No. You point the large indicator at the current minute, then as time marches on you see how many minutes it has been since you set it.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The “GMT” watch face— set time zone?
- Thread starter iGeneo
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
the count up watch face is also backwards! on an actual watch with a diving bezel like this, the bezel rotates to set a future time to watch out for eg 10 mins in the future, for example when your oxygen will
run out, so the watch face should actually count DOWN to that point you set with the bezel marker from current your minute hand marker! so disappointed! been waiting literally years for watch faces like this and they get them so wrong!
FWIW, most dive watch bezels actually do count up, and it's not for timing your actual oxygen. It's for timing things like decompression stops, dive times, surface intervals, etc.
Yep. See below for another example, this time from a watch I actually own. Notice that both this TAG and the Submariner have more detail on the bezel AFTER the large indicator. Both watches could be used for diving, since they are rated to 200m and 300m respectively.
So why does it allow you to set the marker in future and actually starts the count at the current minute hand... eg setting the marker at 15 minutes past, with the minute hand at 50, starts the time elapsed at 50...
Thanks for this discussion, I like the look of both the GMT and count up faces and am still confused by how they work. I have an online workout program for rowing that has folks from around the world, and those workouts/races are set in GMT. Converting to GMT ends up being confusing and it frustrating/embarrassing to miss a race. I had an old Tag Hauer diving watch that I loved, and I remembering using that bezel, and I use my apple watch to "count up" all the time, mostly while cooking, so I can definitely see using that face. If anyone can post an example of how the count up face works, I would appreciate that too.
What do you mean by "it"? The bezel on a physical watch? Remember that I said you can use it both ways, meaning you can set the large indicator in the future to get a countdown to a certain time, or set it to the current minute to get a count up from when you set it. It's a physically rotating item. It doesn't "allow" or "disallow" anything.
ETA: Found this quick video on how you're supposed to use a bezel on a dive watch:
Last edited:
This is not true based on the Apple Watch I’m sat here with. I can tap the screen and change the time zone to any time zone and the position of the red hand is unchanged regardless of what other time zone I select. All that changes is the number that displays on the bezel which the red hand has most recently passed (e.g. the bezel rotates) to indicate the most recent hour in the time zone I have set, and the colour change on said bezel changes to the time of sunset/sunrise in the selected city. Are you seeing a different behaviour? Because I am not.
For local time zone, yes, the watch reads like every analog watch I have ever looked at.
For the count up face you tap in the center of the face. The bezel will rotate so the larger indicator points at the current minute. There will also be a green capsule in the center of the face that says "START". Tapping the capsule will start the timer, while tapping anywhere else will cancel. Once the timer starts just let it go until you're done timing. When you want to stop, tap anywhere in the face again. This will bring up a dialog which will let you choose between "Continue" and "Stop". Tap stop to stop the timer.
thank you. does the ring of little white circles do anything or is that configurable in some way?
As someone who had a gmt Rolex, another cool feature of a gmt watch is if you set both to the local time. Point the small hour to the sun, the gmt hand will point north. It is a handy compass.
More so, IMHO. I often have 2 or 3 time zones displayed as small complications due to my work which spans Europe, North America and Asia. IMHO, the GMT face harkens back to the bad old days of mechanical watches. This was the best they could do. There are better approaches available today.
This is like putting a rotary dial on an iPhone. Why why why...
Yep, at least if you’re in the northern hemisphere. Also, you can actually do something similar with just a regular analog watch.
The "24 hour outer dial" only shows time using 24 hour format if you have your watch set to 24-hour time. If you don't then the outer dial shows the 12 hour time in the second time zone. This is really too bad! It would be much handier if it really did show the 24 hour time in the second time zone.
It does the same thing if you choose to use the world clock complication, even if it is set to UTC. I guess either your watch is on 12 hour time or 24 hour time, and there is no way to set a second time readout to be different from the main.
Also, the color schemes seem backwards to me. I'd think that the darker color would represent nighttime and the brighter color would represent daytime (in the second time zone). But it doesn't seem to work that way with most of the color combinations. The color seems to be the nighttime and the gray color is for the daytime. Very odd.
It does the same thing if you choose to use the world clock complication, even if it is set to UTC. I guess either your watch is on 12 hour time or 24 hour time, and there is no way to set a second time readout to be different from the main.
Also, the color schemes seem backwards to me. I'd think that the darker color would represent nighttime and the brighter color would represent daytime (in the second time zone). But it doesn't seem to work that way with most of the color combinations. The color seems to be the nighttime and the gray color is for the daytime. Very odd.
Ok, so it took me a while to figure out how this face even worked. Basically that red hand always shows your current hour in military time. So if it's 12 noon where you are, the red hand will point straight down. If you change the outer dial to a different time zone, it will give a corresponding number in the outer dial wherever the red hand is pointing. So if it's 12 noon where you are and you select a time zone that's three hours ahead of you, the red hand will still point straight down but you'll see a number in the outer dial corresponding to the hour of that second time zone. I have no idea if thats how regular GMT watches work though. It took me a while to figure out how the hell it's keeping different times.
Nothing is wrong. If London is 12:25 and India is 4:30 hours difference then it will be 16:55 and the hand is correct. Looks here. The red hand point to almost 17:00 (notices the 16 before it?)
