Hands-On: the Trafford Watch Co. Daytripper
I have the unfortunate obligation to begin this review with a shocking admission: Zach Kazan was right. Some time ago, during one of my back-to-back travel periods where I jumped through time zones, I had a spirited debate with our Managing Editor. I maintained that I not only enjoyed having a GMT, but needed one to keep my timing straight; while Zach insisted that I was wrong. In the past, a traveller’s GMT had been an invaluable tool in the workplace, keeping me mindful of editors working in other time zones. Yet, Zach argued that all you needed was an independently adjustable hour hand and some basic math skills. If you are working across time zones, do the math. If you are traveling through them, change the hour without messing with minutes and seconds. Immediately upon landing back in New York from a trip to London, I started looking for an Omega Aqua Terra. During my search, it struck me as odd that this jumping hours complication (without an associated GMT) was not more widely seen, and never really on the more attainable side of things. Sure, you can find it in models from Omega, parts of Citizen’s The Citizen collection, the Ming 17.09, and newer Grand Seiko 9F models; but all of those will set you back a few thousand dollars. That is, until now. As if from some stroke of divine intervention, I received word of a new watch coming from Trafford Watch Co., utilizing a clever movement alteration to achieve this complication at a much more attainable price point...