Review - the GMT that lights up the night. Traser Aurora GMT

I’m a fan of tritium watches. I know they aren’t for everyone. The glow of tritium is much less than Luminova in low light conditions, but nothing can beat them when it’s pitch dark. I have Luminox, Ball and Marathon in my collection. I recently learned all of these brands use MB-Microtech glass tubes as their source of lume. A little research showed me that MB-Microtech has a house brand of watches, Traser. So that led to a new entrant in my box. The Aurora GMT has a quartz movement with a ‘caller’ setting for the GMT hand, a date and an Ombré style gradient dark to light dial face in black or deep blue; I have the black one. The hands, minute and hour markers all sport tritium tubes. The upper circle of the 24-hour dial, the inner bezel and the 12-6-9 numbers are in ‘regular’ lume. The case is a simple brushed steel, crown is not screw down but WR claim is 10BAR. Band is an acceptable leather, somewhat stiff, with a signed clasp.

This watch is good in the daylight, but is really meant for the night.

Overall the design looks a little washed out, particularly with the gradient dial color. The hour and minute markers are very thin, as they are basically just the tritium tubes, but the hands, including the GMT are very legible, so overall the watch is easy to read. Caller, or office GMTs make the GMT hand easy to set without hacking the watch; travel GMTs are the opposite. I will use this one mostly at my home office, so that work for me. My Grand Seiko GMT is my favorite travel watch.

The regular lume is mostly just for show, it’s nice, but doesn’t enhance reading the watch and doesn’t last very long. This shot shows this - remember the hands and minute/hour markers are tritium lume.

At night though, long after the regular lume has faded, the tritium comes into its own. I’m often an early riser, so this works for me.

Overall, I’m glad I’ve got this one. I would recommend though only for the select group of tritium fans. If you like Marathons, you’ll like this one! Basically it is a good well made, but basic GMT/date watch. It wears easily at 42 mm and 10.5 mm thick, not seeming too big. The case has a very squared-off bezel and flat crystal, overall a field watch look. The band is OK grade leather, but may need an upgrade if I decide to give it a lot of wear as no tapering and some stiffness makes it lack a quality feel. Overall, this is a field watch with extra functionality.