GMT Master Green hand Question

[jbradley02]

Okay from what I have heard the green hand is the GMT hand? myine changes when I remove the watch for the night, sometimes during the day it is 1 hour difference, right now it is 3 hurs ahead of current time, is something wrong, or this is normal behavior, can someone explain what is supposed to happen, as I did not receive instructions ormanual yet, AD said they ordered it along with my registration, and I feel stupid to go and ask them about it.

[DaveN]

That is not normal behavior. The green hand should change in sync with the normal hour hand. Very odd...

[Dan Pierce]

John,
With all due respect, are you sure? The 12 hour hand rotates twice around the dial in 24 hours, the 24 hour hand rotates just once. Again, not trying to be a smart a$$ but that was something I tended to forget a few times when first wearing my GMT.
dP

[jbradley02]

As for the reason for the Question, I am not sure what the green hand does, that is why I need help in explaining it, I cannot tell you what I do not know, this is my first and as I stated, my AD did not explain nor give me manual yet.

[Lol-x]

Originally Posted by jbradley02

As for the reason for the Question, I am not sure what the green hand does, that is why I need help in explaining it, I cannot tell you what I do not know, this is my first and as I stated, my AD did not explain nor give me manual yet.

John that is very cool
The green hand rotates once around the dail every 24 hours. It has 24 hours marked on the ceramic bezel. You use the markings on the ceramic bezel to read the time in hours for a second time zone.

[frostie]

and you can also move the bezel around to spot a third time zone.

[leopardprey]

The green hand allows you to use the hand as a second time zone hand.

To adjust:

When you pull the crown out to the third and last postion, this will move the minute hand, which in turn will move the 24 hr green hand and Hour hand. Use this to set the green hand to what ever different time zone you want (GMT or Zulu time, Time in IRaq, Time in Japan, your local home time, etc...) (this is read off the 24 hour ceramic bezel.) Once this is complete, push the crown in to the second position. This will allow the hour hand only to move at one hour increments. Use this to set the hour hand to your current local time. This second position also will adjust the date feature for you; as you move the hour hand twice around the dial, the date will change. Make sure when you set for the local time, if you are setting in the afternoon, you rotate around the local time once, so you get the date to switch over at midnight.

The GMT II and Explorer II watches with this feature is very useful for International Travelers, those who conduct Bussiness overseas, and Military Personnel.

There are 4 Countries (Myanmar, Iran, India, Afghanistan) though that will be a little off, as they are on 30 minutes time differences in reference to their time zones, and 1 country that is 45 minutes off (Nepal); where all other time zones are in one hour increments.

If you set your 24hr hand to your local time, this will allow you to read the time as well in Military Time. This also allows you if you are in an environment that does not have any daylight/or nightlight to look at the watch and determine if your local time is nighttime or daytime (Antartica/Artic winters or summers, Submerine duty, Caving, Solitary Confinement, etc..)

I usually set the 24hr Hand to my Local Home time in the USA. Then as I travel across the world, I move the Hour hand in one hour increments to my new destination. This allows me to look at the watch and determine the time back in the USA, which I need for Bussiness reasons.

Also, when you have the crown in the second position, and the Hour only hand is moving in one hour increments, the Second hand and minute hand keep ticking away!

[Rockrolex]

And to add to Chad's excellent explanation, when you pull the crown out to the third (outermost) position, the second hand will stop. This is called a "hacking" function. This allows you to accurately set your watch. Wait till the second hand reaches 12 on the dial. Then pull out the crown to the third postion. When you calibrate to a government time signal, wait till the time signal reaches zero and push the crown in at least one stop. This will engage the second hand so that it is synchronized with the official time signal.

If you are anal, you can keep track of how fast or slow your watch runs by checking your watch against the official time signal. If you are really anal, like a certain Kiwi sheep lover here who shall go unnamed, but whose initials are JJ Irani, you check your watch every 24 hours and go beserk if your watch is off by more than 0.001 microsecond.

Or, if you're like most of us saner people here, you will occasionally check every two weeks or so (if that often).

[SSD]

Thanks leapordprey and Rockrolex for the excellent explanation! The coupling of how this works and why this is done should be a sticky. I don't even own a GMT (yet...), but find this very enlightening.

[DaveN]

I second adding this to the FAQ.

[Tools]

Here's all you need..
Print it, cut it out:

[Dan Pierce]

If you are anal, you can keep track of how fast or slow your watch runs by checking your watch against the official time signal.

Hey, I represent that statement!
dP

[SSD]

I check mine daily, or every other day, because I'm curious to see if it experiences a break-in period (+1 sec/day so far). BTW- I thought JJ measures in picoseconds... Still, I find Chad's post highly informative, even more so than the factories' because of its real-world application (more heresy!). the Rolex instructions didn't mention using the bezel, too. Oh, well: .02 more lost in the sofa cushions... Thanks, all! Well done as usual!

[jbradley02]

Thanks everyone I got it now how it works, which is good for me as I deal with Greece ITdepartment as well and it is good not to have to guess what time it is there and when I travel to Europe as well

[watchnut]

After reading Chads excellent description, I realize I don't have the brains to own this watch. I love the GMT but would probably set for military time and forget it. Incidentally, I always figured if I was trapped in a cave with a date watch, I'd just try to catch the date changeover and I'd know it was midnight.

[Paulie]

Originally Posted by watchnut

After reading Chads excellent description, I realize I don't have the brains to own this watch. I love the GMT but would probably set for military time and forget it. Incidentally, I always figured if I was trapped in a cave with a date watch, I'd just try to catch the date changeover and I'd know it was midnight.

I have my 24 hour hand set to UTC, but have the bezel set on my local time (currently -5). If I have to deal with another timezone, I'll spin the bezel to whichever as needed.

[leopardprey]

Yeah, that is what is nice about the GMT. Using the bezel, I can track time in USA and also Zulu time. Then the dial time is set to the local time of the country I am in.

[finance21]

You can also use the GMT hand as a compass when set to local time. I hope I have these details right! Set the GMT hand to the local time (provided you are north of the equator) and lay the watch flat in your hand. Then while laying flat in your hand point the GMT hand towards the sun. The head of the watch will point north and 6 o’clock will point towards the south. At night do the opposite with the GMT hand (away from the Moon)

[f16570]

[QUOTE=finance21;273421]You can also use the GMT hand as a compass when set to local time. I hope I have these details right! Set the GMT hand to the local time (provided you are north of the equator) and lay the watch flat in your hand. Then while laying flat in your hand point the GMT hand towards the sun. The head of the watch will point north and 6 o’clock will point towards the south. At night do the opposite with the GMT hand (away from the Moon)[Sorry, but I thought if you had the GMT Hand set to your local time that you pointed the Hour hand at the sun and the GNT Hand would then indicate North. Not sure if this is correct but it is the way I was told to do it.
Cheers f/QUOTE]