In the 1960s, just about every watch brand was getting into the GMT game. After Rolex launched the original GMT-Master in 1954 as the first watch to combine a rotating 24-hour bezel with a 24-hour fourth hand on a twelve-hour dial, the floodgates opened, and by the next decade a number of brands had put forth their own unique spin on the jet-setting new genre.
Heuer released the Autavia GMT, Accutron debuted the Astronaut, Zodiac put out the Aerospace and in 1968, Seiko launched the Navigator Timer GMT. The watch was the first from the Japanese manufacturer to combine a GMT function with a rotating bezel (its first GMT was the Seiko World Time, released four years earlier sans rotating bezel). Vintage Navigator Timers have since become hot commodities among enthusiasts and now, finally, Seiko is bringing back this classic with a faithful reissue.
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The Original Explorer-Style GMT
Seiko would go on to make a number of different styles of the Navigator Timer, but the original design would have the most lasting impact. It featured an anthracite dial, a red arrow GMT hand and a stainless steel bezel with black 24-hour markings. Seeing the watch today, many would notice a striking resemblance to the original Rolex Explorer II, colloquially known as the “Steve McQueen” despite a lack of evidence the King of Cool ever wore one.
While Rolex has had an outsized influence on watch design across the industry, this is not another case of a brand emulating Rolex. In fact, it may be the opposite, as Rolex didn’t release the first Explorer II until 1971 — three years after the Seiko Navigator Timer landed on wrists around the globe. (It’s worth mentioning the Glycine Airman to cover all of our bases here, as it debuted with a stainless steel 24-hour bezel way back in 1953 — but it lacked a fourth hand and instead used a 24-hour format on the dial.)
