The “GMT” watch face— set time zone?

[TooMuchPhone]

More choices of lights colors on the bottom would make this face significantly better. Who thought a darker color for daylight hours makes sense?

I miss the days where these kind of details were taken seriously by Apple. That said, with all their virtue signaling it’s a miracle that there are any new watch faces this year.

 

[wilberforce]

More choices of lights colors on the bottom would make this face significantly better. Who thought a darker color for daylight hours makes sense?

I agree! Most of the color choices have grey indicating daylight hours, which is completely unintuitive.
Notice how the Rolex GMT watch has grey indicating the night hours, and color indicating the daylight hours, which makes more sense.

 

[claude512]

I agree! Most of the color choices have grey indicating daylight hours, which is completely unintuitive.
Notice how the Rolex GMT watch has grey indicating the night hours, and color indicating the daylight hours, which makes more sense.

Watch faces in general have gone from horologically significant to just “let’s make it look pretty”

It’s almost like they spend time looking at watch fotos and then implement visual features without giving any thought whatsoever to how or why classic watches are designed the way they are

It’s gone from a “watch” to a “health thing that can somewhat tell the time”

 

[edhchoe]

The red hand stays close to the hour hand so that I don't have to look for it even when it is hidden under the minute hand?

 

[wilberforce]

The red hand stays close to the hour hand so that I don't have to look for it even when it is hidden under the minute hand?

Only at midnight. The only time when a 12-hr face aligns with a 24-hr face

 

[RabidMacFan]

tldr; inner dial is always 12-hour time; outer dial and red hand is always 24-hour time for a second time zone; colors indicate sunrise/sunset for second time zone (in 24-hour time)

Here are my observations on how I think the GMT watch face works:

1. The inner dial is a standard 12 hour clock for the current time zone (set on your iPhone)
2. The red hand is a 24 hour clock for the current time zone. It will do one full rotation in 24 hours, using the 1/2 notches in the outer dial.
3. The number next to the red hand is the hour in the second time zone which you can set by tapping once on the watch face while active
4. The triangle in the outer dial is also in a 24-hour scale, and is supposed to indicate how many hours ahead or behind the current time is from the second time zone. I observed that if the second timezone is 1 hour ahead of current time, the triangle will be at the 23/24 hour mark. If the second timezone is 1 hour behind, the triangle will be at the 1/24 hour mark (between the 12 and 1). If the second time zone is set the same as the current time zone, the triangle will stay at 0/24 (12 o' clock). This is confusing to me because when the second time zone is ahead, the triangle will move back.
5. The color dial indicates sunrise and sunset in 24-hour time for the second time zone. I'm not used to reading a 24-hour clock, so this can sometimes be hard to read. Right now half of the Pepsi dial is between 3 and 4 (0700 hours) and the other half is between 9 and 10 (1900 hours). When the red hand reaches the separators between your two selected colors, it will either be sunrise or sunset in the second time zone.

 

[edhchoe]

1. The color dial indicates sunrise and sunset in 24-hour time for the second time zone. I'm not used to reading a 24-hour clock, so this can sometimes be hard to read. Right now half of the Pepsi dial is between 3 and 4 (0700 hours) and the other half is between 9 and 10 (1900 hours). When the red hand reaches the separators between your two selected colors, it will either be sunrise or sunset in the second time zone.

So the color border keeps shifting twice a day because daylight is not 12 hours all year long...

 

[Doctor Chopper]

My watch is set for 24 hour time and present location for second time zone which allows me to see the military time hours, which I like. My problem is that the sunrise and sunset remain at 12 hour intervals, and do not change with actual conditions. Am I missing a setting, or how does this work as Day length changes?

 

[K4VKS]

Odd.. I am trying to long press, it brings up edit.. can't seem to figure it out from there

Edit: Got it... that is a really odd UI to change the other time zone.... Also, having to press the little check

THANK YOU!! I couldn’t figure it out either.

 

[edhchoe]

My watch is set for 24 hour time and present location for second time zone which allows me to see the military time hours, which I like. My problem is that the sunrise and sunset remain at 12 hour intervals, and do not change with actual conditions. Am I missing a setting, or how does this work as Day length changes?

