The Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT totally challenged my notion that no watch is perfect.  As watch enthusiasts, we are conditioned to know that no watch is perfect. Be it in the design or the features, there’s always something missing from a given piece. And no watch can have it all – it’s almost like an unwritten rule of the watch industry. If you’re getting something dressy, don’t expect to be getting wet with it. Lume, more often than not, is also out of the question. You’ll have to get a sport watch for those things. And if you do, don’t expect intricate dials and different types of case finishing. That’s what dress watches are for.

But, about 15 years ago, someone at Hamilton said “To hell with all that!” and created the Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT. Let me elaborate a bit –inner rotating dive-time bezel, lumed hands and hour markers, dual screw-down crowns with a 200m WR and a GMT movement. Just by reading this list of specs, I bet you’d imagine a compressor-style diver and you’d probably say is one of those crazy microbrands that overcompensate by loading their watches with a bunch of different features. Then, you actually look at the watch and realize that it’s a true member of the Jazzmaster family. Applied art deco numerals and hour markers, dauphine hands and a needle-like second hand with an arrow counterbalance, white sunburst dial, a very elegant case with elongated lugs and interchanging brushed and polished surfaces and a genuine ostrich leather strap. How can this be?

Now, I’d like to think that this was the creation of a single rogue designer who was a true watch enthusiast at heart. He knew that the powers that be would never allow such feature-packed thing to see the light of day, so he had to try to hide them in plain sight and make this one look like just another Jazzmaster. What do I mean by this?

Well, at first glance, you’d never notice the lume on the hands. And even when you do, the small lumed dots next to every hour marker are very easy to miss. You realize the thing is lumed only after dark. The only real hint to the diver water resistance capability of this watch is the very subtle line of text under the Hamilton logo that says “660 ft”. I’m not kidding, most of the online retailers have got the water resistance of this piece wrong. No mention of the lume either. As my story of the imaginary employee who managed to sneak this one under the noses of his bosses and make his dream watch draws to a close, you may be wondering what are my actual thoughts on the Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT.

I think it’s quite obvious I really like it. The fact that the Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT has flown under the radar of the most of the watch community (and we’re quite the observant bunch) makes it that much more interesting. Make no mistake, despite everything I’ve said, this one is on the dressier side – even though it’s plenty water resistant and it has some lume, you won’t be diving with this one any time soon. That being said, if you switch the ostrich for amore rugged leather strap (or maybe even throw on a mesh), you can easily dress it down to a very sharp-looking everyday piece. I’m not a huge fan of the 80-hour power reserve movements Hamilton have adopted in recent years, so the ETA 2893-2 is a most welcomed feature.

Having in mind that the Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT has been in production for some time now and knowing that Hamilton is slowly phasing out their ETA-powered pieces, availability of this one is not the best (and getting harder to find),even though it’s still listed on the official website. Prices on the grey market fluctuate wildly as well. But if you like the style and manage to find one for a good price, this is a watch I’d wholeheartedly recommend.

Sharp-looking, but not overly dressy, feature-packed, but a far cry from a tool watch – this is perhaps the epitome of a “go-anywhere-do-anything” watch. You could even, as the name suggests, take Hamilton Jazzmaster Traveler GMT traveling !