This week's issue of The Economist had an ad for the Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT Master II with the two tone bracelet. Beautiful watch.
GMT watches we appreciate
- Thread starter Gruder
- Start date
Thanks for the info ... now please bear with me as I make sure I understand this ...
So, cheap GMT: if you pull the crown out "this" far you set only the GMT hand, and if you pull the crown out "that" far you set only the 12-hour and minute hands ... but never all three together.
Real-deal GMT: if you pull the crown out "this" far you set only the 12-hour hand, and if you pull the crown out "that" far you set all three hands together (minute, 12-hour, and GMT).
Have I mastered the concept? (Or do I still need another cup of coffee??)
Yes that is exactly right. And of course in a real GMT as the hour hand is manipulated the watch does not stop running.
Mine, and the other 'cheap' Russian models pictured above, have a GMT hand that is a 24-hr hand integrated into the movement. It moves along with the hour and minute hands.
The bezel (or chapter ring) rotates to allow for GMT tracking. I live in California, which is 8 hours behind GMT. You can see in my wrist shot I have the '8' at the 12 'o clock position, so the GMT hand indicates GMT time on the 24-hour dial.
That's the only way this movement works. The crown has two positions: in, or out to set time.
The bezel (or chapter ring) rotates to allow for GMT tracking. I live in California, which is 8 hours behind GMT. You can see in my wrist shot I have the '8' at the 12 'o clock position, so the GMT hand indicates GMT time on the 24-hour dial.
That's the only way this movement works. The crown has two positions: in, or out to set time.
So when you're traveling and you cross timezones how do you reset the hour hand? It sounds from your description like you have to stop the watch and reset all the hands.
Just for grins:
Swap that old thing for this newer model..
or either one of these, take your pick..
Rolex GMT
IMO the best GMT watch you could buy.
Cheers
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Swap that old thing for this newer model..
or either one of these, take your pick..
Rolex GMT
IMO the best GMT watch you could buy.
Cheers
For that price it should be.
Duno how you feel about 24h watches, but these look fun
http://www.rugift.com/watches/raketa-mechanical-watch-100.htm
http://www.rugift.com/watches/raketa-mechanical-watch-07.htm
http://www.rugift.com/watches/raketa-mechanical-watch-100.htm
http://www.rugift.com/watches/raketa-mechanical-watch-07.htm
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My daily driver..... Rolex Explorer II. I don't travel without it. 
Three recent GMT watches ... all Seiko, two quartz and one kinetic
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- Thread starter
- #50
Nice, Ian. The GMT bug bit you good!
Correct. When you set local time, all three hands (minute, hour, 24 hour) are moving.
You would have to adjust the bezel to allow for the offset between time zones.
So if I fly to New York from San Francisco, I would set the hour hand three hours ahead for local time. I would also adjust the bezel, changing the top number from 8 to 5 (to keep the 24 hr. hand on GMT).
Edit to add: the movement doesn't hack so it keeps running while it's being set.
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That's how the very old GMT watches used to operate and for the most part the Russian outfits bought the old machinery from the Swiss when they upgraded mvmts years ago and that's why they resemble Swiss mvmts to a great extent.
That's why I like the Russian watches. The movements aren't big on finish, but they're well-made (unless you get a franken that came out of a Ukrainian living room) and keep remarkably good time. Just adapted Swiss designs.
I'm wearing this watch today. (I guess this post can double as my Watchya Wearing post as well. Two birds with one Seiko ... )
The design of the face/hands/display is good but not great, and it has a date-bubble in the crystal (which makes the date easier to read looking straight-on, but almost impossible from an angle) ... if you like or can tolerate those factors, this is a great watch to get.
It's got the Seiko 8F56 quarts movement, which means you get
+/- 20 seconds per year accuracy
perpetual date to the end of the century
10 year battery life.
These are fairly easy to find on the internet for about $170 pricerange. So at that price it's hard to complain for so much watch.
)The design of the face/hands/display is good but not great, and it has a date-bubble in the crystal (which makes the date easier to read looking straight-on, but almost impossible from an angle) ... if you like or can tolerate those factors, this is a great watch to get.
It's got the Seiko 8F56 quarts movement, which means you get
+/- 20 seconds per year accuracy
perpetual date to the end of the century
10 year battery life.
These are fairly easy to find on the internet for about $170 pricerange. So at that price it's hard to complain for so much watch.
The Pan-Am GMTs are really cool.
This standard 1675 Reference one belonged to a Vietnam-era military pilot. The price through the Pacific Exchange catalog to service men was only $202.50 in 1969.
I wouldn't take that for mine today...and it's on my wrist as I tap out these lines. (It was made in circa 1968.)
It's just a simple, original GMT design: the second time zone is tracked by adjusting the rotating bezel. The red 24-hour hand moves in concert with the regular hour hand.
This standard 1675 Reference one belonged to a Vietnam-era military pilot. The price through the Pacific Exchange catalog to service men was only $202.50 in 1969.
I wouldn't take that for mine today...and it's on my wrist as I tap out these lines. (It was made in circa 1968.)
It's just a simple, original GMT design: the second time zone is tracked by adjusting the rotating bezel. The red 24-hour hand moves in concert with the regular hour hand.
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