How do you use your GMT? Local time / independent hour hand / bezel action

[khalifam]

Hi all,

After not being able to go away for almost 3 years now we're almost ready to go...

I wear my GMT on a daily basis but just wanted some advice/ideas.

I usually have the watch telling me local time (England) the independent hour hand tells me the time where my grandparents are (states) and the bezel just stays put.

I'll be traveling to the Middle East whilst wanting to track time locally. Should I set the watch to Local time (middle East) and set the hour hand to home? Is there an easier way?

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[Harry-57]

When I'm traveling, most commonly a bit west of you at GMT/BST +2, I have the watch set to local time and the reference hand on home time.



If I working from home and doing work for UK clients I will have the GMT hand set to GMT. This week the times zones displayed are the same. After 26th they won't be. If I'm working for a client in another time zone I will set the GMT hand to their time if I'm wearing a GMT watch.

I have a couple of GMT Masters on which I have not used the bezels for third time zones because there has been no need. I use it for timing food, car parks etc.

[joe&joe]

To me, the correct way to set a Rolex GMT is:
1) Set the GMT hand to the current Greenwich mean time (London time) with the bezel set in the factory position.

2) Set the hour hand to whatever your most common time zone is

3) Use the rotating bezel to add or remove according of your current gmt zone
e.g. You live in New York (gmt -4) you rotate the bezel 4 cliks to match the NY time, you fly to Texas (gmt -5), you add another click

This way you can change time zone quickly without unscrewing the crown. and as long as your starting point is London time (gmt 0) is very easy to do the calculations.


Only down-side, is that the date window will not be 100% accurate as it will follow the "home" time and not the local time displayed by the gmt hand

[joe&joe]

In your case since you live in the UK I would set everything to your UK time, and then use only the rotating bezel to track whatever time you want to know.

Dubai is + 4 clicks

NY is - 4 clicks

[whattimeyougot]

Quick observation. GMT is not always London time. The United Kingdom observes daylight savings and towards end of March goes to BST( British Summer Time). Goes back to GMT late October.


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[khalifam]

Originally Posted by joe&joe

In your case since you live in the UK I would set everything to your UK time, and then use only the rotating bezel to track whatever time you want to know.

Dubai is + 4 clicks

NY is - 4 clicks

Thank you buddy - I think the only caveat with this is that I can only track two time zones (UK & Dubai)

I think I may be better off doing this:

Set the watch to Dubai time (local time)

GMT hand on England time (home time)

Bezel rotating to NY (3rd time zone)

But then I'll probability get so confused

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[khalifam]

Originally Posted by whattimeyougot

Quick observation. GMT is not always London time. The United Kingdom observes daylight savings and towards end of March goes to BST( British Summer Time). Goes back to GMT late October.


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Yes agreed, this is why I would set it on London time and track another time zone according to BST or GMT. Thanks

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[JDsnewwatch]

I bought my last rolex GMT II to be used as a GMT watch. It's kind of funny that the ADs get upset that we are all just looking to flip watches (I'm not). The watch is now worth double what I paid and I don't wear it anymore because frankly, I would need all new clothing to justify wearing a watch worth upwards of 18K. I love it but it sits in the watchbox waiting for a quiet night at home to be worn again.

My new panerai GMT is coming today.

[Chiboy]

I have never owned a GMT, but would imagine that I'd want to see my local time with the non-GMT watch hands, as that is the most obvious to look at and the most relevant to me. Then use the GMT hand for whatever I am secondarily interested in (client in different time zone, family in different time zone).

The problem with above is that the easiest hand to change (GMT hand) is the one that would be adjusted the least often.

But what do I know?

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Local time with the hands. Home time with the hour hand. If I need to track a third time I use the bezel.

[justin81]

GMT hand set to UTC/GMT as it was intended.

[Tools]

On a GMTII, the 24 hour hand is the main reference time. Set it to whatever time you choose to be your reference because it is the hand that is not intended to be changed.

Use the 12 hour hand wherever you are physically at, at the time.

You can then use the bezel to "see" any time you want, as long as you know the offset from your reference.

My reference time is my home-time; the 24 hr hand is always set to it. If, as in the OP, I know that my grandparents time is 8 hours from my home-time, I can turn the bezel 8 hours and be able to see that time whenever I want.

[Rebel]

When I was in the Army in an Operations Center in DC after 9/11, I used my GMT to keep track of local time and theater time. I've flipped that GMT and now wear a Tudor Submariner. The GMT I owned back then served me well for what I needed then.

[zengineer]

I no longer own a GMT but the main hands were always local time and the GMT hand whatever other zone I was dealing with most frequently. When traveling, the GMT hand was set for home, when home it is usually set on China time, although 6 months of the year the difference is 12 hours so it isn't like I need it to do that calculation. If US Congress does something logical for once and makes DST permanent it will be 12 hours year round after this time next year.

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[Stan Cooper]

My reference time (24 hour hand) is always on GMT and the 12 hour hand is always on the local time where I am located. I use GMT several times a day for ham radio (K4DRD) transmission logging and flight planning (TAFs METARS, NOTAMS, etc.), so GMT as my reference time makes a lot of sense for me. When I travel, I use the 12 hour hand "jump" function to change time zones easily without having to hack the movement to reset the time to the new time zone or switching between standard time and daylight saving time.

As an aside, the U.S. Senate voted yesterday to keep the country on DST permanently. It still requires the House of Representatives to pass a similar bill.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/15/10867...rmanent-senate

[JRell]

This is correct, right? EST 12:30pm and Geneva time 5:30pm.

