Editors' Picks: Our Favorite Travel Watches Of 2024

Is there any type of watch more practical and useful than a travel watch? Whether it’s a GMT, dual time, or world timer, everyone should have at least one reliable travel watch in their collection. And how did 2024 fare for this ever-useful category? Well, it was a pretty great year, for offerings ranging from entry-level models for less than a thousand dollars all the way up to showstoppers clocking in at nearly a million bucks. As usual, we had the editorial team here at Teddy pick their favorite releases from the year, so without further ado, here are our top travel watches from 2024:

Danny Milton:Longines Spirit Zulu Time Ti

We now live in the revamped era of the GMT watch, which means there are so many good options to get your travel-ready fix. You could argue that the Tudor Black Bay GMT kicked things off, and then the Seiko SSK GMT took things to new value-packed heights. But laying in wait was Longines, which shocked us all when it launched the 39mm Spirit Zulu Time, a watch that brought a vintage feel to a relatively new collection and did so with its own caller-style, true GMT. But it was this year that Longines really upped the ante bringing a regular-production, titanium-cased Zulu Time to the forefront. Sure, we had seen it in limited form, but this really cemented things. With this timepiece, you have the lightness of the case and bracelet coupled with the ceramic bezel insert, a very legible dial, and the true GMT movement inside. It is hard to argue with this one, and it certainly makes cross-shopping a new GMT watch that much harder to do.

Jonathan McWhorter: Rolex GMT-Master II GRNR

The archetype, the standard, the blueprint, the Alpha and the O…ahem, Rolex. This is the travel watch, period. The Rolex GMT-Master II, in whatever form, is the watch we all think of when it comes to GMTs, which is the style we think of when it comes to a travel watch — like it or not. They all follow the trail blazed by the GMT-Master: flier operation, bi-color rotating bezel, dive-watch water resistance, high fit and finish.

When I first saw the GRNR at Watches & Wonders 2024, it didn’t really make me jump out of my seat, and I thought it was an easily forgettable addition to the Crown’s catalog. There wasn’t much particularly interesting or exciting about it and I didn’t give the watch much thought after I stepped on my flight home out of Geneva. I don’t think that’s so much of a bad thing, either. A forgettable Rolex can be a superpower if one prefers to keep a low profile but still maintain all of the hallmarks that Rolex is known for.

As the year’s gone on, this watch has really grown on me. Until now, the only options for a GMT from Rolex have shouty, colorful bezels. This year’s addition of the GRNR is a callback to the low-key 116710LN (black dial, all-black bezel) which was discontinued in 2018, and when put in the context of available options in the catalog, makes a lot of sense as a stealthier alternative to its brighter brothers and sisters. The gray and black on the bezel are easy enough to differentiate daytime/nighttime hours at a glance and keep the watch’s profile on the down-low otherwise; that is, if one opts to equip the watch with the Oyster bracelet and not blow the whole joint with the more "blingy" Jubilee.

D.C. Hannay:The James Brand × Timex Automatic GMT

There are two criteria that make for a great travel watch in my book: a GMT movement, obviously, and a reasonable price tag, in the event of unexpected customs hijinks. And I've found both in Timex’s new titanium GMT lineup. The standard version brings those Explorer II feels for days, in a great case size with a reliable Seiko NH34 caller movement inside, but the limited, collab editions with The James Brand up the ante in a few key ways. While the double-branded versions add $200 to the reasonable $549 list price of the standard edition, the movement gets an upgrade with the inclusion of a Miyota 9000 series movement, a true flyer GMT. The James Brand editions also gain a titanium bracelet rather than the silicone strap of the Timex version, elevating the premium feel at a still-approachable price. The case shape is slightly more rounded-off, for a less tool-like feel, and the titanium bezel is replaced with a color-matched aluminum insert, further distinguishing the James Brand editions. 

And most of all, it’s those striking colorways, with the first edition gaining a pop of electric lime green on the GMT hand in that signature James Brand hue. And the sequel is even more lovely, with a cool, emerald tone ruling the overall aesthetic. And at $749, while not "starter watch" money, it is certainly a far sight more attainable than many GMT contenders. Which certainly eases the worry of your high-end luxury GMT watch being confiscated by an overzealous customs officer, to say nothing of a nefarious thief snatching it off your wrist in a crowded foreign marketplace. It’s the sum of these attributes that make the James Brand x Timex Automatic GMT a no-brainer for my personal travel watch pick.

Erin Wilborn: Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT

Admittedly, GMT watches aren’t typically my thing. Maybe if I were doing more international jet-setting my sentiment would be different. That said, I did catch some of the excitement spurred by the release of Tudor’s GMT update to the Black Bay 58 that debuted at Watches & Wonders. 