I do get it now. I thought the purpose of the red hand was to point at the GMT hour (given the name of the face), rather than the hour of the local time zone.
Thought some folks might be interested in the history behind this style of watch. Check out the article below, which as several examples of GMT watches, as well as a discussion of World Timers. It would it interested to see Apple take on a World Timer design, but I doubt they will. The lettering of the various cities would be too difficult to read, and make the face too cluttered. All for functionality that can be achieved already using the faces and complications already available. In my opinion anyway.
www.prestigeonline.com
The history of GMT watches and world timers
We take a close look at two of the most practical and still-relevant innovations that have ever been made: GMT watches and world timers.
www.prestigeonline.com
This watch face is so wrong on so many levels!! The whole point behind a GMT watch is that GMT is GMT, with the 2nd hour hand pointing to the GMT, and your normal
Hands pointing to the current time zone.. instead Apple decide to rotate the GMT bezel to match your current time zone! It makes no sense! I have sent feedback via Apple website I hope you all do the same so this can be corrected!
the count up watch face is also backwards! on an actual watch with a diving bezel like this, the bezel rotates to set a future time to watch out for eg 10 mins in the future, for example when your oxygen will
run out, so the watch face should actually count DOWN to that point you set with the bezel marker from current your minute hand marker! so disappointed! been waiting literally years for watch faces like this and they get them so wrong!
I agree. I had high hopes as I want a GMT/UTC style watch. I know how to set it. But the 2-tone dial for the alternate time doesn't need to rotate! Eg. If I choose UTC and it is Noon (UTC time) then the GMT hand should point straight down (to the regular 6) and have a 12 in the circle. It does not do this. Apple please fix it.
Why is the Red hand not moving. I seriously dont get this! Why does the red hand stay still and instead the circle spins around it to show the time for your 2nd location?? This doesnt make sense to me at all. Shouldnt the red hand move just like it does on a GMT rollex?
Seems like it's kind of a combination and the outer dial has 3 functions:
1 - it always shows 24 hour current time zone time. This is where the Red hand is pointing and it works as a 24 hour dial (midnight is at 12 o'clock, 6am is at 3 o'clock, midday is at 6 o'clock, 6pm is at 9 o'clock, etc)
2 - On this outer dial, where the Red hand is pointing it will also show you what hour it is in your designated second time zone by showing the current hour in that time zone as a digit
3 - The dual-tone aspect of the outer dial shows day and night, with the break between them being sunrise and sunset respectively
1 - it always shows 24 hour current time zone time. This is where the Red hand is pointing and it works as a 24 hour dial (midnight is at 12 o'clock, 6am is at 3 o'clock, midday is at 6 o'clock, 6pm is at 9 o'clock, etc)
2 - On this outer dial, where the Red hand is pointing it will also show you what hour it is in your designated second time zone by showing the current hour in that time zone as a digit
3 - The dual-tone aspect of the outer dial shows day and night, with the break between them being sunrise and sunset respectively
Will someone please try and explain the GMT face to me in as simple a way as possible?
I am being dumb, I know I am, but I am really struggling to understand it, not least because of the following images.
I am in the UK and if I set the GMT to “none”, this is what I get.
![C87FDA6E-D833-400C-925F-3E5242CDE522.jpeg]( "C87FDA6E-D833-400C-925F-3E5242CDE522.jpeg")
It is nearly 11.10pm right now.
If I set the GMT to London, which is the time zone I am in, this is what I get
![5564933D-4507-4B17-8BF4-C62F8C0A9B94.jpeg]( "5564933D-4507-4B17-8BF4-C62F8C0A9B94.jpeg")
The outer bezel is offset by one hour, but I haven’t changed time zone.
Thirdly, if I set the GMT to “current location”, this is what I get.![EF96287C-5B9F-435A-907A-033123FF3DCA.jpeg]( "EF96287C-5B9F-435A-907A-033123FF3DCA.jpeg")
The bezel gets offset a huge amount. I’m obviously not getting it, or as I said before, I’m plain stupid but can anyone help me out?
Jason
I am being dumb, I know I am, but I am really struggling to understand it, not least because of the following images.
I am in the UK and if I set the GMT to “none”, this is what I get.
It is nearly 11.10pm right now.
If I set the GMT to London, which is the time zone I am in, this is what I get
The outer bezel is offset by one hour, but I haven’t changed time zone.
Thirdly, if I set the GMT to “current location”, this is what I get.
The bezel gets offset a huge amount. I’m obviously not getting it, or as I said before, I’m plain stupid but can anyone help me out?
Jason
So there's a couple of different things going on with the bezel. First, the large triangle indicator will rotate with the time zone you select. Since the choices you made are None, LON, and Location, those will all have that indicator at the top.
As for the colors, they are generally tracking with sunrise and sunset for the location you choose. If you choose none the division between the colors will always be at 3 and 9 and stay there. When you choose LON, they will correspond with sunrise and sunset in London. With the last one, I have no idea what's going on there. It seems to be saying that sunrise is around 3:00AM and sunset is around 3:00PM (15:00) based on your location. No idea how that could be possible.