GMT Help! In Hand!

[Tools]

It is NOT a "GMT Hand", it is a 24hr hand, GMT is the name of the watch. Thinking wrongly leads to wrong assumptions.

The original GMT did not have separate adjustable hands, so you set the watch for what you used most, usually home time. You then set the bezel to the time you needed to monitor; in the case of us pilots, GMT time for reference.

With the advent of the separately adjustable hand of the GMT II, the watch became much more flexible.

Set the 24 hr hand to whatever time you want as a reference. For most of us, that would be your home-time. If that doesn't work for you, set it to something else.

[Slyboogie215]

I set the Blue hand to GMT. My hour hand is my local time (EST) and when I travel, usually to the West Coast, I rotate the bezel usually (GMT-7).

[Nairn1980]

GMT hand set to London time, and normal time set to London time too.
If I travel abroad I use the quickset hour to go back or forward as needed.

[daOnlyBG]

I guess there are many ways to do it. Personally, I have the regular hands set to my local time, and the bezel rotated to my home time.

If I'm traveling, I'm more likely to need to know the exact hour+minute+second where I am, hence why it's adjusted to local time. If I need to refer back to my home time zone, the 24-hour hand & bezel suffice.

[GovernorsGovernor]

I'm opposite: Vegas is my home away from home, but Detroit is where i live, so I'll set the GMT hand to West coast time, and the quick set hour hand to Eastern... It's silly, but I like it.

[dnpina]

Originally Posted by Catatafish

I keep my GMT hand on Rome, Italy time. 1) I'm in a lot of meetings and set up a lot of meetings with folks in that time zone and 2) I like to look at it and imagine/daydream that I'm in Rome at that time and what would I be doing while I was there.

So basically keep it wherever you want, so that it's meaningful to YOU. I don't globetrot across time zones all the time so keeping it on my local home time doesn't make as much sense.

I like this

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[quakeroatmeal]

I think I may of been setting my watch wrong!

I've always set the GMT hand for another time zone, and the hour hand as my local hour.

I live on the east coast, and set my gmt to the west coast.

This is also how my AD set my watch up when I purchased it.

[justin81]

24-Hour hand is set to GMT/UTC. As it was intended.

[Collector2019]

Originally Posted by quakeroatmeal

I think I may of been setting my watch wrong!

I've always set the GMT hand for another time zone, and the hour hand as my local hour.

I live on the east coast, and set my gmt to the west coast.

This is also how my AD set my watch up when I purchased it.

that's totally fine. there is not a wrong of way in doing it as long as it serves it is purpose "two different time zones at the same time "reference & local". the reference could be GMT EST UC or whatever that suits your needs.

[breed]

Originally Posted by BumbleB

Congrats!
You use the GMT hand for your ‘home’ time. Then as you travel you adjust the watch time


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Exactly this. The only place where it was a bit tricky was when I was in Mumbai this summer which is 9.5 hours ahead of my home time zone (Eastern). I love the modern quick hour set so much that I actually sold my GMT 1675.

Both of my Rolex are GMT watches (Exp 2 Polar and Batman). I travel a lot internationally so I love my GMT watches.

[ALF61]

Originally Posted by Tools

It is NOT a "GMT Hand", it is a 24hr hand, GMT is the name of the watch. Thinking wrongly leads to wrong assumptions.

The original GMT did not have separate adjustable hands, so you set the watch for what you used most, usually home time. You then set the bezel to the time you needed to monitor; in the case of us pilots, GMT time for reference.

With the advent of the separately adjustable hand of the GMT II, the watch became much more flexible.

Set the 24 hr hand to whatever time you want as a reference. For most of us, that would be your home-time. If that doesn't work for you, set it to something else.

Yeah, absolutely. If you are not a pilot or in the military I don´t see what relevance GMT time would have for you and you´d have a wasted 24 hour hand. So basically it is just a reference that has to be useful.

[GovernorsGovernor]

Originally Posted by ALF61

Yeah, absolutely. If you are not a pilot or in the military I don´t see what relevance GMT time would have for you and you´d have a wasted 24 hour hand. So basically it is just a reference that has to be useful.

Well put me in GMT Jail then, your honor...

[ALF61]

Originally Posted by GovernorsGovernor

Well put me in GMT Jail then, your honor...

I am giving you free choice on what to do with the 24 hour hand so there are no penalties.

[aphil]

Originally Posted by ArtNouveau

I have my GMT hand set to my local time, then move the quickset hour hand when I travel. Then at a glance you have your hone time and your new local time.

Originally Posted by In-Cog-Neeto

When you say ‘local’, do You mean you set the 24hr hand to your home time? So if you were at home, both the 24hr hand and regular hour hand are set to the same time?

Then when you travel, the 24 hr hand is your time at home and the hour hand is your local time?

