Lorier Hydra SIII GMT - First Impressions

Just received this watch in the mail and thought I’d share some pictures and quick thoughts.

It wears really well on my 7ish inch wrist. It’s a great size for me, and the size matches the diver-gmt ethos of the watch. It’s not slim, but it wears no thicker than my SPB143, which I never have an issue with size-wize. It’s visually smaller than the Seiko, and least 15% lighter too - which feels lovely on wrist.

The acrylic crystal is wild. It really distorts around the edges. This makes the watch dynamic and jewel like. It must be similar to the plexiglass porthole window on the Trieste. Cool, but not the most legible option for viewing the GMT scale. Though easily fixed with a twist of the wrist for a line of sight that provides an undistorted view through the crystal.

The bracelet feels great but I doubt if I’ll even size it for my wrist. The Hydra looks so good on a black strap that I’m not even tempted by the bracelet.

Love the blue-grey dial and bezel. It nods towards faded bakelite bezels without having any faux treatments. Perfect colour match on the date-wheel and bezel. And the bezel action is fantastic. Just as good as anything I’ve had in hand. Kind of unreal how good the bezel feels. Leagues ahead of my SPB143. The dual metal surrounds on the bezel reflect light perfectly and look incredible.

Lume plots on the dial are thick. Like, real thick. They might even be applied.

And I love the dual coloured lume for home (blue) and GMT (green) time. That detail tells you everything you need to know about the thought and talent that went into designing this watch. Bravo to Lauren and Lorenzo.

Handset is lovely. Some photos of Lorier’s make the hands look roughly brushed, but the Hydra hands just look sharp and tidy. The red GMT is nicely designed and reaches the GMT scale. The seconds hand has a hilariously long tip, like a pelican beak. I love it.

Overall this is an absolute home run for me. Every detail is well considered and looks like a culmination of what Lorier have been achieving over the past few years. This is their showstopper.

The Hydra GMT is a comfortably wearing original design that hits every vintage note perfectly - without overdoing any of it. It’s extremely well put together, has an incredible bezel, an is a flyer GMT with a dive bezel! At $600!

Unreal.