The Greenwich Time Gate Watch

The Greenwich Time Gate Watch, a Kickstarter project, is the wristwatch version of the Shepherd Gate Clock at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England.

The Shepherd Gate Clock, installed in 1852, has a singular 24-hour dial based on astronomical time. It is the face of Greenwich Mean Time, now called Universal Coordinated Time.

Shepherd Gate Clock. Photo from Wikipedia

GTG Watch, an English company, found that nobody had made a watch that looks like the Shepherd Gate Clock, so they took up the challenge. Just as Mondaine created a watch version of the famous Swiss Railway clock, now GTG is building a watch based on one of the most famous clocks in the world. (Hint to all you watchmakers: There are some great clocks waiting to be turned into great watches). And the result is this pretty incredible-looking 43 mm automatic movement watch.

GTG 24 hour watch. Photo from
GTG Watch.

Here are the specifications:

• Case material: stainless steel 316 L
• Ring and caseback: Black IP coating stainless steel 316 L
• Diameter: 43 mm
• Thickness: 13.5 mm
• Movement: Automatic 24h
• Hands: 24 hours, minutes, small seconds
• Dial: 24h galvanic silver
• Straps: Crocodile print genuine Italian leather, dark brown
• Frontal glass: domed sapphire coated classic glass (water resistant) or high domed acrylic crystal vintage frontal glass (dust resistant)
• Lug to lug distance: 52 mm; the lug width is 22 mm

The watch is also available in a 12-hour movement.

GTG watches use a Sea-Gull movement. Twenty-four-hour movements are relatively rare; Sea-Gull looks like an excellent choice for the watch's movement. (I have a few watches powered by Sea-Gull movements; they keep great time.)

Kickstarter funding ends on December 23, 2015. For $188, you can acquire a 12-hour GTG watch, and for $196 you can invest in a 24-hour watch. (The prices are listed in British pounds, so the actual price may be a little different in your currency.) There are more expensive GTG Watch models, too.