The GMT Master; An icon boasting a functional complication, how relevant is it today?
We have all heard of the GMT Master, its a very well received, popular travel watch still available from the current Rolex catalogue. Its story is fascinating, its developments truly harness the beauty of how mechanical timepieces have evolved over time to blend in with modern society. Today we look back to the birth of the GMT Master, its story and discuss whether its use in todays world is as intended.
Design and conception
Most of us are familiar with the story of the birth of the GMT Master, Pan American airlines back in the early fifties, approaching Rolex with the concept of providing their pilots a mechanical watch that could track several time zones. Just as the golden age of jet travel was enabling mankind to travel further and faster than ever before. It is also worth mentioning at this point that the GMT function was also in development from other manufacturers and there was plenty of choice available in the market for a pilots tool watch, in particular Glycine, with the Airman. This particular timepiece was released one year after Rolex had introduced the GMT Master in 1954 at Basel. However, it was clear Pan Am had chosen Rolex and the GMT Master’s story was born.
The first reference ref.6532 featured a bakelite bezel, no crown guards and the renowned third GMT arrow hand. The bakelite bezel, an acrylic crystal implemented on earlier models did not fair so well and was soon replaced by aluminium inserts due to the tendencies for the bezel to crack and split. This ref.6532 was essentially based upon a Rolex Turnograph ref.6202 with an additional 24hr rotating bezel and GMT hand.
From this era to now very few updates have been introduced to the GMT Master, the milestone changes have included; independent hour hand modifications (introduced on the ref.16760 ‘GMT MASTER II’’ in 1983), aluminium bezel inserts to ceramic ( introduced on the ref.116710 in 2005). Among these major changes, developments to materials, movements and case proportions have been adjusted. Its only when you look at other Rolex models that you really start to see that the GMT Master has stuck fairly close to its original form and function.
The GMT today
I think its fair to say that the uses of the GMT Master are now a little outdated, with developments in technology, and the ability to track multiple timezones from the touch of a screen it seems a little stone age to be turning a bezel or a hand on your watch to be able to track another timezone. This said, the GMT in recent years has been gaining much more attention from a wider audience, not just pilots. You could certainly argue that it would also be a little tunnel visioned by Rolex to have designed a watch purely for the use of a single profession, and this can be said for the majority of current professional models. Today the GMT is seen as a symbol to the developments of intercontinental travel, on a personal note it can give the sense of connection when a loved one is overseas. It is still a watch that serves an important purpose in todays modern society.
From a pilots perspective
As a commercial pilot the functions and purpose of the GMT Master holds significant importance, as GMT (also referred to as UTC or ZULU) is the reference used in civil aviation. Almost everything is calculated using UTC (Universal Co-ordinated Time), from time overhead waypoints, to expected times of arrival and departure. This can been seen as a similar concept of British being the international language of aviation, it is the common factor by which the world of aviation operates and functions. The purpose of the GMT Master becomes even more important over long-haul flying, whereby the flight crew will be referring to multiple time zones along the journey of the flight, in some cases having to refer back to local time may be necessary. Before the times of atomic clocks and GPS based navigation and timing systems it would of almost been impossible to calculate these timings for reference, these days however, with other advances in technology, the use of mechanical timepieces could be viewed as somewhat redundant.
However, this being said, I have had the opportunity to fly with crew that still wear the GMT Master.
Thinking back I recall several times over the period of ten years that I have been flying that I have spotted a GMT Master on the wrist of a fellow aviator. Do any of them actually use the function? Well, not that I am aware of, maybe thats because the majority of the flying I have done has been within Europe and therefore only crossing timezones of 1-3hrs difference. Im sure there are many other pilots out there, when down route, like to have the local time and GMT hands set accordingly. However, on the occasions I have spoken to a pilot about their GMT they have always showed great interest in telling its story and why they still wear one today- ‘’its the pilots watch’’, It marks the age that jet travel was born, the good old days, the times when things were not as easy and straightforward as they are now. The GMT Master is an icon within the pilot community, I can say even for those that are not interested in owning one- they will most probably recognise the name and will never regret purchasing one.
So a final thought, answering one of the questions this article aimed to answer. Is the the GMT Master used today as it was originally intended? Well, yes and no I suppose. It clearly succeeded in setting out doing what it was designed to do, and in todays context that may no longer be required, however nobody can argue the nostalgia and symbolism that the GMT Master still provides. Whether sat in an office during a meeting, or in the cruise at 37,000ft your undoubtably wearing an iconic timepiece that for so many years has contributed to the connectivity and the ease at which we now all travel the world.
All the best, Josh
This article was originally featured on my good friend Diogo's website, feel free to check out his blog posts https://thedailydiogocosta.com/blog/isthegmtfunctional
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