A fresh approach for an old complication - City Limits GMT

If I had to pick the most useful complication on a wrist watch today it would be the GMT one, having the ability to track a second time zone is more useful that knowing the exact time to boil and egg (sorry chronograph lovers it just is), even if you have no relatives or business on other time zones is very cool to imagine what another part of the world is doing, working while you are sleeping or eating while you are commuting. I have ben always fascinated by GMT watches and I owned a few, from the legendary Glycine Airman to the current Grand Seiko 9F GMT, the simplicity and usefulness is something that you really appreciate on daily basis.

You really don’t need me to tell you that the GMT complication is very popular at the moment and this is mostly because of the hype caused by the Rolex GMT Master, unfortunately everyone is trying to follow Rolex in terms of design, everything is black and blue or red and blue, night or day indication and to be honest it is getting a bit boring, I was searching for a fresh approach to this feature and I stumbled across Dufrane and their City limits GMT, everything was new, a yellow hand, a concentric dial with a strap that looks like nothing else, I was so curious that I reached out to the brand to try this beautiful watch and very kindly they offer to send a demo, join me to find out more about it and its unique approach to a travelers piece.

The specifications:

The city limits has a 42mm case making fit perfectly on my 6.25 inch wrist, it also has a very slim profile under 13mm and a lug to lug distance of 47.6mm, very compact very easy to pull.

The watch has a sapphire case back where you can see the Swiss Sellita SW330 Movement with a decorated rotor, a great movement in my opinion giving the user reliability and a great complication. The front of the watch is where the party happens, our watch had a blue concentric pattern dial which is very hypnotizing and 4 hands lying on top of it, the hour and minute hands are long and chunky making it very easy to read and the GMT and seconds hand are thin and yellow, everything works well, I've forgotten how much blue and yellow look good. The date window at 3 o'clock matches the dial color giving a visual treat for us with a bit neurosis.

The watch has a 24 hours bi directional rotating bezel, which gives the wearer the ability to jump between hours with ease. The watch has all the advantages of a modern GMT with the built quality you expect nowadays.

On the wrist:

The watch fits like a glove, with these kind of dimensions I can see myself wearing the City Limits on almost every occasion, is a sporty watch but is subtle, is unique. The watch comes with a beautiful geometric threaded gaucho leather strap which is very soft with a quality feel, it gives the watch that friendship bracelet vibe, remember those bracelet we used exchange with our loved ones to announce to the world that we had a friend? Well something like that, something sweet. The watch is very legible and it has to me one of the best Superluminova applications I've seen so far in this price category, I have to say I am a sucker for C3 lume. Something that really caught my eye were the numerals, they are very different with parallel lines making the whole watch have an 80's air.

Conclusions:

The Rolex GMT Master is probably one of the best watches I've ever tried and it is a winner for a reason, it hits all the buttons that you could ever want but it does have a big problem, everyone is following it making it mainstream and dare I say predictable.

I am not comparing 2 watches directly, what I am comparing is the execution of a complication that is probably the most useful one in mechanical pieces. The direction that Dufrane took with the City limits GMT is as fresh as Glycine's when it came out with the Airman more than 50 years ago, is a reset button to a feature that needed a new approach, a new player in town believing that there are no limits.

More information at www.dufranewatches.com