So reading two different time zones really couldn’t be any simpler. – Position 3 is when the crown is pulled all the way out, and provides access to the traditional time-setting functions, where the seconds hand stops and both hour hands plus the minute hand can be adjusted either forwards or backwards by rotating the crown. Additionally, the date window will change forwards or backward as the hour hand passes midnight however, it is worth noting that Rolex GMT-Master II watches don’t have a Quickset date function, which would give the ability to change the day of the month in the three o’clock window by just turning the crown. This gives control over the main hour hand, which jumps forwards or backwards in one-hour increments. – Position 2 is when the crown is pulled out to the first notch. This position allows for manual winding, but not the adjustment of any hands. – Position 1 is the position that the crown naturally pops into once unscrewed. – Position 0is the crown fully screwed in, where it should always be when not setting the time to ensure the watch stays water resistant.
They can then read the current time normally off the dial, and their home time off the corresponding numeral that the 24-hour hand points to on the bezel.Īll the hands are adjusted using the winding crown, which has four positions 0-3. This makes it easier to quickly reference multiple different time zones since you just need to remember the number of hours offset (ahead or behind) they are from GMT.ĭuring the flight, to help the body acclimate to the time difference, Rolex GMT-Master II owners can set the regular 12-hour hand to the time in their destination (current time), and leave the 24-hour GMT hand set to display the time in their home city (home time). As a side note, many purists believe the watch’s GMT hand should always be left on Greenwich Mean Time, still the standard for time measurement the world over, regardless of where you live. The contemporary versions of the GMT-Master II, as well as being among the most desirable and difficult to acquire Rolex watches, also have an extremely practical complication for use in everyday life.īelow we take you through the process of setting up the Rolex GMT-Master II to display three time zones.įirst off, there are two terms we’ll be using throughout this article that you need to know: ‘home’ time and ‘current’ time. While the movements have been changed and upgraded since then, the basic principle is still the same. 3085, the movement which uncoupled the hands for the first time. Now, not only was setting the watch to display two time zones easier, it could actually be used to show a third.
The reason for its unflattering nickname was the thicker and wider case needed to accommodate the Cal. 16760, the debut GMT-Master II, sometimes known as the Fat Lady. To read a secondary time zone, the bezel had to be turned to line up the numerals with the GMT hand.Ĭlick here for our Ultimate Buying Guide on the Rolex GMT-Master. To do so, Rolex borrowed the rotating bezel concept they had introduced on their Turn-O-Graph a couple years before, marking it with a 24-hour scale, and fitting the dial with an additional hour hand, geared to run at half speed. On the earliest generations of the Rolex GMT-Master, the two hour hands were directly linked to each other, meaning they couldn’t be set separately. The Rolex GMT-Master series has been the last word in luxury travel watches for more than six decades. Created in 1955, at the request and with the cooperation of Pan Am Airlines, it was designed to help the company’s pilots stave off the worst effects of jetlag by allowing them to keep track of both GMT time (UTC) and the local time in their eventual destination.