Though I don’t personally have a BB58 in my collection, I have always been surprised by how much I like them on my wrist when someone allows me the opportunity to take one for a spin. The real win for the BB58 GMT is, aside from the additional functionality, its 39mm case. Managing to fit a new, downsized METAS and COSC-certified flyer GMT movement (the 5450-U to be specific) within its modestly proportioned case, Tudor is proving that it is on the pulse of what the watch nerds want. It’s a move that made the genre of reasonably priced GMT watches just that much more competitive. 

Mark Bernardo:Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1

Travel watches — defined here as watches that enable a determination of a traveler’s local time as well as home time, and possibly a glimpse of other time zones as well — should always have practicality at the core of their design. However, the realities of the world, and how different parts of it tell time at different parts of the year, always tend to limit that practicality. Of course, we’re primarily talking about the vagaries of Daylight Saving Time (DST) here, but the challenges go beyond that, especially for a world traveler, who has to deal with not only the 70 countries that use some form of DST but the many others that do not. Then there is the maddening fact that Europe and America start their “summertime” hours at different times, with only partial overlap where they align. The Swiss high-horology house Bovet Fleurier, headed by its visionary owner, Pascal Raffy, tackled this seemingly intractable problem and after five years of research, finally came up with the first world-time watch in history that can mechanically differentiate between all the time zones in the world at any time of year.

The Bovet Recital 28 Prowess 1 introduces a 744-piece movement equipped with an ingenious roller system that allows for adjustment of the time to any one of 24 time zones in all four of the world’s systems: Universal Coordinated Time, or standard UTC; American Summer Time (AST), European and American Summer Time (EAS; that’s the overlap), and European Winter Time (EWT). A single push of the crown rotates the 24 rollers, inscribed with world city names and arranged around the large subdial at 6 o’clock, on demand any time the wearer needs to change between the four time-zone systems. Of course, Bovet being Bovet, even this landmark horological accomplishment is not enough for a watch at this level. It also includes the maison’s patented double-sided flying tourbillon, positioned at 12 o’clock, whose rotating cage has been redesigned to be its lightest ever. There’s also a perpetual calendar, whose date, month, and leap-year indications also operate on the user-friendly, ultra-legible roller system, here with a retrograde mechanism that sends them all simultaneously back to zero at the end of each month. The in-house movement has not only been breathtakingly hand-finished and decorated, but it holds an astoundingly lengthy power reserve of 10 days. All of this comes in a 46.3mm case in red gold, platinum, or titanium, designed in Bovet’s emblematic, elegantly sloping “writer’s desk” style. And of course, the idea of practicality goes out the window when considering the rarity of the Recital 28 Prowess 1 — just eight pieces will be made per year — and its cost of around $725,000 in the U.S. This is not a watch that many travelers you know are going to be able to own; you’re not going to see many of them on your next flight, even if you fly First Class. But it is, in my view, the greatest innovation in travel watches this year. 

Blake Buettner:Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Geographic

A great travel watch can be anything, and I’d argue, the simpler the better. From a time-only affair that can be changed quickly on the fly without consequence, to more bespoke options featuring GMT or dual-time complications. The most interesting watch released into this category this year, in my estimation, is the Jaeger LeCoultre Polaris Geographic. It may not be simple, but it is unique and ultimately, practical. This watch nests a second dial with its own hour and minute at 6 o’clock to provide a fully independent source of the time. This is mated to a world cities disk visible along the bottom of the dial. There is a 24-hour disk to aid the reading of the second time zone, and a power reserve thrown in for good measure. It sounds like a lot, and it is, but the manner in which JLC has arranged everything within a smokey grey dial is absolutely beautiful. It’s a watch that works way better than it has any right to, and it goes above and beyond what we typically expect in the genre.

Bilal Khan: Patek Philippe Aquanaut Ref. 5269R

While the white gold Aquanaut Travel Time Ref. 5164G was also near the top of my list for top travel watch of 2024, it was the quartz Aquanaut Ref. 5269R that ultimately stole my heart. I am a huge proponent of high-end quartz and it pleased me to no end to see Patek Philippe release this truly perfectly sized travel watch without any design embellishments like gem-setting. What we have here is a 38.8mm wide and 8.7mm thick rose-gold case, which I personally find preferable to the 40.8mm wide and 10.2m thick case of the mechanical Ref. 5164G. There are also no side pushers as the crown can handle all the functions. If you’re not traveling, the skeletonized home time hand can be hidden behind the local hour hand, which can be independently adjusted when tracking another time zone. Finally, the small aperture at 6 o’clock beneath the “HOME” text is a neat little AM/PM indicator. I think the practicality of quartz, the size of the case, and the clean dial easily put the 5269R over the top and, quite honestly, cements its position as my favorite modern Aquanaut. I know cost is a hypothetical consideration with Patek sport watches, but the price is $35,350 — which is significantly less than the $63,040 for the Ref. 5164G.