...Rolex Pilot Wrist shot of the Day...
Transcontinental Pilots
Prefer GMT-Equipped Rolex Models
Fascinating Captain!
Our Captain Danny sent me this picture after he flew his Delta Airbus A330 widebody aircraft from Paris to Seattle. Both pilots wear GMT-equipped Rolex watches—the ultimate instrument for a transcontinental pilot.
For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at this image, trying to figure out the significance and context of all the details. For instance:
Question: Why are the time and GMT hands set differently on each Rolex watch?
The Left Watch (Supercase Espresso GMT-Master with 50th Anniversary Green GMT Hand) belongs to the Captain of the Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft. The Captain's hour hand is set to Mountain time (home base), and his green GMT hand is set to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
The Right Watch (Rolex Explorer II, Orange Hand) belongs to our Captain Danny, although aboard the Airbus A330 Wide Body Aircraft he is NOT the Captain, but the First Officer (Copilot), which explains why his jacket only has 3 gold stripes. Normally, as you can see on his PILOT STORIES banner on the right, he normally sports 4 gold stripes. I didn't realize it, but the ranking is contextually based upon the type of aircraft the pilot is flying. Danny's watch has its hour hand set to SEATTLE time, which is their destination, and his orange GMT hand is set to Mountain time, his home base.
The Airbus A330 is a super state of the art airplane that can fly really long distances without having to refuel. (Range of 11,750 km, which is 6,350 nautical miles, which is 7,300 miles) with 277 passengers. The global A330 fleet is tried and true with over 60 million flight hours since it began flying.
Note: Nick Gould mentioned: "The first generation Rolex Explorer II, 'Orange Hand' [Reference 1655] couldn't track a second time zone. The orange hand was just an AM/PM indicator. Now the new version of the Explorer II can track a second TimeZone."
