Most GMT watches work in the same way. You’ve got your main hour and minute hand for telling the local time on a 12-hour scale, while an additional GMT hand tracks a second time zone on a 24-hour scale.
There are variations, of course. Sometimes there’s a rotating 24-hour bezel, sometimes not. Movements come in either “caller” or “flyer” arrangements, offering independent adjustability of the GMT hand or local hour hand, respectively. Some brands, like Panerai and Patek Philippe, have their GMT hand track the second time zone in a 12-hour rather than 24-hour format.
Then there’s De Bethune. The high-end independent brand thrives on the unexpected and the avant-garde, which is why its take on the travel watch turns the GMT complication on its head. Literally.
Home Watch, Meet Travel Watch
De Bethune has just debuted the DB Kind of Two GMT Season 3, a new version of the brand’s previous Kind of Two GMT and its third collaboration with rapper and horological enthusiast Swizz Beatz, hence the “Season 3” moniker.
The watch is effectively two separate watches in one, with the rotating case featuring a unique dial on both sides with each displaying a different time zone. This makes it so the wearer can, if they wish, use one dial for home wear and the other when traveling. Sort of gives a new definition to the term “vacation time.”