GMT watches. Does anyone wear one?

woof woof

woof woof

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I liked an Explorer II lookalike case, I just liked the look of it, but as I don't need a GMT I fitted an ordinary 3 hand movement to it but as I tend towards being obsessed after a while I just had to fit a GMT movement and hands to it because that's what should be in the case.

This got me wondering. Does anyone wear a GMT watch and use the extra function and if so what for?
 
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I had a Rolex GMT Master II for a while, the GMT element is to be fair only useful if you need the extra time zones.

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I was thinking I could use it when abroad but as I know how many hours the difference will be it's easy enough to work out anyway. I usually know if it's AM or PM too. I don't regret building the watch though even if I don't use the feature.

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Not a "proper" GMT but I do have a holiday watch with local (Greek, so +2) time on the main dial and UK on the small 24 hour dial. Now all but redundant sine it's "only" 100m proof and the ones I do use are all 200m proof.

Have you ever had a self build tested for waterproofness? I have one (a Steeldive, I think) that's got a printed rating of 200m but not sure if I trust that! It does have a screw down crown.
 
Beware the watch nerd step between "office GMT" and "traveller GMT" watches.

I use mine by setting the GMT/2nd timezone hand to my family living in US Mountain time zone. Of course I don't "need" it just like I don't "need" any given camera hahaha.

The office and traveller difference? In a nutshell the traveller variant lets you reset the hands independently of each other so actually setting the watch from stopped has a bit more faff but the idea is that when your plane has landed you can adjust one hand to the local time zone. Oh here... Traveller and Office
 
tikkathreebarrel said:
Beware the watch nerd step between "office GMT" and "traveller GMT" watches.

I use mine by setting the GMT/2nd timezone hand to my family living in US Mountain time zone. Of course I don't "need" it just like I don't "need" any given camera hahaha.

The office and traveller difference? In a nutshell the traveller variant lets you reset the hands independently of each other so actually setting the watch from stopped has a bit more faff but the idea is that when your plane has landed you can adjust one hand to the local time zone. Oh here... Traveller and Office
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That's a bit of a confusing read, I think I'll have to read it again to decide what mine is.
 
Nod said:
Not a "proper" GMT but I do have a holiday watch with local (Greek, so +2) time on the main dial and UK on the small 24 hour dial. Now all but redundant sine it's "only" 100m proof and the ones I do use are all 200m proof.

Have you ever had a self build tested for waterproofness? I have one (a Steeldive, I think) that's got a printed rating of 200m but not sure if I trust that! It does have a screw down crown.
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No, I've never even thought about having one tested.

That watch doesn't have a rubber seal. It's the only one I've build that hasn't. I thought it might be just missing but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to put one and none of mine would go in and not get crunched when I put the back on. The listing doesn't mention one and it's not visible in the pictures so I'm not sure it should have one.
 
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I've never felt the actual need, and certainly don't these days, but about 35 years ago when I was flying (piloting) in the USA, I had two watches, one on local time and one on GMT, as all flight planning had to be recorded in "Zulu time" but it was useful to know the local time in whatever time zone there I was flying in (they have so many, being a wide country).
 
only time I kind of need different time zones, is if I'm working with offshore teams at work, and honestly, I tend to go with something cheap and cheerful like...

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Honestly, I do like the look of a few GMT watches, but, like either moonphase or chronograph complications, it's purely decorative rather than functional these days. Who knows, when I retire, and I'm off travelling the world, I may want something with a GMT so I know i'm not phoning friends at home in the UK in the middle of the night - but at this moment - I'd be buying it because I'm just a watch tart.
 
Nod said:
Have you ever had a self build tested for waterproofness? I have one (a Steeldive, I think) that's got a printed rating of 200m but not sure if I trust that! It does have a screw down crown.
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I bought a test rig years ago, but basically it was "only" rated to 50m iirc. Now, as I wasn't certified past Open Water, it didn't really bother me - but I had a couple of Aliexpress Specials that had no problems at 50m - at that point, I thought "why the hell am I bothering anyway" and flogged the test chamber thing.

If the Gaskets are in good shape, something like a typical steeldive shouldn't have a problem - only watch case I had a problem with was an Invicta - the cheapie pro-diver one. I actually removed the movement, then re-fitted the crown/stem and tested the empty case - it for to 40m and the glass display back blew out. Thats how come I've got a Pro-diver with a plain steel back instead of its normal display back ;)
 
I suppose I could always get my mate to put a new movement in the case if it DID leak while snorkelling! I had a Casio that was rated to 100m drown - 10 years out of warranty (and several battery changes!)
 
There's a certain elegance in that datejust that i love, personally, I've always had a bit of a down on the more typical 2-tone versions, but the all steel jubilee ones certainly float my boat.

(honestly, I think for me it's more down to my personal skin tones - gold honestly never looks right unless I've actually got a half decent suntan, and - well - honestly, even this year in the uk, i've barely gone to "normal" from my typical kind of white/pale blue colouring :D)
 
TBH I normally prefer watches without a day or date function. I normally know what day and date it is and setting them is just another thing to do but the main reason is just for going without is for the symmetry and less clutter on the dial.
 
lindsay said:
I've never felt the actual need, and certainly don't these days, but about 35 years ago when I was flying (piloting) in the USA, I had two watches, one on local time and one on GMT, as all flight planning had to be recorded in "Zulu time" but it was useful to know the local time in whatever time zone there I was flying in (they have so many, being a wide country).
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I don't need one, I just liked the case and it was something different to build and have in the collection.

I don't think I'll be relying on the GMT function whilst abroad as UK time is pretty simple to deduce but I have found myself glancing at the dial and seeing the orange hand which stands out like a sore thumb and that being enough of an indicator of the time.
 
woof woof said:
TBH I normally prefer watches without a day or date function. I normally know what day and date it is and setting them is just another thing to do but the main reason is just for going without is for the symmetry and less clutter on the dial.
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For me, the date is fairly immaterial (and is easily checked on the computer or phone) but a reminder as to what the day is would be very welcome sometimes, especially now Mrs Nod is retired too!!!
 
Nod said:
For me, the date is fairly immaterial (and is easily checked on the computer or phone) but a reminder as to what the day is would be very welcome sometimes, especially now Mrs Nod is retired too!!!
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As I might have mentioned here or in another thread somewhere... I've built 14 watches now and I really must stop but I do wish I'd done a day date to recreate my first watch which was a Timex. I lost it at school.

Mrs WW (The Boss) is back from her travels in November and I don't want to be building or buying watches whilst she's home because she might just raise an eye brow but if I wait until next time she's away she might not notice one more in a drawer when she gets back :D The Seiko NH36 has the day and date, seems to be just under £80 with Chinese copies being much cheaper. If I do one I'll use the Seiko movement rather than the copy. Full build will probably be in the region of £120/£130 or so.
 
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I think that this slightly older piece is one of my nicer "day date" watches...

2020-11-28 Seiko Saturday.jpg

sorry for the "raindrops" on the dial - I did a "30 watches of November" a few years ago, at the height of my watch collecting madness/frenzy and basically grabbed a shot of each watch through the working week, at approximately the same time, in the same location in my back yard, whatever the weather was doing - it was November, and most of the better shots were actually shot in the worst weather, with just a soft even light - not great necessarily for fancy photography, but perfect as a kind of "record shot"

Don't think I ever actually posted them up on here, as one or two of them may have been ones that were "somewhat non kosher" on my workbensh at the time, while I was working on them for my friend who had fewer qualms about wearing "iffy" watches...
 
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