Interesting

Originally Posted by BumbleB

Yes, that’s how I do it too



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I am yet to get my first GMT but hoping to get one soon. Correct me if I'm wrong, while i do like that suggestion as it makes it simple, but wouldn't you lose the bezel functionality if it's done that way?

on a different front, this is remotely related ;) https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=692204

[watchmework]

24 hr hand set to my normal local time and then I jump the hour hand whenever I'm traveling.

[jhgtr1981]

Originally Posted by breed

The only place where it was a bit tricky was when I was in Mumbai this summer which is 9.5 hours ahead of my home time zone (Eastern).

I was reading this thread wondering if anyone was going to reference this. How do you typically use a GMT watch with a .5 hour time zone such as India? Is it just a case of setting to the nearest hour then a quick “add/subtract 30 mins” mental adjustment? I really like the idea of picking up a GMT watch at some point, but wasn’t sure how useful they are in this scenario.

(First time poster, long time lurker - great forum, thanks for all your shared knowledge!)

[173rdabn]

I always have the GMT hand on home time. When travelling, I set the jump hand to local time. I have an Explorer II, so two time zones only.

[Nikrnic]

24 hr. hand stays on home time. When traveling I'll just jump the hour hand to my destination time.

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[Tools]

Originally Posted by aphil

I am yet to get my first GMT but hoping to get one soon. Correct me if I'm wrong, while i do like that suggestion as it makes it simple, but wouldn't you lose the bezel functionality if it's done that way?

. . .

Not at all.

Here GMT time is -8 hours. I can turn the bezel and "see" GMT time whenever I want to, or any other zone as it relates to my home.

We generally know how many hours off from home time our points-of-interest are, we would have to consult a chart to know an offset from UTC/GMT.

[In-Cog-Neeto]

Originally Posted by jhgtr1981

I was reading this thread wondering if anyone was going to reference this. How do you typically use a GMT watch with a .5 hour time zone such as India? Is it just a case of setting to the nearest hour then a quick “add/subtract 30 mins” mental adjustment? I really like the idea of picking up a GMT watch at some point, but wasn’t sure how useful they are in this scenario.

(First time poster, long time lurker - great forum, thanks for all your shared knowledge!)

Some, including the Tudor GMT, have a bezel which rotate in half hour increments - works for the situation you mentioned

The Rolex BLNR, for example, does not - requires a bit of mental arithmetic

[brandrea]

Another 24 hour hand to home time, hour hand to local

[aphil]

Originally Posted by Tools

Not at all.



Here GMT time is -8 hours. I can turn the bezel and "see" GMT time whenever I want to, or any other zone as it relates to my home.



We generally know how many hours off from home time our points-of-interest are, we would have to consult a chart to know an offset from UTC/GMT.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing


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[Tools]

Originally Posted by jhgtr1981

I was reading this thread wondering if anyone was going to reference this. How do you typically use a GMT watch with a .5 hour time zone such as India? Is it just a case of setting to the nearest hour then a quick “add/subtract 30 mins” mental adjustment? I really like the idea of picking up a GMT watch at some point, but wasn’t sure how useful they are in this scenario.

There is no way to direct-read a .5 hour zone at the same time as a standard zone, you have to do the mental math. Reading the minutes (or half hour) is a function of the main dial which is not independently adjustable.

[SkyJuice]

Originally Posted by bumbleb

congrats!
You use the gmt hand for your ‘home’ time. Then as you travel you adjust the watch time

+1

[BumbleB]

Originally Posted by breed

Exactly this. The only place where it was a bit tricky was when I was in Mumbai this summer which is 9.5 hours ahead of my home time zone (Eastern). I love the modern quick hour set so much that I actually sold my GMT 1675.



Both of my Rolex are GMT watches (Exp 2 Polar and Batman). I travel a lot internationally so I love my GMT watches.

Yes, i always get confused in India because of the half hour difference...


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[Dpop24]

Exp II here, but I use my GMT hand for Singapore time since I work with folks there over the phone frequently. The regular hands are set to home/local time. However, when I travel, I do it the conventional way; GMT hand gets reset to home time and regular hands to local time.

[In-Cog-Neeto]

Originally Posted by Tools

There is no way to direct-read a .5 hour zone at the same time as a standard zone, you have to do the mental math. Reading the minutes (or half hour) is a function of the main dial which is not independently adjustable.

What about the Tudor GMT? The bezel rotates in 30 min increments

[Likestheshiny]

What about the Tudor GMT? The bezel rotates in 30 min increments

The 24-hour hand is meant to replace the hour hand, and then you use the minute hand like you normally would. His point is that even if the 24-hour hand is offset by half-an-hour, you still won't have the correct minute hand. You're still doing math to tell the time.

I mean, if you really want to, you can try to use just the 24-hour hand to tell time, but judging minutes with even rough accuracy would be pretty tricky over such a tiny span of bezel. It would almost certainly involve pausing and squinting, which would take longer than doing the math anyway.