This Is the Most Economical Way to Get a GMT Wristwatch

Despite its jet-set glitz, the golden era of air travel hasn't aged very well. (Can you say free-flowing liquor and jumbo-sized carry-on luggage?) It's still chilly. What's with the chain smoking and the casual sexism? That's not the case.) However, one undoubtedly nice product that came out of the time is the GMT, the era's hallmark pilot's watch. The GMT was created in the 1950s to assist airline pilots in keeping track of numerous time zones on trans-Atlantic flights (GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time, the standard universal time zone).

Rolex was one of the first manufacturers to get into the game, releasing the GMT-Master in 1955 with a red and blue bezel to assist pilots discern between day and night. Rolex has riffed on that original design (dubbed the "Pepsi" because of its resemblance to the soda brand's red and blue logo) for decades, releasing blue and black versions (the "Batman"), brown and black versions (the "Root Beer"), and, most recently, a green and black version with an unusual left-handed crown. The Rolex GMT is indisputably famous, but its five-figure price tag and limited availability mean you'll either have to spend a lot or wait a long time (or both) to have one on your wrist.

The new Timex Q GMT, on the other hand, accomplishes what every great Timex does: it offers classic excellent aesthetics and a robust, trustworthy movement at a price that's accessible to almost everyone. It has a 38mm steel casing, a domed acrylic crystal, and an arrow-tipped GMT hand you can adjust to a second timezone, inspired by the brand's early quartz models from the 1970s (an age when even Swiss luxury manufacturers were inserting battery-powered movements into their watches). The GMT bezel (which rotates to add a third timezone) is available in red and blue, blue and black, and black-on-black colours.

It's a classic example of the genre, with its unique bicolor bezel and ability to show different time zones at a glance. It's also the finest offer on the earth for anybody trying to integrate a GMT into their rotation without spending a fortune—a perfect homage to the quintessential timepiece of the jet-set period, sans the secondhand smoke—at only $199 (or $219 with a steel band).