By Osheen Arakelian
The story of the Greenwich Mean Time is a very funny and fascinating piece of history that you might not know. It was first advocated by Sir Sandford Fleming 130 years ago after the engineer missed his train. What caused him to miss his train? A timetable mishap of all things. This led him to come up with an idea of a 24-hour clock and time zone governed meridians that was accepted at the International Meridian Conference in 1884. Removing the multiple prime meridians, Fleming’s standard time saw Greenwich established as the center of the world for timekeeping and the starting point of the International Date Line. Such a great story with such a humble idea that to this day has proved to be revolutionary in terms of timekeeping.
This leads us to what we have for you today, the all new Oris Greenwich Mean Time Limited Edition. This new piece is part of Oris’s Artelier range and one of the finest watches to come from Oris according to my most humble of opinions. The New Greenwich Mean Time features one of the most advanced module movements to date and has been redesigned to fit inside the always impressive Artelier casing that boasts the Oris Calibre 690, based on the Swiss ETA 2836-2, with a second time zone and day/night indicator at 3 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock and date window at 6 o’clock.
What is most impressive, however, is the simplicity by the design approach that Oris has taken that allows the wearer to jump back and forth between the alternate time zones at the push of a button. The way in which Oris has also included a subtle yet beautiful globe applique under second-time zone to commemorate the introduction of the GMT also adds to the aesthetic of the piece.
The case consists of a multi-piece steel case with stainless steel crown and pushers finished off as always with a sapphire crystal domed on both sides with anti-reflective coating. It’s a nice 42mm in size so it definitely makes a statement and the caseback is engraved with Sir Sandford Fleming’s portrait, a nice little homage to the man responsible for the introduction of the GMT. The dial is also similar to the case and uses a silver guilloche dial with applied indices. The hour and minute hands are also finished off with a Super-LumiNova inlay to make the watch legible in low lighting situations.
Limited to just 1000 pieces stocks are definitely limited so if you want one of these bad boys I’d suggest putting your name down now and grabbing one before it’s too late.
And as always with our reviews, here’s a full rundown of the product specifications for all you technical whiz kids out there. For more info, please visit oris.ch
CASE
- Multi-piece stainless steel
- 42mm diameter
- Sapphire domed crystal both sides with anti-reflective coating
- Stainless steel case-back with fixed screws and Sir Sandford Fleming portrait engraving
DIAL
- Silver guilloche dial
- Super LumiNova C3 hands
- Second-time zone and day/night indicator at 3 o’clock
- Small seconds at 9 o’clock
- Date window at 6 o’clock
STRAP
- Dark brown crocodile leather strap
- Also available with stainless steel bracelet
BUCKLE
- Stainless steel folding clasp
MOVEMENT
- Oris 690, base ETA 2836-2
- Ø 25.60 mm, 11 1/2’’’ in size
- Automatic winding, bi-directionally rotating red rotor
- 38-hour power reserve
- 28’800 A/h, 4 Hz vibrations
- 30 jewels
FUNCTIONS
- Simultaneous indication of 2 individual time-zones
- Centre hands for hours and minutes (T1)
- Centre hour hand T1 with forward or backward setting device, hour by hour, commanded by two pushers
- Subsidiary dial with hours and minutes (T2) at 3 h including day and night indicator
- Subsidiary second at 9 h
- Date window at 6 h
- The date is synchronized with the center hands T1
- Automatic forward or backward rotation of date if hour hand of T1 is set forward or backward over midnight
Osheen Arakelian – Contributing Writer
Drawing on a lifelong love of horology and a more recent introduction to the appreciation of fine whisky, Osheen brought the two together with watch & whisky. He is proprietor of the site, which covers everything related to watches and whisky. In between completing a degree in commercial law and supporting a rich social life, he is out and about attending all the latest watch and whisky events Sydney has to offer. His passion has also taken him around Australia attending a number of events and he hopes to continue his career in the watch industry on a more serious level after he graduates. Read his articles here.
