SOTC - Dual Time & GMT watches

I travel a bit and I’ve been in a number of multi-time zone meetings recently, the new way of the world with on-line work. So, in a new entry to my very occasional SOTC posts (the last was a tour of my Citizen EcoDrives https://www.watchcrunch.com/Robcollects/posts/box-o-citizens-6115) I’ve decided to give a quick tour of my many dual time zone watches. Although most of my daily wears are now mechanical, these are mostly quartz. I use these on trips frequently, so the ‘set and forget’ function of quartz and the lower valuation of these make them comfortable choices. I hope this helps you all who are thinking of GMTs or other dual timers.

First some of my older ones:

Charles-Hubert 3549 - this is a very simple quartz watch with dual movements.  The two independent faces make for an easy reading watch, but the grey/black and simple baton hands give little contrast, so really only a daytime wear. The original leather band was not a comfortable wear so now it lives on NATOs.  I wish it had a date function, something I use on trips. Also, I find it amusing that the face of the watch ‘brags’ about 3ATM water resistance - wow!

Korean Air 30 anniversary dual time, a Golden Tower 20312 - One of my older entrants. It was made by the otherwise unknown (to me) Golden Tower company, but does proudly announce “made in Korea” on the back. This is a very well made watch, maybe because it was an important anniversary for Korea’s flagship airline. The gold toned case has held up well and resists scratching; the crystal is gently curved; there are two separate tiny movements in it; day/night indicator on the ‘home’ dial and a date window. It’s a very comfortable wear, excellent original leather strap.  It’s a challenge to set though with two tiny crowns and the date window on the home movement is really too small to be useful. So, this one mostly gets display case time as it has an interesting face, shape and evokes good memories.

Gevril 15º - this is the only mechanical watch in the group. I bought it mostly for use in my home office. I purchased this used in 2009; the original sales slip was from 1994, so its about 28 years old. The watch has an unusual case design and several interesting complications. It has a threaded bezel with six recessed notches. This allowed for easy customization by providing the ability to switch “decoration rings”. My watch has three 18k gold rings as a decoration, which complements the gold hands, minute markers and numerals. The second time zone hand is easily set with a pusher at 10 o’clock and an easy-to-read black with a red circle tip. The two ‘moons’ at 3 and 9 are AM/PM indicators for the two time zones. Finally there is the ‘UCI’, the Unlocked Crown Indicator for the screw down; a disk underneath the dial, visible through an aperture at 3 o’clock, moves with the crown as it was screwed open or closed. When the crown is open a red “warning bar” appears, the bar slowly vanishes as the crown is screwed to a closed position. The dial is an attractive gunmetal grey, which helps the legibility of the gold hands and markers. Behind the closed back is an automatic Gevril C0110 movement based on an ETA 2892-A2. It runs at about -10 sec/day, not too bad for a older Swiss movement. As it is an older mechanical, and doesn’t have lume, it stays home on trips, but is a nice wear at home.

Skagen 983XLBB Black Steel GMT - this was the first ‘true’ GMT I acquired, meaning, for me the second time zone hand points to a 24-hour dial. This used to make the trip box, but now rarely so. I have a real love/hate view of this one. The negatives: First, there is thin but reasonable lume on the hands and hour markers, but nothing on the GMT hand! Secondly, the pusher to quick set the GMT hand requires a spring bar tool to use, not useful or easy. Finally, I’m not a fan of the case shape, my other Skagens have slim, attractive cases, this one is ungainly and seems boxy. Overall, my least attractive Skagen. There are positives though, I’ve always been a fan of the very comfortable Skagen Milanese bracelets and this is no exception. Second, this one brags on a Swiss movement, many other Skagens don’t state the source of their movements. It seems to have a three-year battery life, better than other Skagens which tend to be 1-1.5 year battery hogs, maybe due to a better movement or larger case having room for more battery.

Now, my current trip watches -

Marathon Pilot’s Navigator with date - A simple three hand quartz with a rotating bezel with hour markings. You can set to bezel to the second time zone, not the easiest way to read a second time zone, but it works. The bezel has a good positive action with no backlash. The case is made from something called ‘fibershell’ which seems strong and lightweight. I got this watch with the very comfortable ballistic nylon single pass NATO strap. However the brownish color of this strap went very poorly with the case, so now it has a ‘defense standard’ sage green strap. No worries, that other strap matched saved a diver watch and is in frequent use. This is a Swiss made quartz with an  ETA F06 quartz movement that runs at a very good + 5 seconds/month and has an End of Life indicator that advances the seconds hand once every 4 seconds to signal a battery change is needed, so easy to do a double check before a trip. The big differentiator for the watch though is the tritium gas lume tubes on the hands hour marker and the 12 o’clock bezel pip. Here’s my take on the ‘great lume question’. In the early evening or shade, SuperLuminova wins hands down.  However, for the midnight time check in the hotel room halfway around the world or the darkened airplane cabin on a red eye fight - there’s nothing to match tritium.  So, this one comes on trips, usually as my cabin wear on the flights. This is no-nonsense purposeful watch, and given my actual life, my real ‘tool’ watch.

Rado Hyperchrome Ceramic Touch Dual time - this is one strange beast! A watch with dual time zones, run by one movement, and no crown! Setting this watch is an interesting parlor trick involving the tapping or rubbing the side of the case in just the right way, for just the right number of times. Seriously, you pretty much need to keep the YouTube instruction video for this watch at hand at all times. https://youtu.be/l91B2iaGe_g A further parlor trick setting function switches the primary and secondary time settings. For all this work, you think you’d at least get a Genie to appear! Rado has a very limited AD network in the US, and most watch shops won’t touch them. So, its back to Rado every 3-4 years for battery changes. There’s also no date. OK, why do I like this so much? The Hyperchrome ceramic case and dial are comfortable, unusual and attractive. The thin lumed hands and hour markers are very legible against the dark face. This watch is my ‘evening’ wear on many trips. It gets compliments and starts conversations.

Finally, the one watch that rules them all and the newest of the group, the Grand Seiko SBGN 005 GMT quartz. This is a  GADA watch; its tough, attractive and excellent at what it does. Another true GMT, with the main hands working off the interior twelve hour dial and the GMT hand reading from 24 hour dial on the nonrotating bezel. The main hour hand has an easy quick set function with the crown pulled out to one stop, while the GMT hand remains on home time. Amazing accuracy, +1-2 sec, every six months. I only reset this watch when I switch from Daylight to Standard time. This watch has a screw down crown and is 100m water resistant, so you can wear it all the time. After two years of solid use I hardly see a mark on the case and only very light and rare scratches on the steel bracelet. The lume on the hands, GMT pointer and hour markers is very bright. Very little to complain about with this one. There’s the typical no micro adjustment on the otherwise comfortable steel bracelet, that’s about it. On short trips, this is the one watch I wear. In a sense, like the Marathon, it is a true ‘tool’ watch for me, in the best way.

Hope you all enjoyed my trip down memory lane and this may help you a little in your thoughts about GMT & dual time complications.