Hands-On The Lima GMT Transit

Coming off the back of a revived interest in shaped watches - and especially those with a brutalist air about them - you could say I was influenced, but not in a way I expected to be. I assumed that, at some stage, I’d pick up some vintage oddity that would satisfy my sudden craving for a Rolex Cellini King Midas, but the GMT Transit instead quenched my thirst.

It’s such a wonderfully simple design, with the saddle-shaped mid-case giving way to a round, flat inner case that also forms the bezel. And look at that crown! It’s hollow, with an odd, tapered stem that partially recesses it into the case, making it look like a knob of some appliance. Funky, but I love it.

The monochromatic look is continued by the dial, which appears quite small thanks to a wide bezel with a rich, vertically brushed finish. This play on dimension is what drew me to the watch initially: the Transit seems not to care about moving the minute track all the way to the edge of the already reduced dial, but then fills it with oversized numerals and a huge GMT hand. Just like the case, it invites you to look closer at this excellent use of space.

Where the minute track would usually have, well, minutes, printed around its perimeter, Tantriady swaps it for a 24-hour scale, and if you think of it as a legibility compromise, I’m sorry I have to be the one to tell you how wrong you are. The five-minute markings are just long enough to be discernible at a glance, as is the highly contrasting handset, including the lumed tips of the GMT and seconds hands.

This all-brushed, matte grey colourway made the béton brut connection that much easier to make, and every time I put it on, I feel like a turtleneck-wearing design aficionado who actually knows the difference between baroque and rococo.

A watch like the GMT Transit cannot be successful at its purpose as only a design object - it also needs to work as a watch. It should come as no surprise, seeing how positive I’ve been thus far, that it does that quite well, too. The watch looks much smaller than it is, thanks to the small dial and bubble-domed crystal, but that wide-set case somehow makes up for it on the wrist.

Measuring in at 37.5mm across, 12mm thick, and 45.6mm lug-to-lug, it hits the sweet spot for my personal preferences, but if you’re at all put off by how small those measurements seem, I implore you to try it on. With a very slight curve, the lugs sit flat and in line with the caseback, meaning there isn’t much curving-around-the-wrist going on, but if you’ve got a wrist that’s ~15.5cm/~6in and above, I don’t see it being an issue.

Part of the reason why it wears as flat as it does is that the case itself is actually very slim (some 10mm), and the acrylic crystal dome accounts for the additional 2mm. This gives the GMT Transit a touch of vintage charm, and while I admit I was initially a tad concerned about it not being sapphire, the look and feel of a warm acrylic dome just cannot be matched, and it’s a trade-off I’m happy to make.

I’ve been quite coy about the specifications and pricing of the GMT Transit thus far, but that was more because this watch captured me with its design first. Fret not, you’re in for a good surprise. We’ve already mentioned the acrylic crystal, the case is stainless steel with 50 metres of water-resistance, and the movement is an automatic Seiko NH34. All this is yours for comfortably less than 500 AUD, which is half of what Seiko charges for their watch with the same movement. This is in no way damning of the Seiko - in a climate that’s seeing big box brands steadily drive prices up, it’s still a good buy - but it just shows the inroads that microbrands are still able to make.

The genius of the Lima GMT Transit is in its simplicity, as had it not been perfect, it would’ve seemed lazy. We are so used to talking about details like polished chamfers and twisted lugs... But the Transit is so devoid of these that they become its main features, and have made me more curious about what is actually there. Dieter Rams’ famous “as little design as possible” line is deceptive for obvious reasons, and it’ll bite you if you don’t know what you’re doing. I needn’t name names to remind you of the plague that minimalist fashion watches are.

Thankfully, Tantriady clearly knows what he’s doing, but that makes my job that much more difficult, because I have to make this review more than just a couple of paragraphs of gushing over how much I like it. With that in mind, I do have one complaint, and that’s the relative lack of lume. The stuff that’s already on there is great - those are all the orange accents - but I want more! While it might be a design challenge given the current look of the watch, I really hope Lima finds a good way of overcoming it.

Brand: Lima
Model: GMT Transit
Diameter: 37.5mm
Thickness: 12mm
Lug-to-Lug: 45.6mm
Case Material: Stainless steel
Crystal: Double-domed acrylic
Dial Colour: Grey, black, ivory, baby blue
Indexes: Printed 3, 9, 12
Lume: Lumed logo and GMT hand
Water Resistance: 50 metres
Strap/Bracelet: Alcantara strap, steel pin buckle, 20mm lug width

Calibre: Seiko NH34
Functions: Hours, minutes, central seconds, date, GMT
Diameter: 27.4mm
Thickness: 5.32mm
Power Reserve: 41 hours
Winding: Automatic
Frequency: 21,600 bph (3 Hz)
Jewels: 24
Chronometer Certified: No

Price: 310 USD (~430 AUD)
Availability: From Lima and select retailers
Limited Edition: No