Ulysse Nardin San Marco GMT +/- Luxury Watch Review

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User-friendly complications are a modern Ulysse Nardin calling card. This 40mm 18-karat yellow gold Ulysse Nardin San Marco GMT+/- is part of a luxury watch tradition that has brought high horology into the realm of daily practicality.

Since 1995, Ulysse Nardin has offered a combination dual-time/big date automatic. The convenience of a second time zone (with AM/PM distinction) is compounded by the ability to set the time backward or forward with a clever quickset; simply pull the crown to its outermost position, and each rotation of the minute hand advances or reverses the reference time (in 24-hour format) at nine o'clock.

This Ulysse Nardin San Marco GMT+/- caters to effortless operation by adding a double-digit date that can be advanced or reversed with no hazard to the movement. While seemingly elementary, this time saving innovation is by no means common in the luxury watch sector.

Try to reverse a date on a conventional mechanical watch, and the likely result will be non-response or unplanned remedial therapy in Switzerland... for the watch, not you!

Our Ulysse Nardin San Marco GMT +/- features an extraordinary silvered dial with diagonal hobnail or "clous de Paris" guilloche. A light patina graces the tritium-painted illuminated surfaces, and the rich cobalt blue applied indexes impart an impression of substance, refinement, and three-dimensional depth.

Ulysse Nardin has produced a formidable modern array of nautically-themed sports watches, and even the 18-k yellow gold San Marco GMT +/- boasts a robust 100-meter water resistance rating.

The famed "Lion of Venice," an iconic landmark of that city's Piazza di San Marco, is blazon on the case back of the watch. When a watchmaker historically associated with seafaring builds a watch designed for travel, it makes sense to pay tribute to a nautically-oriented city with a similar claim to history.

Even better, the traditional solid gold case back ensures a key advantage over modern sapphire display windows; sapphire is comparatively cheap, and more gold is always better.

See this Ulysse Nardin San Marco GMT +/- in high-resolution imagery on www.thewatchbox.com. Video and content by Tim Mosso.