GMT MasterII Second time zone setting

[ebueso1970]

Hello all,

I have been very puzzled by the setting of a second time zone on a GMTII! I hope you Rolex experts can help me out!!
Here goes:

1-What hour hand determines the quick date change on oGMTII...The regular Hour hand or the long pointer 24hr hand?

2-I you have your GMTII whit equally set time on both reg hr hand and 24hr hand ie. 10pm and 22hr on both hands respectively. You are traveling to a place that is 12hrs ahead..how do you set second time zone on the reg hr hand and what will the date display be..The date of your home time(24hr hand) or the date for your second time zone???

3-If you buy your new GMTI and for some reason it comes with both HR and 24HR hands set differently, how do you set them equally provided you ar not traveling anywhere.

4- Do you set date like on a regular submariner??

Pleeeease help me..It's driving me crazy!!!!!!!!

Eddie

[timefinder]

PM sent with information.

[timefinder]

BTW, for those that are interested:

Not having a GMT II, I did not know the answer, so I scoured the web for you and found the following:

From the website I found (Source credit provided at end.)

Setting the GMT Master II

The winding stem has four positions.

Position 0: Crown screwed down (default position).
Position 1: Crown unscrewed and just free of the screw threads (for hand-winding).
Position 2: Crown pulled to first notch (makes the H hand move by +/- 1 hour; this does not impact S, M or B.)
Position 3: Crown pulled to second notch (the watch stops, and you can advance M and T hands as you see fit).

How to set B

You don't have to touch the stem to play with the bezel. If your local time zone is negative (you're west of Greenwich), rotate B clockwise by the correct number of hours. If your local time zone is positive (you're east of Greenwich), rotate B counterclockwise by the correct number of hours. If done correctly, T, when read against B, shows the twenty-four hour time in your time zone.

How to set H

When you travel somewhere, set B to the correct time zone. To change H, select position two, and adjust H until the hour is correct (in +/- one hour increments). Note that M, S and T will continue to turn, so your watch will not lose time! Restore position zero when finished.

How to set T and M (and Stop S)

Move B so the arrow is above the crown (B=0). Select position three and adjust T to give the 24h time in GMT, where T is read against B's scale. You'll note that M moves when you rotate the stem, but S stays fixed. (S and M run at every position except three.) When done, restore position zero.

If you don't know what time it is in GMT, ask the United States Navy United States Navy (http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl ) , a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, etc. For our purposes, GMT is the same as Universal Time, although there are minor differences outside the scope of this article. (Select position three and turn the stem until you get the correct time.)

Once you set T, you will never have to change it again, except to adjust for error in the watch---T does not change with daylight savings time, for example.

Source: www.rolexforums.com/archive/index.php/t-135.html

Hope this helps.

[bullandvodka]

No worries ebueso1970,

Timefinder's directions are correct, but if you are a visual person, here is my favorite youtube vid on the GMT's operation.

youtube.com/watch?v=76RAJWQoosE

[ebueso1970]

Hello Timefinder,

I got all mixed up!! I was under the impression of the following:

1- Example.. I live in honduras where the time is 10pm (Watch is set with hour hand and 24hr hand both at same time) I travel to Spain where the time there is 6am next day(8 hours ahead) So I set the regular hr hand(H) at 6 am by advancing the hand 8hrs. My 24hr(T) will still read 10pm th day before(home time in Honduras) Will the date be shown for my home tie and change at 12am w/the 24hr(T) hand even though my reg hour hand (h) is 8 hours into the next date! I guess this would mean that the 24hr hand changes tha date??.

Also If I wanted to change only date to what position do I set crown to?
The example above is not using actual Greenwich time..I actually using two different times(home and place I travel to just as shown on Rolex booklet)

Please educate me on this

Eddie

[ebueso1970]

Please some help here guys!

[ebueso1970]

Another example!

Provided I set both the 24hr hand and the regular hr hand at same time ie. 21 and 9pm respectively and date is 15th. If the watch runs like this the date will change at time when both the reg hour hand and 24hr hand are at 12am(Provided bezel is at top crown zero position) I Travel to a city two hours ahead and corrected regular hr hand plus 2.. The watch would then read regular Hr hand 11pm and 24hr(home time) still reads 21. Date would still be the 15th but if 2 hours go by and the watch then reads 1am reg hr hand and 23 on 24hr hand what will the date be. Would it still be 15 since the 24hr hand has not reached 24(12am) or would it be the 16th since the regular hr hand is at 1am the next day?

Remember I'm not using Greenwich, just using dual times Home time(24hr hand) and travel city time(reg hr hand).

I still think the you have to first set both hands at same time ie. 6pm=18(24hr) before you make forward or backward adjustments! Therefore the 24hr hand is the one that actualy triggers the date change. I don't think the date is changed when you move the reg hr hand back and forward independently

Please help me out!!!!!!!!!!!

