the timepiece that best suits to your lifestyle, taste and personality.

1. As a frequent traveller, you want to sport a watch with a function that you might actually use.

The most obvious reason, why a GMT watch could be the ideal watch for you, is the GMT complication itself. Often times, having a feature on a watch doesn’t necessarily mean you will actually make use it. The timezone function, however, is actually being applied by the vast majority of GMT watch owners. Unlike other complications it’s not only a fun feature, but also a quite useful one when travelling between different timezones.

2. You consider yourself a world citizen.

For you, the world knows no borders and your home is as widely spread as your identity is transnational. The more the earth grows together as a global place, the more important the GMT function is. From a functional standpoint GMT watches will therefore be getting more and more important, which could, at some point, also be getting increasingly relevant from a collectibilty standpoint.

3. You like the idea of having a watch that would easily beat a smartphone app.

The GMT function is one of the most straight forward and user friendly complications that can be found in a watch. Arguably, no other technical device could ever be more convenient than setting a second time zone by hand or rotating the bezel to determine the current local time at any given place in the world. With the introduction of the Rolex GMT Master II, it has become state of the art to have two separate time settings that allow you to change the second time zone while the watch is running. On top of that, GMT watches can be used on airplanes and don’t have to be turned off or switched to flight mode. One could even say, a GMT watch is the perfect example of a mechanical gadget that would easily beat any well-designed smartphone app.

4. You don’t have to be a (former) boy scout to want to know your bearings.

Did you know you can be used as a GMT watch as a compass? Well, you can and it’s actually quite simple: You set the GMT hand to local time and locate it towards the sun. The 12-hour marker on the dial now points north (in the northern hemisphere) or south (in the southern hemisphere).

5. You have already observed date shifts at 12 pm on your watch.

If the GMT hour hand is in sync with the local time, it shows you military time when read on the 24-hour scale. This facilitates setting the correct time measure, because the watch “knows” whether it currently is am or pm.

6. You hate to exceed the standard position of a unidirectional bezel by just one click.

Have you ever reset a unidirectional rotating bezel and exceeded the standard position by only one click? Whereas divers’ watches can only be rotated in one direction requiring another (almost) full circulation, GMT bezels are bidirectional so that you would simply have to set it back by one click. This might be only a minor detail, but it’s generally the sum of seemingly meaningless bits and bobs that add up to be the perfect watch.

7. You like colourful accents on a watch.

Generally, you like waches that are noticed by others. Admittedly, there are also a lot of more elegant GMT watches out there, but most GMT are of the sportier kind. Lots of GMT watch display colourful accents usually set by a bicolor bezel and/or an accentuated second hour hand, making it the perfect fit for those who like distinctive looking watches.

8. You haven’t yet found a way to avoid jetlags.

If you have a hard time adjusting when travelling to different time zones, a GMT watch might offer a solution. How? You simply set the 12-hour hand to the current time of the travel destination already 1 or 2 days earlier, which helps you getting accustomed to a different time zone even before travelling. By contrast, the home time can still be read on the 24-hour scale (after all, you still need to know what time it is).

9. As a child you once pictured yourself being a pilot.

Not only are there many iconic GMT watches, but it also addresses and hypostatises an iconic subject: the pilot theme and the myth surrounding the early stage of civil avation. The GMT watch itself has been created as a joint-project between Rolex and arguably the most legendary of all air carriers, namely Pan Am airways. Shortly after its introduction, the GMT watch has become the ultimate go-to complication for any pilot, which it still is today.