Military Functionality Meets Modern Styling in Tudor’s New Pelagos FXD GMT “Zulu Time”

In November 2021, Tudor introduced the Pelagos FXD, with “FXD” referring to the extra robust FiXeD strap bars between the lugs. Inspired by the brand’s longstanding work with the French Navy, or Marine Nationale, which dates back to the 1950s, the 2021 FXD marked the next evolution of the Pelagos – Tudor’s signature dive watch – with specs fit for a special forces naval diver.
 

Despite the history infused into the new collection, the models have been thoroughly modernized and entirely purpose-built. And this was thanks to the guidance of the Marine Nationale’s Commando Hubert special forces unit, which helped design and test the original Pelagos FXD so that their frogmen could use the watch during their counterterrorism and underwater tactical assault missions.

Now, Tudor has, again, tapped the French Navy for inspiration on a new design. However, this time, the design would be optimized to meet the needs of the Aéronautique Navale (French Naval Aviation), the force responsible for naval aviation operations. Meet the Pelagos FXD GMT “Zulu Time.”

Unsurprisingly, the new Pelagos FXD GMT uses the standard Pelagos FXD as its base. Thus, its familiar features, like a 42mm titanium build and, of course, the fixed strap bars that give the collection its name, are part of the GMT’s design. And while the Pelagos FXD GMT retains the oversized bidirectional bezel, some key updates have been built into it.
 

The bezel is, in fact, where we see the biggest change from the Pelagos FXD optimized for divers. Instead of the countdown 60-minute scale, we get the essential 24-hour scale needed to track multiple time zones. This bezel is rendered in black ceramic with lightly engraved markings filled with green-glowing grade A Super-LumiNova for optimal legibility.
 

Another important aspect of this watch is Zulu Time.

Zulu time is the military term for Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) and is used as the standard reference time for aviators. It corresponds to zero-meridian time – in other words, Zulu/UTC is the time at zero degrees of longitude and is more commonly Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
 

In this new model, Zulu time is tracked by the bright orange hand (which, like the bezel, glows green in low light), which completes a full lap around the dial every 24 hours. Once set, this hand typically is not reset, allowing sailors of the French Naval Aviation to check the global aviation reference time at a glance.

Meanwhile, Tudor’s iconic “Snowflake” hand (which, like the dial’s hour markers and the minute and second hands, glows blue in low light) indicates local time, and a third time zone can be checked using a combination of the 24-hour bezel and the orange Zulu time hand.
 

Lastly, powering all this functionality is the manufacture calibre MT5652-U, produced together with Kenissi and Master Chronometer-certified by METAS.