What is the fascination with GMT watches?? Is there another purpose of knowing the time elsewhere? Will it ever go away?

I think more people than ever are now working cross country or offices on other parts of the world, some people just want it for travels. I see so many uses for it, I consider it a nice bonus

Thank you!

Honestly the most fun I get with a true gmt is setting the time lol

I think Seiko or somebody launched a new GMT movement a year ago or so and that's why it's been the feature flavor recently. Also, some collectors feel that they need one of every "type" so this was an excuse to buy a thing.

People claim they use them despite not being 1960's commercial jet pilots but I think they are exaggerating and rationalizing. It's a one-upmanship thing. My watch has a fourth hand so it must be more better. It tell time in twice as many time zone as once!

I have friends, family and co-workers who I am constantly in touch with that are spread across different states and countries. Aside from that, my wife and I travel at least twice a year. A GMT function has become just as important to my daily life as a chronograph used to be (although I can STILL do without a date window, 😎 lol).

Yes, I can see how that can be a definite value. Thanks!

If you do work across time zones or if you’re trying to contact someone from across the world, it’s helpful to know that you’re not calling them in the middle of the night.

We don’t NEED any type of watch. But why not use the different functions if they are available? I have family abroad but realistically I don’t need a watch to calculate 3 hours forward.

If you don't think GMT watches are necessary or just don't like them for some reason, then don't buy one. That way, there will be more GMT watches available for everyone else.

Was it Charles Dickens who wrote about the need for adornment in HARD TIMES? I like a GMT function for the same reason that I do not eat the same menu each and every day, I want some embellishment in my life in my watch hobby.

Just like we dont need any type of automatic wrist watch today, we dont need GMTs.

But Ive grown to actually have the reflex of checking the time on my watch rather than phone, and because Im in London and my close family is in Montreal I often need to track the time difference to plan calls, msgs, etc. So when I got to purchase my dream mvt (Spring Drive) and realized GS is kind of a GMT fanatic, it became obvious...

Not a fan of the GMT, zero use for one & just look really off to me. Keep it simple.

Agree, some of the watches are nice designs,but that extra vestigial hand stops me buying one.....for now 😂

I use the GMT function more than any other watch complication: working across time zones; keeping in touch with family; etc. I have multiple time zones on my iPhone lockscreen, too, but a GMT watch remains the most convenient way of checking. If I could only pick one complication to have on any of my watches, it would be the GMT. Pick two: GMT and date.

I use it for work.

I live in the UK and my sister is in Perth Australia so I use mine to work out the most inconvenient time to call her. 🤘😀 Sorry, not sorry.

I have a couple of GMTs and use them when I travel. I also have a Citizen Worldtimer which is so hideously complex that I need the manual every time I use it. Straightforward travel GMT is better if you travel.

I worked (in the UK) for a company based in New Zealand and considered a desk GMT. Unfortunatly the time difference between London and Auckland was 13 hrs and 40 years so it wouldn't have been much use.😀

I think the 3rd hand makes it look more toolish and sporty in my opinion.

I see it as no different to any other complication - including a running seconds - look at what these particular group of humans made/did.

The western world (on the whole), has moved on from a mechanical watch as the pre-eminent personal time telling device but there’s still plenty of humans wearing mechanical watches. Whatever those reasons are - there’s still a requirement to sell watches and the more reasons they (the industry) have to sell watches, the better it is for them. Complications are a craft within the industry. We saw complications on lots of sub-38mm watches in the middle of the last century but those started to go away as the talent drain went away with the advent of quartz. Then a combination for nostalgia, fashion, tastes and endeavour we saw a rise in popularity again in mechanical watches - so the know how had to be redeveloped again. The industry couldn’t survive on just selling a time only watch to the world - the more it can show the world what it can do, the more the world will come to appreciate the craft. A GMT is just part of that. Cynics may call it a ‘marketing tool’ and believers may label it ‘useful’

If people really wanted to just see multiple time zones, they would buy a Casio wordltime for 50 quid.

People like mechanical complications just because as that’s a part of being a watch enthusiast, but to say it’s necessary is lying to themselves.

Realistically, I need a GMT watch as much as I need a moon phase & a tourbillon. And chornos. And guilloche. And annual calendar...

But then again, I like all of the above! It's not that I need them, I just like them.

Don't think of it as a fad or trend. It is simply a "Complication" just like day or date window. Each additional piece of information displayed on a watch increases the complexity of the inner workings.

GMT's are typically $1000s, thanks to Seiko this complication has become more accessible.

The GMT hands are usually one of the most nice looking hands. Therefore the GMT watches, at least the most popular ones look really nice. Same goes with the bezel inserts. I do not think it hs to do that much with the functionality rather than the looks

If were honest, watches are basically jewelry for men or "status symbols" for the more shallow of us. If you have a phone You dont need a watch if you have a phone. I dont have a GMT yet, but i will get one in the future, just because its a GMT 😜

pretty useful when gathering international friends to do a murderhobo run in Baldur's Gate

I have always wondered the same, I have absolutely no need to own one. But I'm like you I think I might just buy one at some stage if they look that cool. Haven't bought a pagani yet have a few on my list might need to add that one too.

IMHO GMT watches are ok apart from when the GMT hand dominates the watch and is the 1st think you see when looking at the watch.

GMT done right.

GMT done wrong.

Can’t you just subtract 6 hours from the hour hand?

Imo its like a dive bezel of even a chrono function, aka a neat gimmick that is mostly for aesthetic reasons.

It's cool to see 4 hands on a watch. I think it also overlaps with the diver niche too for that rugged sports watch (hence why I like gmt divers)

They've been super popular ever since the rolex gmt, but seiko just made a gmt movement that.all the microbrands are now using

I work with people in a vastly different time zone and have family in another vastly different time zone, so a GMT complication comes in useful.

And then some people just don’t care and call whenever they want.