Some of my readers have been asking for me to review cheap watches and also fashion watches and I will try to deliver that. So in the next months, you will see some cheaper watches and fashion watches (yes yes, I know most of you hate them, but I will try to be fair to those watches too). Today we are gonna take at a watch from GMT London. It is a small fashion brand that sells pretty cheap watches, but well made. I chose the GG0008 which is a somewhat mix of diver and military style.
The watch came in a little box with fun colours and you can really see that they are marketing them for a younger audience. In the box, you will find the watch, warranty and instructions manual. The watch itself surprisingly doesn’t feel cheap, it has some weight to it and it looks like a well-built watch. Overall I was impressed that a watch that costs 76euros could be that good looking. Yes, we can argue about the price as you can get some vintage or Seiko, Casio watches for that price and you will get a reputable brand, but I think those brands have gotten boring as everyone has them.
So the case is made of 316L stainless steel. The machine work is pretty good and can’t see any problems with that. The finishing all over the case except crown and case back is satin brushed. The finishing is done pretty well and just goes so well with the style of the watch. The case diameter is 42mm, the thickness is 12,4mm, from lug to lug it measures at 49,2mm. The watch has a good proportion and to those curved lugs it actually wears a little bit smaller, it feels like a 40mm watch. On top we have a dive watch inspired bezel that actually doesn’t move and it has 60min counter markers. It is actually a shame that the bezel doesn’t move, but I understand that this isn’t really a diver, at least they don’t market it as one. At 3 o’clock we have a small screw-down crown to my surprise, as when I wrote to the company and chose the watch I would like to review, I thought it just had a push-pull crown. The crown is small but pretty easy to manipulate and it has polished finishing and it is signed on the side with GMT London logo. The screw-down solid case back has a polished/bead blasted finish. On the case back we have some writings and GMT London logo. On top of the watch sits a flat hardened mineral crystal which actually is ok for this price range. The water resistance was another surprise as it is 20ATM (200M) which is pretty good for the price and it makes this a perfect match for a kid who is active and parents don’t need to worry about him destroying the watch as it doesn’t cost so much.
The dial is matte dark blue. Around the dial, we have black chapter ring with white seconds markers. The applied Arabic numerals have a polished outline with white inside. At 12 o’clock we have GMT London logo which actually doesn’t look that bad in my opinion, considering the watches are marketed for a younger audience. At 3 o’clock we have a square date window with a white date wheel. You probably know that I hate date wheels that don’t match the colour of the dial, but for this, I can forgive as it is pretty cheap at it doesn’t matter that much. The hour and minute hands are partially skeletonized and they work with the style of the dial. The second’s hand is just in a stick shape with polished finishing.
Movement wise I don’t know what’s inside, but I would guess that it is either Seiko or Miyota quartz movement. They are pretty good and reliable quartz movements so I won’t go in a long talk about them. The strap military green nylon strap is pretty good. At first, it wears pretty stiffly, but after some time it gets that wear in and wears pretty good. The underlining of the strap has this soft black material which kind of resembles leather/rubber-like material. The tang-style buckle is a bit cheap and I would wish if they made a bit thicker, but it is ok and does its job well. The buckle is polished and signed with GMT London logo.
Overall the watch is pretty good, many things surprised about this watch like the built quality, the water resistance and overall look. Yes, it has some strange things like the fixed bezel, but you must remember how much it costs. This isn’t that a proper affordable watch fan would buy, but definitely a good watch for the price that would make a perfect first watch for your kid who is active and like water related activity.
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