Do you have a globetrotting soul within you? Does the idea of changing time zones obsess you? Rest assured, you are not the first person in this case!
Already in 1675, the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was born with the aim of helping sailors at sea to determine the local time.
Almost 200 years later, in 1876, the meridian would become the planetary reference that would establish the basis for the different time zones. The world had already set its clocks on time!
The very first GMT watches
Following the Second World War, commercial flights of the intercontinental type became more and more popular among the general public. Pilots, whose on-board instruments were purely mechanical, needed to know from their hectic activity the departure and local times after their journeys over the various continents.
The company wisteria consequently innovated by presenting the “Airman” watch model in 1953. Coupled with a rotating bezel, its original hour hand performing a single turn of the dial over 24 hours allowed the user to instantly read a second time zone.
Here’s a look at the Glycine Airman Vintage “The Chief” Purist GL0412, a contemporary reissue that helps give you an idea of how the vintage model looked!
The reading of the second time zone was done cleverly by the presence on the bezel of graduations ranging from 1 to 24 hours. Unwittingly, the brand had just revolutionized the watchmaking landscape.
The rest, some know it well! In 1954, to the delight of the public and especially following the request of the American company Pan American World Airways better known under the title “Pan Am”, rolex will unveil its now legendary model GMT-Master reference 6542.
A bestseller that will be seen on the wrist of pilots from all airlines of the time. Ease of use and reading comfort, accentuated by a red arrow-type hand and a two-tone bezel tinted red for the daytime hours and blue for the nighttime hours, have greatly helped this Rolex to become the benchmark for possess to feel citizen of the World.
We can also note that the GMT Master has been seen several times on the small and big screen!
