What you may not (want to) know about GMT bezels

[Sherlock]

When I worked for a living, I once had business at an RAF station in the Midlands. After the meeting, we finished up in the Officers' Mess - as you do. The sargeant behind the bar sported an early GMT and, when he spotted mine, we got talking. Sargeant/barman: 'Let's have a look at your watch then, lad' - he was half my age! He then produced a huge jack knife that looked like a cross between a zombie knife and a hacksaw, stuck the blade under my GMT bezel and, to my horror, popped it right off. 'The trouble with these, lad, is they get lots of crud, dust and dirt underneath here.' He wiped it all clean with a bar towel, rinsed everything under the tap, popped it all back on again and handed the watch back. 'By the way, lad, we don't trust these fancy Rolex bracelets here. We change them for webbing NATO straps'. On my return home, I immediately ordered a NATO strap on Ebay. Also I have since stopped all conversation in restaurants by occasionally popping off my GMT bezel with a steak knife and wiping it all clean with a table napkin. I hasten to add that when my GMT 'failed to proceed' as our Rolls Royce friends would say, after a service-free 40 years or so, it was because the winding crown fell out and not because of the on-off practise with the bezel.



'I know the voices aren't real, but they do have some good ideas'. Anon