# 12 Hour Bezel V's Gmt



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

I have come to the opinion that a watch with a 12 hour bezel (or 24 hour bezel on a true 24hour watch) is a better for a second time zone than a GMT hand. With a 12 hour bezel you don't need to adjust the hands at all as you change time zones, just a quick adjustment of the bezel is all you need.

GMT watches with a non-adjustable 24 hour GMT hand (i.e. it moves as you adjust the main hands, such as Glycine Airman SST, Seiko Navigator) where you adjust the 24 hour bezel to read GMT (or as I do adjust to BST as I am not a pilot!) As I understand it the idea is that the local time is set on the main hands, this means changing the time as you go through time zones and also resettingv the bezel position. A lot more involved than just re-setting the 12 hour bezel. I actually use my watches with this function the opposite way round and use the GMT hand for local time and keep the main hands for GMT/BST. Its not as easy as using the 12 hour bezel to tell the time, but like the 12 hour bezel it only involves moving adjusting the bezel to the new time zone.

GMT watches without a bezel but with adjustable GMT hand are my least favourite, again I use them back to front, using the GMT hand for local time and the main hands for GMT/BST. Rather than a quick adjustment of the bezel the GMT hand has to be adjusted.

Finally the three time zone watch with adjustable 24 hour bezel and adjustable GMT hand (e.g. Glycine Airman 6 GMT), I don't need three time zones with this job as my head office is in Belgium so even I can take one hour of UK time







. So I tend to use the watch as a two time-zone watch and adjust for local time using the bezel and 24 hour GMT hand. In fact I am getting a bit frustrated with this set up, so am considering trading my Airman 6 to get a true 24 hour Airman model.

So IMHO either 12 or 24 hour watch with a 12/24 bezel are the best watches for two time zones. With the 12 hour watch being the easiest to read.

I have just re-read the above and hope you are not as confused as I am


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)




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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Good to see Homer bobing up and down again, hope all is well Roy.

I may be thick but I just don't get how you can rotate the bezel and read two time zones.

Isn't it easier to add or take off the req number of hours?


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

pg tips said:


> Good to see Homer bobing up and down again, hope all is well Roy.
> 
> I may be thick but I just don't get how you can rotate the bezel and read two time zones.
> 
> Isn't it easier to add or take off the req number of hours?


 It has to be a 12 or 24 hour bezel not a 60 minute bezel, you adjust the bezel to read the local time; for exmaple I am in Moscow now which is BST +3 so I move the bezel anti-clockwise by three hours and I can read the local time using the bezel







its a fraction quicker than doing a quick mental calculation


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## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

I'd have to turn the watch 90 degrees to get the 12 at the top, which would mean taking it off etc etc....


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## JayGee (Feb 26, 2003)

Personally I think the "correct" solution is a GMT hand which you set once (home time zone or actual GMT, your call) and an hour hand which can then be "quickset" relative to the GMT hand in one hour increments for local time and/or summer time...


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## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

Think I will stick to the 7


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

JayGee said:


> Personally I think the "correct" solution is a GMT hand which you set once (home time zone or actual GMT, your call) and an hour hand which can then be "quickset" relative to the GMT hand in one hour increments for local time and/or summer time...


 That's an excellent idea ... does anyone produce watches that do that I wonder?


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## JayGee (Feb 26, 2003)

JoT said:


> JayGee said:
> 
> 
> > Personally I think the "correct" solution is a GMT hand which you set once (home time zone or actual GMT, your call) and an hour hand which can then be "quickset" relative to the GMT hand in one hour increments for local time and/or summer time...
> ...


Rolex GMT master et-al I believe...

The question you _should_ be asking is "does anyone produce a watch I can *afford* that does that...?"


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Over on TZUK they have talked about this problem of an affordable movement with independently adjustable Gmt hand for some time now for the proposed Dreadnaught GMT, Eddie can get modified ETA movements with this function but the wait is about a year







I think..

Jason


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## Sargon (Feb 24, 2003)

My Seamaster GMT has an independantly adjustable GMT hand. Also you can move the hour hand in 1 hour increments without stopping the minute or seconds hand. Very handy!


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Sounds good.


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## Sargon (Feb 24, 2003)

One more reason not to trade it away I guess.


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