“I missed the last version of this watch and promised i wouldn't miss it if there was a next time. Now I'm glad I did because this is even better. Great size and has been incredibly accurate, better than superlative! My only complaint is I wish it had a transparent caseback, but all watch makers know to take a perfect watch and remove one thing lol”
“Another wonderful islander watch. Beautiful to look at and great to use. Love the color clarity of the dial and luminosity at night. Get one you won’t be disappointed.”
“I travel a great deal, prefer mechanical watches and find "True/Traveller's GMT" watches (i.e. with "jump-set" 12 hours hand) as opposed to "Office/Caller GMTs), jump 24-hours hand, VERY useful. The Islander Republic Traveler GMT, which uses the excellent Miyota 9075 movement, fits this need very well, at about the lowest price on the market, yet with style, utility and the robust design I'd expect from a team of engineers turned watch designers/sellers.
The ISL-276 is easily read in just about any light, is water resistant to 200M, has an anti-reflection coated sapphire crystal and lumed sapphire bezel, plus an "on the fly" adjustable clasp. At 40mm in diameter, it's a great size on my 7.5 inch wrist, though it IS a bit thick at 13.1 MM. Still wears well, though.
I'm currently travelling with this watch and mine seems to be regulated to about -4 sec/day in normal wear. VERY good. But then, this is the 5th series-9000 Miyota equipped watch I have and all perform well in terms of regulation. One other (a Port Jefferson non-GMT) matches the ISL-276 in regulation. The others are all under 10 seconds/day drift - usually WELL under.
The Republic Traveler/True GMT (ISL-276) is an improved version of the older Republic Office/Caller GMT, which had a Swiss movement and higher price.
IMO, its also an improvement over the Port Jefferson Traveler/True GMT which has nearly identical dimensions, also uses the Miyota 9075 movement but has a very different bracelet/clasp (no on-the fly adjustment) and face. The improvements are as follows (I have both): 1. The Republic GMT is more legible, with large, contrasty numbers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock, plus a lumed sapphire bezel vs. a painted one, 2. An on-the fly clasp adjustment, which several of my other watches have and is VERY useful. The Republic's clasp is not the smoothest I've used but it does have the most adjustment range. 3. The Port Jefferson watches have a minor but sometimes annoying "utility error" built in, in the name of style, and that is that the tic marks are every 1/2 sec/minute and are nearly indistinguishable from the 1 sec/minute tic marks when not using magnifying glasses. This looks great yet makes it hard to set the time accurately. But on the Republic GMT, the tic marks are "done right", one per sec/minute, and hard to miss.
The one Republic Traveler GMT (ISL-276) feature that gives me pause is the bright orange airplane shaped 24 hour hand, which is pretty cool and quite legible. But ... as soon as I received the watch I couldn't help notice that the orange paint on the 24 hours hand seems nearly identical in color, tone and texture to another well know and well priced solar divers watch I have - that's faded out completely over the last year of sunlight exposure. Will the Republic's red/orange 24-hour hand tip fade out as well? I suspect it might. The good news is that this stuff seems to fade to white and stays very legible. So no big deal in the end if it does.
All in all at this point into the trip (about a week), I like the watch BETTER than the older Port Jeff GMT, though both watches are very good.
Note that I've travelled for years wearing mid-tier luxury traveler GMT watches by the best known brands (I picked them because they work outstandingly well and are as tough as nails - and I beat the heck out of them) - but after an incident in a major European city, I decided to wear less recognizable watches. But I still like Traveler GMTs and any watch I take has just GOT to work reliably, be accurate enough to need resetting only once per week and be tough and waterproof. Yep! I DO go in the pool and spa and lakes and oceans with them on trips - in short I USE them.
So WHO came to the rescue with a solid watch that "fits the bill", and isn't the size of a frying pan? Mark and team at Long Island watch. Once again.
Thanks, Mark and Team - you "did it again". Maybe not a perfect product for everybody - but it just works - for me - at a great price. The ISL-276 looks great - is not a copy or "homage" to some luxury watch - and is discreet.
All the best!”
