Quote:
Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy
The GMT-second time zone is an interesting topic.
So, when I owned my GMT II (and my EX II) I could set the second time zone to anything I want. Let’s say since I am in aviation I really wanted the Greenwich Mean Time as my second time zone. I set the 24-hour hand eight (8) hours ahead of my local time. Whenever I need to know GMT, I simply look down at the hand and the bezel and Vuluah! (Or however you spell it), there it is at a glance.
If I have a GMT I, or this new Seiko, I look down, move the bezel eight positions and read the GMT off of the bezel. Is this a big deal? Of course not, just an added step. IMHO, it is not as functional as a GMT II, or travelers, or however you want to refer to an independently settable 24 hour hand. Here are the reasons:
1. It’s convenience. I can just glance at the dial for the info I need without having to move any bezel or anything else (call me lazy).
2. I always have to remember it is eight (8) positions away. OK, so that is not a big deal, but with a GMT II, I set the time once, and don’t ever have to think about how many hours ahead or behind I am… AND… what about when your local time changes, like travel or Daylight savings or whatever, how many hours am I off now? Is if forward or back?
Is it a HUGE difference? No, maybe not, but IMHO, the independently settable is much more convenient and useful.
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Hold on here. The old Rolex GMT 1 did not have an independently adjustable 24-hour hand, nor did it have an independently adjustable local hour hand. All it had with the 24 hour hand slaved to the hour hand, and you needed the bezel to read the second time zone.
This is NOT what we are referring to as a desk GMT. A desk GMT, like this new Seiko, allows you to independently change the 24-hour hand. So you can set the 24-hour hand to the 2nd time zone, or set it to UTC. Then the hour hand becomes your home time, the 24 hour hand the 2nd time zone, and the rotating bezel will give you the 3rd time zone, all at a glance. No need to change on the fly....although you can if you want to because of the independently settable 24 hour hand and rotating bezel.
I find a desk GMT to be not that much more complicated, and pretty much equal to, a traveller's GMT.
Am I missing something?