Nice, affordable and GMT? Hamilton has a couple of GMTs that might be about right.

Or, really splurge and go for the Longines Spirit GMT.

 

Maybe define "affordable" in terms of your budget.

The Mido GMT is a great watch, but not sure what price range you are considering?

The Torgoen will be of similar lower end quality as your MK, so might consider spending a bit more to get something better made and longer lasting? Might look at Citizen and maybe Seiko as well.

Just my opinion, so whatever you like best is the correct watch to choose.

 

I knew I forgot something, I'd define affordable anything up to $600

 

As previously mentioned, there are Seiko options. For a little more money (roughly $600-$1000) you can find watches with a Miyota 9075 (flyer GMT) movement. Here's a list of watches with the 9075.

 

Those seikos are beautiful

 

A vote for the Sinn 856 UTC--clean design, durable, though not super affordable at $2,000, give or take. If you go pre-owned on a strap vs. bracelet it will be more affordable than new, of course.

 

Laco Frankfort GMT, under $2K and can be engraved at the factory.

 

If it were my money, I’d go with one of the newish Seiko 5 GMTs. Built to be robust and comfortably in your price range.

 

Yeah someone shared a link with the SSK025k1 earlier and man, it looks to fit the bill.

 

Mido Ocean Star GMT Blue Dial Steel Men's Watch M0266291104100

Buy Mido Ocean Star GMT Blue Dial Steel Men's Watch M0266291104100 for only $1,037.00. Free Shipping with a 30 Day Return Policy and a 2 year warranty.

www.watchmaxx.com

Also, Mido runs the caliber 80 movement, which provides 80 hours of power reserve.

 

Well, if you like automatics and a bit of vintage style; when I was young and "in" most of the Huey pilots (both gunships and slicks), and Loach ("little bird's" grandpa) pilots were all wearing Glycine Airmen or Seikos. The Airmen were/are 24 hour 2 timezone rotating bezel watches; Seiko didn't have a GMT then as I recall (but they do now as others have pointed out). With the Glycines-if you go for the third timezone (GMT hand plus a 12 hour hand) they get cluttered, and honestly the lume sucks on all of them by modern standards. So, fun for wearing at the bar etc., but...

My actual recommendation is (I hope) more pragmatic. I suggest you reconsider requirements - this suggestion is much less driven by your stated requirements than by inferences from past military experience and more recent experience supporting deployed DOD contractors. So, feel free to discount the following at will after please considering it.

A 12 hour bezel simplifies tracking UTC or a 2nd timezone without adding the complexity of an unneeded additional hand; and much as I love autos and hand wound watches, for field use quartz is more practical. Better timekeeping accuracy and more reliable (so long as you keep up with the batteries). Also, lume brightness varies with time, material, application, etc. Lume is not ideal with night vision gear in my experience.

Respectfully suggest you look at the Marathon 41MM Steel Navigator (SSNAV-D). 12 hour independant bezel, tritium lume (which in my view is much better than any "lume" when you're using night vision gear), and excellent specs. The dial and bezel design are optimized for use by pilots. There's a reason this watch has a Nato Stock Number, and it won't break the bank.

41mm Steel Navigator w/ Date (SSNAV-D) on Nylon DEFSTAN

Hope this may be of help.

Cheers

[Edit to add external review]

Watch Review: Marathon SSNAV-D Steel Navigator 41mm Watch Remake With High-Accuracy Quartz Movement

Canada’s Marathon has been working on a remake of the famed military aviation-focused Navigator watch for quite a quite now. Marathon has a long history of supplying timepieces to Western armed forces and is the last company to still do so today. The remake of the steel-cased Navigator project...

www.ablogtowatch.com

 

Well, if you like automatics and a bit of vintage style; when I was young and "in" most of the Huey pilots (both gunships and slicks), and Loach ("little bird's" grandpa) pilots were all wearing Glycine Airmen or Seikos. The Airmen were/are 24 hour 2 timezone rotating bezel watches; Seiko didn't have a GMT then as I recall (but they do now as others have pointed out). With the Glycines-if you go for the third timezone (GMT hand plus a 12 hour hand) they get cluttered, and honestly the lume sucks on all of them by modern standards. So, fun for wearing at the bar etc., but...

My actual recommendation is (I hope) more pragmatic. I suggest you reconsider requirements - this suggestion is much less driven by your stated requirements than by inferences from past military experience and more recent experience supporting deployed DOD contractors. So, feel free to discount the following at will after please considering it.

