Islander Republic Swiss Automatic GMT Watch with Black Dial #ISL-138

Named after the airport located just a few miles from our office, the Islander Republic will be your companion whether travelling across the skies, or diving under the seas. This watch marries the best of two watch worlds, the pilot’s GMT combined with the style of a 200 meter recreational dive watch.

We started with the perfect size – a 40mm case. Inside we put the tried-and-true Swiss made Sellita SW330-2 automatic GMT movement which keeps case thickness down to 12mm. This 25 jewel movement offers hand winding and hacking, with a 56 hour power reserve. Beating at a rate of 28,800 beats per hour, the seconds hand moves smoothly across the dial at 8 ticks per second. As the name implies, this is a GMT watch that tracks multiple time zones – more specifically known as an office or caller GMT. We increased the functionality by making it possible to easily track 3 time zones, simultaneously. The aviator style minute and hour hands contrast against the dial perfectly, with matching running seconds. The GMT hand has a special “airplane” tip that rotates once per day and is read using the 24 hour chapter ring. While the crown is in date setting mode, you can move this hand in one-hour increments. Furthermore, a sapphire glass insert (complete with lume) is on the rotating 24 hour bezel, so you can track a 3rd time zone. The bezel rotates in both directions, as a GMT bezel should.

The dial has large, easy to read applied Arabic numerals at 12/3/6/9. These, as well as the applied indices and hands, are filled generously with BGW9 lume that glows a cool blue when the lights go down. The sapphire bezel is coated with C3 Super-LumiNova, that will glow green as a beautiful contrast to the blue of the BGW9. The tip of the GMT hand is lumed as well. To keep it looking like new, a flat sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating is used to protect the amazing dial. No detail was missed in the production of this fine timekeeper.

A date display is tucked away between the 4:00 and 5:00 position, and is color matched to the dial. This helps to retain dial symmetry, and prevents the date from “popping” on the dial. The crown is embossed with the Islander logo and is screwdown. This helps to maintain the 200 meters of water resistance. The screwdown caseback is embossed with the Islander lighthouse design.

Securing the Republic to your wrist is a beautiful brushed and polished stainless steel bracelet, with links held together with screws that you can easily size yourself. Of course, we include the screwdriver necessary for sizing. The 20mm wide solid endlinks conform wonderfully to the case, and allow a bit of polished lug to be exposed to add more depth to the piece. The flip lock clasp has the Islander logo, and is a milled scissor clasp with 4 positions of microadjust. The bracelet tapers to 18mm at the clasp.

This is the Islander brands’ first true GMT offering as well as the first time using a Swiss made movement. We have spent countless hours designing, revising and modifying the Republic to provide a robust, travel friendly watch that can do anything and go anywhere! We have also upgraded the packaging to a custom Islander box for safe keeping and for display.