Just got a Seamaster Planet Ocean GMT. I cannot adjust the GMT hand to sync with the hour hand. Example: If the watch indicates 5'clock the GMT hand is between the 4 and 5 marker.
From the rather unhelpful instructions, I believe I set the watch to my home time, sync the GMT hand, then when I travel, I set the watch to the new time zone and the GMT will remain at the home time. (?) I have done this, but the GMT does not stay in sync. Please Help!

 

The GMT is 24 hour.. So at 5am it will be between the 2 and 3.

Does that help?

 

Thanks Foo2rama: So I travel from New York to Los Angeles. At 1200 (noon) in Los Angeles the GMT for my home time will indicate somewhere between 2 and 3 PM? I would think at 1200 in LA the GMT would be exactly on 3. I am not understanding the 24 hr aspect. Should I be setting the GMT to the 24 hr scale on the outer bezel?

 

The GMT bezel is where you should be reading the 2nd time zone. I normally set it to my home time, then move the bezel to match the time I want to track.

Most GMT watches show only even numbers with a line between each one. These are the odd hours.


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Yes the GMTis set to the outer scale.

This is where it gets fuzzy on GMT watches. The GMT hand is 24 hours and on some it is set able independently of the hour hand. If it is fixed then the GMT hand will always be straight down when the watch is at 12 noon, at midnight straight up.

If they are linked then you adjust the bezel to tell time in other areas if the bezel is adjustable and the GMT 24 hand is not linked to the hour hand you can technically do 3 time zones at once. The GMT bezel setat12 and then adjust the bezel to local time. Then the 3rdis home etc.

I'm not sure if the Omega GMT is independent or not.

 

The patience and politeness of these responses are why Omega Forum is a few steps above other forums

 

@Nobel Prize: Oh yeah, you should see the debates on audio fora regarding cables. Like 10$K for a power cable from your wall outlet to the stereo amplifier.
There will be blood!

Ok back to topic.

Can anybody give me step by step instructions? I do not understand the manual at all!

 

If you get too frustrated with the GMT watch....
I have a desire for a GMT as my work now involves more coordinating activities between Chenai, Sydney , Melbourne, Milwaukee, DFW, and Phoenix. But I only work with DFW and one other time zone at a time. The second zone needs to be 24 hr. so I can tell if they're likely to be awake/aware or not. ;-)

 

Ok after reading the manual, it appears that the 24 hand is not synced to the hour hand. So this is pretty easy. You have either a 8605 or 8615 movement. Yeah the manual is counter intuitive, and based on idiots, so if you have 1/2 a brain the manual makes no sense. What the manual tells you to do is set the date, then set the time, it just uses too many words





This is how I would do it, Ignore the time on the watch until step 5

1) Pull crown to position 2, which should be all the middle spot. Position 1 is default after you unscrew it, position 3 is the normal time of the watch.

2) Adjust the date, this is done by moving the GMT hand past the Midnight location.

3) Adjust Bezel to the triangle pointing at the 12.

4) Adjust the GMT to local time. Say it is 3pm in the afternoon. The GMT hand should be on the 15 on the BEZEL. If you are doing it at 11am, then you would have the hour hand at 11, and the GMT would be at 11 on the BEZEL.

5)Pull to position 3 ALL THE WAY OUT, and set the local time.

6) Push back in crown to position 1, and screw in.



So if you travel from NYC to California you have 2 options. This is a 3 hour difference.

A) Set local (CA) time on the watch via position 3 , and leave GMT/ Bezel alone. This way your Bezel will read your home time.

OR

B) Leave HOME time on the watch, and adjust the bezel to +3 IE set the 21 on the bezel to the top 12 hour position. This would give you local time on the Bezel, and home time on the watch.

Basically you can set the hour/minute hands to anything that you want, but the GMT is linked with the date wheel. There are a few ways you can use variations of the hands, GMT, and bezel to do a bunch of different time zones... Hopefully this helps.

 

Take a look at this. Even I could follow it

 

Ok ignore what I said the instructions in the manual are totally whacked out and invert position 2 and 3.

 

Maybe a couple pictures of your watch and what you have and explain what your getting can give a perspective of what we're looking at, compared to what you're saying.

 

The GMT function on these watches is extremely simple, so you may be overthinking it. Instructions aside the important thing is that you remember the GMT hand covers 24 steps rather than 12, which is why you "read" it relative to the bezel numerals, not the dial.

First set the bezel to align with the 12 0'clock time. in other words set the bezel straight. then follow these steps.

1/ Set the crown in whatever position moves all the hands. then start rotating them until the GMT hand reaches 12 on the dial AND the date changes. That means that hand is now at midnight. Allow the minute hand to also be at 12, overlapping with the GMT hand.

2/ Now that the GMT hand is on the midnight position (make sure the date has switched( change the crown to whatever position moves only the hour hand and position that too at 12 O'clock overlapping with the GMT hand and the minute hand. So now you have all three hands at midnight.

3/ Go back to the position that moves all three hands and set it to the correct time wherever you are. you will see for every hour the "hour" hand covers the GMT covers 1/2 an hour on the dial, (but one full hour on the bezel) Once you have set the correct time you should see that the hour is correct on the dial, and the GMT hand is pointing at the bezel at whatever correct 24 hour equivalent to the current time on your time zone is.

Now you're set on the classic GMT setting. That is, all hands on your time zone and bezel on neutral. Now, when you travel just rotate your bezel forward or back the amount of hours needed (bare in mind the increments are at 24 hours). By doing that you are changing the position of the "arrow" marker or midnight marker on the bezel. The GMT hand now points on the bezel to the secondary time.

The other way to do it is to leave the bezel unmoved and reset the GMT hand only to point at the new time. (That's the fixed bezel approach)

The reason 3 time zones are allowed is because traditional pilot briefings and time tables always came on UTZ or GMT time, so they needed to have that reference at all times while still being able to gage the time at origin and destination. Watches like the explorer2 have 2 settings only because they are not meant to be set against UTZ times, rather just original and destination.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks to all. Now that I understand the 24hr scale, it is perfect