Rolex GMT Master II vs Steinhart GMT-Ocean 1 Black Ceramic

I recently got the Edox GMT-Class 1 Titanium and it was simply a great watch. So impressed was I with the Edox and its Caliber 93 movement, which was based on the ETA 2893, that I wanted to add another GMT into my collection.

There are lots of GMT watches out there in the market utilising the ETA 2893 from all sorts of Swiss brands.

But of course, the King of the GMT crop- and in my opinion, the most handsome of the lot, was the Rolex GMT Master II. Rolex uses its own caliber and there's a few different bezels in its collection, with the Pepsi bezel and Blue-Black bezel being the fave amongst its collectors. Rolex comes at a premium being the cream of the crop, and real market prices start from RM25k ono.

The particular pre-owned GMT Master II piece below, as advertised at Malaysia Watch Forum, was selling at RM21k. Ain't she a beauty? This should be a fast sale.

Having had spent a fair bit of monies on new watches over the last few months, my Home Minister would likely make mincemeat of me if I spend some RM21k on another watch at the interim period. No Sirree, what I needed was an affordable alternative to scratch the GMT itch.

Just like when I got the Seiko SKX009J1 to scratch that Pepsi itch. Something cheap and cheerful and won't break the bank.

So, what alternative was there in the market?

I looked at the direction of one of my fave brands i.e. Steinhart and sure enough there were a couple of Ocean GMT utilising the ETA 2893-2 on their website. There was the Black bezel, Pepsi bezel, Coke bezel, and the costliest option, Black Ceramic bezel. Now the Ceramic bezel was cool as it was relatively scratch proof so you would have no qualms about bumping it all over.

So how does the Steinhart GMT compares to the Rolex GMT- look-wise, that is?

Well, let's not kid ourselves- a Steinhart ain't a Rolex, but it sure it cheap and cheerful. And while it may cost less than 10% of the Rolex, it doesn't feel just like 10% of Rolex on one's wrist.

So that means yes, I have just made an order vide Steinhart's website for the Steinhart Ocean 1 GMT Black Ceramic.

So that also means... there's a review coming up in 3 weeks when my watch comes along. Sweet...