Idiots guide to setting a GMT in the UK

[Rydal]

Having recently bought a GMTIIc the first job was to figure out how to set it correctly. Having consulted the instruction booklet I must admit that I was none the wiser, so off to the internet. There are several instructional videos and write ups available but I still found that most seemed unnecessarily complicated and aimed at the US market with their multiple time zones but, obviously, taking no account of GMT vs BST etc.

So, just in case other new UK owners are having the same problems here is what I hope is a simpler guide. I guess there is strictly no right or wrong method but from what I can workout this seems to be the method most suited to the watches true purpose:

(1) The watch is called a GMT and therefore the first job is to correctly set the green 24hr hand to GMT. Only with this done properly will it be possible to quickly and easily keep track of your "home" time when traveling. To do this set the bezel so that it corresponds to the dial, ie both 12 o'clock markers at the 12 o'clock position.

(2) Next, go to http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.co.uk/ to find out current GMT. Unscrew the crown and pull it out to the 3rd position which will adjust the minute hand and the green 24 hour hand. Now set these hands to GMT by reference to the hour markers on the bezel and and the normal minute markers on the dial. Remember to account for the 24 hour bezel and ensure that, for example, to show 4pm the green hand is set to 16 on the bezel and not 4. You will see that at the moment (Aug) GMT will be an hour behind the "actual" time due to us currently being on British Summer Time. GMT should now be set and will be read off the green hand and the bezel whenever the bezel is "reset".

(3) Now push the crown in one click to position 2. This will set the "normal", shorter, hour hand only and along with this, the date. Now set the hour hand to local time by reference to the hour markers on the dial (for us at the moment, that means BST being 1 hour ahead of GMT). Remember to ensure the date will change at 12:00 midnight and not 12:00 midday.

(3) The green hand and bezel, when read in conjunction with each other, will now show GMT, whilst the regular hands and the dial will show the actual time (BST). To set up the watch so that whilst at home both sets of hands show the actual time all you have to do is rotate the bezel 1 click anti-clockwise. Now the green hand when read off the bezel will show exactly the same time as the regular hands and the dial. Importantly, the green hand and bezel will also now show UK time wherever you are in the world.

When you intend to travel, you can simply pull the crown out to position 2 and adjust the normal hour time to the local time of your destination. Now the green hand and bezel will show UK time whilst the regular hands and dial will show local time.

Don't forget to reset the bezel when we return to GMT from BST.

Having read this back through it may actually be as confusing as all the other instructions I read, but at least it takes the UK as a starting point. Hopefully one or two new owners may find it useful.