Before we get into the Glycine Airman GMT Bronze GL0167, I’ll begin with saying that I’m a watch enthusiast. I’m not an expert on the technical aspects of watch escapements, balance wheel materials or what type of chronograph movement works best under pressure. So, everything you get from me, apart from the technical specs I pulled from the Glycine site, is pretty much me just wearing a watch every day. All my watches have dings and scratches. Perhaps, one day, if I’m ever able to afford an AP, Patek or Journe, I’ll wear those with the utmost caution. Until then, meh. Might as well use them.

On to the review, such as it is. I decided I’d wear this one watch only on a seven day vacation to the Adirondack mountains. This is a big step for me. One watch for seven days took a lot of internal convincing. However, in the spirit of adventure and watch journalism (lol), I took the leap. I feel like all of my other watches are at home judging me right now. And that makes me sad, or defensive, or both. How will I explain my infidelity upon my return?

I like this watch very much, to be honest. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do, but it’s a very easy watch to wear. It wears much smaller than the 44mm size suggests, due to curved lugs and the Zumbo-esqe macaron shape that keeps the thickness down. It sits low on the wrist, and the weight is more than manageable. This allows you to be very active with this thing without it getting in the way. I’ve climbed, hiked, boated and swam in it, and it’s functional without being obtrusive. The lume is good, except for the GMT hand, which has none. Don’t get that, but whatever. The face of the watch is quite lovely in the sun, with a blue dial that I believe Glycine describes as “gradient blue”. It’s darker at the top of the face, and fades to a slightly lighter shade toward the bottom. It meshes nicely with the bronze bezel and its very nice to look at. The dial is busy without being overwhelming. I like busy dials, and this one is just enough to keep me happy, with the crosshatch lines, the logo and four hands.

The crown is easy to use when setting the time, date and GMT hand. In the first position, winding the crown upwards changes the date, and winding it down moves the GMT hand forward. Pulling the crown into the second position stops the second hand (hacks), and sets the time. Because I’m stupid, it took me a while to process the fact that the GMT hand is on a 24 hour scale, while the regular time hands (???) are on a 12 hour scale. Once I figured that out, I was able to set the watch to my preferred set up, which is always showing the GMT hand six hours ahead of my time. I do this because I always want to know what time it is in Paris. Because Paris is the best.

The Glycine Airman GMT Bronze GL0167 came on a blue leather strap, which was fine. I ordered a sail cloth strap, but it was, evidently, snatched off my porch by a package thief. Jerk. I found the nato strap you see in the pictures in my box of watch crap, and I think it works pretty well. I’m not the biggest fan of nato straps, but I found it quite comfortable with this watch. Again, shape, weight, profile and lug fit work very well to keep it stable and comfy on the wrist.

I will tell you that, for the money (I think I paid somewhere around $500 for this watch), you get quite a bit of value here. With the strap, you could travel comfortably with this Glycine, multiple time zones, water resistant to 100 meters. The bronze is lovely, and a nice break from all of my other steel watches. When I first got it, I was worried it was a tad too jewelry-esque, but moving it to the nato strap gives it a little more of a tool watch feel.

The Glycine Airman was one of the watches that started it all for me (Pumpkin SST), but I never thought about buying one until I saw the bronze with the blue face (really for “blue watch mondays”). Like I said before, it’s tough to beat for the money.