Eddie

[bullandvodka]

Did you watch the youtube? It shows how to set and change the time for all hands.

[talktime]

I don't have the Rolex, but the Omega 'Great White' Seamaster GMT; however the functions are similar...

What I do is I set the red 24-hr hand to GMT, and never change it. I can rotate the bezel to represent whichever time zone I choose, and I always have "Zulu" time represented as well- often it is easiest for all parties (on a global conference call for example) to use GMT as the standard, like the military does in similar cases...

The standard hour hand and date indication are for "local time" in this case, my home time is eastern time. The watch hour hand and the date wheel are coupled, so as you change the watch past midnight "local time", the date rolls over with it.

When I then travel to Switzerland for example, I set the hour hand of the watch to local swiss time, with the quick set feature for the hour hand of the watch (same as the Rolex). If I need to, I can also rotate the bezel to indicate eastern time, so I know what the time is at home (but this is a bad example, as it is six hours difference, and you just look opposite the hour hand for eastern time...)

So, in this particular example, I can see three time zones: Local time in Switzerland (with date), GMT (because 'straight-up' is hour 24 of GMT the way I set it), and rotating the bezel can indicate any other time zone (except a few that are odd, but that's another story).

Does that help at all, or just confuse you more?

It is far easier to demonstrate the features than to explain them. Your AD should have taken the time to show you everything, particularly on such an expensive piece...

I think you just have to play with it a bit, and you will figure it out...

[ebueso1970]

Hello TT,

Actually it confuses me a bit because rolex doesn't refer the 24hr as GMT but rather as your home time if you were to travel somewhere and the reg hr hand your destination which is set independently. This is why it doesn't sound logical for thr Rolex reg hr hand to make the actual date change because if you have bezel at center and the 24hr hand at say 22(10pm) how do you go about to set time on the reg hr hand at same time as the 24hr ie. the reg woul always be set on the 10 indice and the 24hr would be at 22, therefore date change would be at 12am for both!!

Darn! this is painful!!

Eddie

[talktime]

Well, you can set the GMT hand to your home time if you wish; I just use the GMT hand for GMT time myself...

The date 'flip' is tied to the hour hand on the watch, so it changes with the local time you set on the normal watch dial. The date changes when the hour hand passes midnight, not when the GMT hand passes the straight up position. This is because midnight might be anywhere in the GMT hand's rotation, and it would truly bet confusing then...

To try and simplify it further, you can quick set the hour hand, so as you get off your plane, you can quickly adjust it to local time, and read the hour and minute hands as you normally would. This adjustment has no impact on the GMT hand at all, but if you move the hour hand past midnight when you adjust it to local time, the date will change.

I suppose a GMT watch with a second date for the GMT hand would be a nice feature, bot only f you routinely cross the date line in your travels... This is why many GMT watches have two-color rotating bezels, so you can keep trac of day and night back at "home", which is set with the GMT hand and the bezel.

[ld]

Eddie,

Always think of the hour (Mercedes) hand as the time where you are presently at.. The date will also always correspond to where you are at. (where you are at might not be your home)

The 24 hr hand will always display the time zone you wish to "monitor". When you are at home, they will be the same; when you are 6 time zones away, the 24 hr hand will monitor your home time but not your home date..

To use the bezel without doing extra math, the 24 hr hand should be set to your local time (as is typically used today), or to GMT time.

[ebueso1970]

Hello ID & TT,

This is much more helpful!
Now take this scenario:
You received your new GMTII and for some reason both the reg hr hand and 24hr hand are not with the same time ie. hr hand 9pm and 24hr hand at 22 with bezel at top zero position. How do you set them to the same time if you want the date change when both reg&and 24hr hands are at 12 position? You are not going to travel and you want both hands on same time zone.

How do you set date on this model. You don't have a crown position just for date change like on ie. su, datejust etc??

Eddie

[talktime]

You have to roll the hour hand around past midnight to change the date. I don't have a "quick-set" date either- the GMT complication prevents this on both watches I think...

So, set the hour hand (local time) to match the GMT hand first, taking care to note where midnight is for the date change.

next, change the crown position to the normal setting position (position three I think) where the minute hand also moves, not just the hour hand (second hand stops too, so you may want to 'hack' or stop it with the second hand straight up).

Now adjust the time and date to the desired date and time, about one minute fast. You will note that both the hour, minute and GMT hands all move in this position.

Wait for your time signal to indicate the exact minute you have set on your dial, and at that instant push the crown back in.

Now you will have the exact time and date for both the local time hands as well as the GMT hand.

Remember to change the local time in the correct direction when you travel, so the date remains correct for your location. If you roll it the wrong way, it may begin changing at noon on you...

[ebueso1970]

Thanks a bunch TT..extremely helpful!!!!

Eddie