Really?.
My watch. Mine is not 12hrs.

 

[Doctor Chopper]

Really?.
My watch. Mine is not 12hrs.

Does it accurately reflect sunrise and sunset times? I think I have some setting wrong.

 

[edhchoe]

Does it accurately reflect sunrise and sunset times? I think I have some setting wrong.

Yes.

 

[Luba]

tldr; inner dial is always 12-hour time; outer dial and red hand is always 24-hour time for a second time zone; colors indicate sunrise/sunset for second time zone (in 24-hour time)

Here are my observations on how I think the GMT watch face works:

1. The inner dial is a standard 12 hour clock for the current time zone (set on your iPhone)
2. The red hand is a 24 hour clock for the current time zone. It will do one full rotation in 24 hours, using the 1/2 notches in the outer dial.
3. The number next to the red hand is the hour in the second time zone which you can set by tapping once on the watch face while active
4. The triangle in the outer dial is also in a 24-hour scale, and is supposed to indicate how many hours ahead or behind the current time is from the second time zone. I observed that if the second timezone is 1 hour ahead of current time, the triangle will be at the 23/24 hour mark. If the second timezone is 1 hour behind, the triangle will be at the 1/24 hour mark (between the 12 and 1). If the second time zone is set the same as the current time zone, the triangle will stay at 0/24 (12 o' clock). This is confusing to me because when the second time zone is ahead, the triangle will move back.
5. The color dial indicates sunrise and sunset in 24-hour time for the second time zone. I'm not used to reading a 24-hour clock, so this can sometimes be hard to read. Right now half of the Pepsi dial is between 3 and 4 (0700 hours) and the other half is between 9 and 10 (1900 hours). When the red hand reaches the separators between your two selected colors, it will either be sunrise or sunset in the second time zone.

Yeah, why does the triangle move back when the second time zone (or reference time zone) is ahead??

 

[matrix07]

Yeah, why does the triangle move back when the second time zone (or reference time zone) is ahead??

Because the time is clockwise from 1 to 24 hours so when the triangle rotate counter clockwise the time is increased, meaning the bigger number will come to the red hand instead of the smaller one. Make sense?

 

[Luba]

Because the time is clockwise from 1 to 24 hours so when the triangle rotate counter clockwise the time is increased, meaning the bigger number will come to the red hand instead of the smaller one. Make sense?

Sorry, no. Could you state in another way? Who knew analog could be so complex . . .

 

[matrix07]

Sorry, no. Could you state in another way? Who knew analog could be so complex . . .

You have a circular and the number run from 1 to 24 “clockwise”, like a watch. You want the number on red triangle to increase, which way you will rotate the circle? Clockwise or counter clockwise?
The correct answer will be counter clockwise, not clockwise. That’s why you rotate counter clockwise for the time ahead. To increase the time. It has nothing to do with forward or backward but increase or decrease time.

 

[edhchoe]

Why does the bezel keep rotating?
The red hand is moving anyway. On real GMT watch the bezel stays put, right?

 

[RabidMacFan]

Yeah, why does the triangle move back when the second time zone (or reference time zone) is ahead??

Sorry, no. Could you state in another way? Who knew analog could be so complex . . .

It's so that when it is midnight in the second time zone, the red hand will be on the triangle.

Why does the bezel keep rotating?
The red hand is moving anyway. On real GMT watch the bezel stays put, right?

The bezel does not rotate unless you are changing timezones. The bezel WILL adjust based on sunrise/sunset for the second timezone, but day-to-day you will not see much difference. There will be a bigger difference season to season.

 

[Luba]

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.

View attachment 957712

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

View attachment 957713

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.View attachment 957715

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 think Apple fixed the "current location" bug with the latest update so that sunrise/sunset is now accurate.

 

[TooMuchPhone]

Another bug - far northern locations have 24 hours of darkness now - the watch uses the color for hours of light instead - sad.

 

[Dguitarnut]

Lol................maybe, just maybe it’s a nostalgia old school remembrance. No one complained about the Rolex GMTmaster. They were just grateful.