Six Months Later with the Tudor FXD GMT

Tudor has developed a habit of releasing some of their most interesting watches in the back half of each year, and recently these have taken the form of FXD watches. In October of 2024, Tudor surprised us with the FXD GMT, an aviation inspired take on the fixed lug military diver formula. Further, the watch made use of the brand’s own MT5652-U automatic, true GMT movement without compromising the dimensions of the base FXD. The result is something of a marvel by Tudor’s standards, and while all the traditional FXD hallmarks are present and accounted for, the GMT and rotating 24 hour bezel make this a rather unique offshoot of the collection. After six months of ownership, I’ve found a few other details worth understanding about this watch. 

Like most of Tudor’s tool watches, the FXD GMT is a watch that’s easy to understand at a glance. Tudor pitched this watch as a pilot’s instrument built for the Aéronautique Navale, the aviation arm of the French Navy. As such, this is about as robust an expression of a Zulu timer I’ve spent serious time with. It feels like an instrument through and through. In fairness, so do the time only FXD divers, but there’s a lot more information being presented here, so it feels a bit more intense in use. This is a quality about the FXD GMT that’s important to understand. 

The GMT complication in ‘flyer’ configuration has become far more commonplace in recent years, especially with the advent of Miyota’s caliber 9075. There’s always been a swell demand for watches with this feature set, and we’re getting a trove of both original, and unoriginal options beginning to fill the market. Rarely do we find it nestled into the confines of such a blunt instrument, as it seems to have become a default feature of many of the so-called go anywhere, do anything genre. 

To be clear, the FXD GMT is certainly capable of daily duty, but it doesn’t quite fill the role in the same way that something like the Black Bay 58 GMT would. It’s got a specific look and feel, and it’s best to embrace it as is. There are shades of something like an Explorer II here, but again, it hits differently on the wrist, and the black bezel indexed to 24 hours brings a, let’s call it distinctive vibe to the design as a whole. It’s more aggressive than a dive bezel. I do wonder how a fixed steel bezel would have looked in this package, but again, the FXD GMT feels laser focused on functionality, looks be damned. 

This is very much angled as a pilots style watch, but those dive watch undertones are still present. The shape of the hands and hourmarkers, as well as their proportions, are all unchanged from what you’d find on a time-only FXD dive watch. Here, they’re joined by a kind of orange 24 hour hand, matching the Pelagos GMT label in the same color at the bottom of the dial. There’s also another first time FXD feature present here, and that is a date unceremoniously situated at three o’clock. There is no bit of lume to the right of the date. 

All markings on the dial and bezel are handled in the same way, presented in an off-white lume. It doesn’t quite look like an attempt at an ‘aged’ appearance, but it’s not clean white, either. There’s a warm undertone to the design as a whole, and that’s aided by the dark green strap it ships with. The color achieves a nice balance, and I think the design needed to be handled this way to avoid too many high contrast elements competing against each other. There are more numerical markings here, and with the bezel set in a black base, using white for the lume would have heightened the feeling of clutter. 

There is a lot going on here, but it never feels too harsh. The soft warm tones sit within the matte black base with ease, making the transition between the two all the more pleasant. This pay dividends over the course of wear, and even means you can create some great complimentary color combinations depending on the strap. The colorway is best appreciated in full daylight, outdoors. It retains legibility by keeping reflections to a minimum, and the contrast isn’t blinding at full tilt. 

One of the biggest surprises of this watch when it was released was the fact that it uses the very same caliber 5652 that was used in the Black Bay GMT. With the FXD GMT, the case remains unchanged from the time-only variations, at 12.7mm in thickness, and 42mm in diameter. When it comes to Tudor GMT watches, this is quite thin, and showed that the Black Bay GMT needn’t be as thick as it was at 14.6mm. Given that the FXD must be worn with a passthrough strap, the fact that no additional thickness was added to accommodate the GMT is quite welcome. It’s exactly as flat and wearable as the original FXD, and while it’s not necessarily small, it’s an easy watch to get along with in regular use. 

The 5652 in the FXD GMT even goes a step further than the Black Bay GMT variant in that it is METAS master chronometer certified. In reality, this just means it’s taken the extra step of getting the certification. I’ll be honest, this isn’t a watch I’ve worn for prolonged enough stretches to fully appreciate the accuracy of the timekeeping. This is a watch I’ll pick up, wind, set, and wear for two or three days straight over a weekend, and there’s no worrying about the accuracy. It’s certainly a nice-to-have feature working in the background.

So how does it stack up against the base MN FXD or black FXD in use? The GMT is an interesting addition to the FXD stable, and feels distinct in personality from the divers. I may be an outlier, but I’d say that there is room for both in a single collection. Obviously, they wear the same, and have the same general vibe, which isn’t going to pass for formal, but the details play a big role in separating such simple watches, and each stands on their own in that regard. The GMT is the most unique FXD (outside of the carbon cased cycling theme options) and arguably the most practical. Like the others, it may not be the best everyday option or single watch option, but it’s an all-time great travel option for those inclined toward true tool watches over the more general GADA style watches. 

Overall, the GMT is a welcome addition to the FXD collection, even if it does further muddy the waters of what it means to bear the Pelagos name. It carries the same focused ethos we see exercised in the dive watches, and it still feels directly on point in keeping their relationship with the French Navy relevant. These are the kinds of watches we’ll look back on as being an oddity, but the kind of which we’re glad exist.