Batavi Kosmopoliet GMT, an Accessible and Original New GMT Watch

Unless you have your finger on the pulse of global microbrands, you likely haven’t come across Batavi Amsterdam. The Dutch watchmaker is following up on its inaugural Noordzee dive watches with a more stylized, sophisticated collection. The original pieces housed respectable Miyota movements, but the new line upgrades to Swiss ETA automatics while maintaining accessible prices. The initial dive watches reminded me a bit of Baltic’s Aquascaphe Diver, but with their own twist. This latest Batavi Kosmopoliet GMT collection adds a visual punch and mechanical sophistication in a capable diver’s case. Retro, classy and with a surprising touch of originality. 

Six watches comprise the Kosmopoliet GMT line, many named after cities like Hong Kong, Los Angeles and Amsterdam. Kosmopoliet is the Dutch word for cosmopolitan, which Batavi defines as “well-travelled, well-spoken, polite, open-minded, street smart, has humour and a good sense for fashion and design.” 

The stainless steel case of this GMT watch is 39mm in diameter and 12.5mm in height, so a bit larger than something vintage but still reasonably sized. The colourways really pop with a couple that would be at home in a 1980s Miami Vice episode – shades of pink, blue and aqua abound. The idea was to offer the taste of faded colours found on vintage bezels. The bi-directional bezels are all two-toned with bold, eccentric colours, each covering the top and bottom halves. The colours also represent day and night. 

A special edition, Medina, has Arabic characters replacing traditional numerals on its pink and aqua bezel, a true rarity for watches today. Visually appealing, the bezels are sapphire crystal with Super-LumiNova C3 for the scale. A double-domed sapphire crystal covers the front with a sapphire exhibition caseback displaying the ETA automatic. The case is water-resistant to 200 metres, making these legit divers through and through. 

The dials have a sunburst finish in colours including blue, green, brown and black. They’re sandwich dials with a second creamy layer underneath showing through the cutout indices. This combination of circle and rounded stick indices are typically large for the style with a double index at noon. A simple railroad track is printed at the perimeter. The polished sword-style hour and minute hands are filled with tan Super-LumiNova C3, along with a lollipop seconds hand (with a diamond in lieu of a circle). A red GMT hand with a large triangular tip is also filled with lume. The six models are Los Angeles, Sahara, Amsterdam, Amazon, Hong Kong and Medina, distinguished by colours and bezel characters. Availability of the green Amazon model is dependent on a stretch goal of CHF 175,000. 

Powering the collection is an ETA 2893-2 Elaboré automatic. It has 21 jewels, beats at 28,800vph (4Hz) with a 50-hour power reserve. Functions include central hours, minutes, seconds and second timezone GMT. There’s also a date complication, but it’s not being utilized here. The GMT hand can be set independently in one-hour increments by pulling the crown to the first position and rotating clockwise. Being an Elaboré grade, the movement is adjusted in three positions with an average accuracy of +/- 5 seconds per day. 

Price and orders

Three colour-matching straps come standard including a stainless steel bracelet, NATO and curved rubber, and a premium leather strap is optional. Super early bird prices (100 watches) start at CHF 649 (retail CHF 879) and includes all four straps, while early bird prices (100 watches) start at CHF 659 with the three standard straps. Regular Kickstarter prices are CHF 669 and all models come in a polished wooden box. Deliveries are expected to start in August 2020. For more information and to preorder, visit the Batavi Kosmopoliet GMT Kickstarter page.