A 12 hour bezel simplifies tracking UTC or a 2nd timezone without adding the complexity of an unneeded additional hand; and much as I love autos and hand wound watches, for field use quartz is more practical. Better timekeeping accuracy and more reliable (so long as you keep up with the batteries). Also, lume brightness varies with time, material, application, etc. Lume is not ideal with night vision gear in my experience.

Respectfully suggest you look at the Marathon 41MM Steel Navigator (SSNAV-D). 12 hour independant bezel, tritium lume (which in my view is much better than any "lume" when you're using night vision gear), and excellent specs. The dial and bezel design are optimized for use by pilots. There's a reason this watch has a Nato Stock Number, and it won't break the bank.

View attachment 18056466

41mm Steel Navigator w/ Date (SSNAV-D) on Nylon DEFSTAN

Hope this may be of help.

Cheers

Yeah, I like their field watches, lume under night vision isn't really a concern in the apache, not gonna get into too much detail, just won't be looking through nods at my wrist.

 

I used to fly with a Torgoen T9. The Torgoen part did fine, but the Swiss Ronda movement gave out after about 2 years, so I took the opportunity to switch to a "traveller" GMT. YMMV. If you wait for a sale, which are frequent, you can get a T9 for $150ish.

In the helo you're probably not crossing time zones frequently, so a "caller GMT" won't be annoying. Pretty much all the non-solar quartz GMTs, like the Torgoens, will use a Ronda 515.24 and they will be the most affordable (which is different than "cheap"). Others with that same movement, all <$500, include:

• Trintec Zulu-01
• Glycine's Airpilot GMT (The Airpilot Dual Time is also a Ronda quartz, but with a 2nd 12-hr time zone subdial which could be used for GMT.)
• Bertucci A-2T
• Techne Harrier
• If you like the classic flieger look, Aristo
• There's also the Forstner A-12, which I think is pricey and meh.

If you prefer something field-watchy, check out Citizen's solar-powered BJ7094 (200 m WR, compass bezel, but no lume on the GMT hand) and BJ7100 (lumed GMT hand, world time bezel could be handy on deployments). Both are discontinued or JDM, but available on eBay and elsewhere, and both use GMT as the "primary" time; you set local as an offset from GMT. The Citizen Nighthawk uses the same movement and has an E-6B bezel. It's ugly and hard to read (the whole watch, not just the bezel) so I wouldn't recommend it. Then again, the Apache is ugly and Army guys usually need help with math, so maybe it's perfect

You said you'd prefer mechanical. Nearly all of the Seiko and Islander GMTs will be diver-style watches like the Mido above. If you don't mind spending $700-1000, check out Glycine's Airman line; everything is in 24-hour/military time. Set GMT on the dial and adjust the lockable bezel for 24-hr local time. Only 30 m WR, tho'.). They also make a cheaper, 12-hr version with a separate 24-hr GMT hand, but I think those are too complicated and ruin the elegant simplicity of the 24-hour version.

 

The only thing that offended me was calling the Apache ugly haha besides it has a calculator in the crewstation because math and flying is hard. I'll take a look at those recommendations

 

I revisited the Islander Republic ($900 if you can find one). Stylistically, it's all over the place: diver bracelet, case, and bezel; Explorer-type dial; generic hands but with an airplane on the GMT hand. Sellita 330-2 auto movement, the same in the 12-hour Glycine Airmen. But cost is in the same ballpark, so it comes down to what style you prefer. The Calabro is much cheaper, uses the ubiquitous NH34 movement, and seems slightly less schizophrenic style-wise.

 

Jomashop has quite a selection of quartz pilot/GMT models on sale.

All three models are <$180, at this price I should buy one!

 

Just to broaden your view and knowledge, have a look at a chronograph watch designed by a pilot and made especially for pilots. A large section of the USAF, including helicopter pilots, U 2 and B 2 drivers are using these and the independent hour hand change can help you quickly adjust to another time.

the A-13 A website

and it was conceived here in this forum ;

New Pilot Watch A-13A just arrived, the best looking Mission Timer....In the World ? | WatchUSeek Watch Forums

 

I understand the quartz options being put forth. However, I don't see quartz as something a person buys to pass down.

I also think that in 15 years, when you are giving your son the watch you did all this cool stuff with, it should be a good brand with some history. Seiko, Hamilton, Longines, Mido...any of those would be a good option.

I like the plan for a watch that tracks at least two time zones. I don't know how many times I woke up family members because I miscalculated the time at their location. That GMT hand will end up being the most important hand on the dial.

 

Here's another to consider: Lum-Tec It's another Ronda 515.24 quartz, but stylistically it's closer to the BG than most other suggestions here.

 

That's a pretty clean watch! Thanks for the suggestion