[kieselguhr]

I set the 24 hour hand to UTC with the bezel UTC 0 at 12 o’clock. Then the local hour hand is set to the local hour. I like it this way so I can rotate the bezel to conveniently figure out what time it is elsewhere by rotating +/-

[bwdellorf76]

East coast (current location) time set with the hands, GMT hand set to West coast time where I have employees to interact with!

[Michael1968]

Im working in two time zones so I using this function in my Explorer II.

[Bryan81]

I set my GMT hand to “home” time and will adjust my hour hand to whatever the local time is when traveling. My bezel is typically just in the “home” position, but I’ll move it when occasions come up where I want to track another time zone temporarily (typically a day or two).

I don’t tend to have a need to know GMT time regularly, so setting my GMT hand to GMT would be a waste.


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[thenewrick]

* I made my comment before reading others sorry. There’s some kinda goofy stuff being said in here. Tools is right and a couple others but there’s many who are either wrong or just have a really awkward way of using the complications. It’s designed to always have GMT set to GMT as a permanent reference and timekeeper. The hour hand is always your local time because you can jump the hour quickly and the date will follow you wherever you are. The bezel is for a 3rd 24 hour day/night timezone indicator based on the GMT hand being correctly at GMT.

Hour hand is your local time

GMT hand is for GMT obviously. If you live in GMT you can either leave it on GMT or set any other time zone you wish.

Then the bezel is for your 3rd timezone.

I have hour on EST, GMT on GMT, bezel on California PST as those are the 3 I’d check. Plus it looks nice spread out and is fun to test myself and other people to see if they can quickly tell the 3 times.

Using the watch helped me to understand why it was the GMT “master” because the GMT hand is the timekeeping hand and the master of time. The hour hand and bezel are just secondary and variable time indicators. Pretty cool. It works really well once you get used to it. I like that the date is local as well. I recently traveled to a different timezone and it was a snap to jump the hour and keep going.

So if you always want a “home time” set the bezel to home time that way your local time, GMT and bezel are all correct. Or you can say F the bezel and make the GMT a dual time watch and just have a home and local time tracker and have bezel for decoration. That’s what a dual time watch is for like the Cellini or Skydweller

[themast]

Originally Posted by Bryan81

I set my GMT hand to “home” time and will adjust my hour hand to whatever the local time is when traveling. My bezel is typically just in the “home” position, but I’ll move it when occasions come up where I want to track another time zone temporarily (typically a day or two).

I don’t tend to have a need to know GMT time regularly, so setting my GMT hand to GMT would be a waste.


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Same here.

OP, for your trip I would suggest to set 24H hand and time to your home time first. When you arrive at your destination you change the time to your local destination time. Now you have local time on the "regular" hands and home time on the 24h hand. To check your parents' time you rotate the bezel however many clicks away they are from your home town (a delta you should be very familiar with) and read the time on the 24h hand.

[Stewart_88]

I have GMT hand set to Australian time as have family there, and just rotate bezel if I am travelling.
That way don't ever have to change/set clock, just turn bezel

[wyguy]

I work in meteorology/physics and set my GMT (non-Rolex) exactly as kies describes.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Tools

On a GMTII, the 24 hour hand is the main reference time. Set it to whatever time you choose to be your reference because it is the hand that is not intended to be changed.

Use the 12 hour hand wherever you are physically at, at the time.

You can then use the bezel to "see" any time you want, as long as you know the offset from your reference.

My reference time is my home-time; the 24 hr hand is always set to it. If, as in the OP, I know that my grandparents time is 8 hours from my home-time, I can turn the bezel 8 hours and be able to see that time whenever I want.

This is how I use it as well

[Krash]

If I had a GMT, I would set the 24 hand to my local time where I live (EST), and I'd set the 12 hour hand to where ever I happen to be at.

[TimeLord2]

Originally Posted by Tools

On a GMTII, the 24 hour hand is the main reference time. Set it to whatever time you choose to be your reference because it is the hand that is not intended to be changed.

Use the 12 hour hand wherever you are physically at, at the time.

You can then use the bezel to "see" any time you want, as long as you know the offset from your reference.

My reference time is my home-time; the 24 hr hand is always set to it. If, as in the OP, I know that my grandparents time is 8 hours from my home-time, I can turn the bezel 8 hours and be able to see that time whenever I want.

I just got an Omega GMT, which functions like the Rolex GMT. Tools has described it the way the manual describes setting the relative time zones. GMT to your local time as well as the hour hand when not travelling. Unscrew the crown and set the jump hour hand from the first position forward or backward for wherever you fly to show the current time in your new location without stopping the watch seconds hand or needing to reset the time. GMT bezel rotation for the third. The GMT hand continues to show your "home" time. Just so. Which is not to say there are not other ways to use it, which make more sense to the person wearing the watch. BTW, my 1675/3 GMT Master does not have this function at all. Just the bezel action.

[SALTY]

GMT hand set to UTC, generally but not always GMT. I am a pilot and weather briefings and other information is given relative to UTC. Regular hand to local time.

Not always, but sometime while away at a static location, i will set the GMT hand to local/home time.

[Tools]

Originally Posted by Bryan81

. . .

I don’t tend to have a need to know GMT time regularly, so setting my GMT hand to GMT would be a waste.

It's a waste for most folks.

The confusion comes from too many calling it a "GMT Hand", when it is actually a 24hour hand. GMT is the name of the watch, not the hand.

For the first 30 years of the GMT, the jump didn't exist and that second zone was always on the bezel.

[WilsdorfNDavis]

Originally Posted by JDsnewwatch

The watch is now worth double what I paid and I don't wear it anymore because frankly, I would need all new clothing to justify wearing a watch worth upwards of 18K. I love it but it sits in the watchbox waiting for a quiet night at home to be worn again.

So you wear or don't wear the watch based on the relative value of it?


You should just sell it...