Lacité Urbanite GMT

Pre-order opens today!

You know me - when it comes to watches, if a new release has a GMT complication in it, I’m going to pay closer attention. Recently, we had a new brand from Montréal reach out to us about their first release, the Lacité Urbanite GMT. The pre-order opens up later today, so let’s see what this is all about.

Lacité Urbanite GMT: what it is

Some parts of it, well, that’s hiding right in the name. The Lacité Urbanite GMT is a GMT watch, powered by the Miyota 9075. This is a traveller GMT, where the main hour hand is set independently. Yes, you give up a quick-set date (if you let the watch wind down), but if you’re frequently hopping time zones, this ability to set the hand to local time quickly is worth the tradeoff.

The other part of the watch design is hiding in it’s name. Unless, of course, you speak French. Lacité means “the city” in French; combine that with urbanite, and you get the idea that this is a watch that is meant for city life. Often, watches speak to us of wild adventures, climbing mountain summits or swimming watery depths. Things that many of us never do. Here, we have a watch that says, yes, let’s keep our feet firmly planted in civilization.

Other design elements

Fittingly for a watch equipped with a GMT (which frequently indicates air travel), I’m picking up some aviation watch design cues on the Lacité Urbanite GMT. First off, there’s the applied numerals, which have a font we often see on pilot’s watches. Secondly, you’ve got the sword handset, which again, often shows up on a flying watch.

There’s another element I want to point out, and that is the GMT hand itself. They’ve skeletonized the arm of the GMT hand, which helps it to not obscure the dial. What I think is rather clever here is that it looks like you’ve got a delta wing plane (the tip of the hand) with contrails coming off behind it.

Finally, there’s that date display. It seems to be your regular date display, other than the fact that there are pops of color here, contrasting to the main dial itself. It makes us wonder why all the smaller brands are playing with color, yet so many of the big brands are stuck with white date discs that are jarring in a colorful dial. Here, we get a lovely contrast, and some playfulness on the dial.

Wrapping things up

While the MSRP for the watches ranges from $699 - $785, there are discounts to be found in the pre-order. In fact, the pricing range drops down to $560 - $630, which is a tidy savings. There are three dial colors to choose from, and each watch ships with two straps (we’re happy to see a steel bracelet is an option as well). Check out the pre-order when it opens today at 12pm Eastern over at lacitewatches.com

Tech Specs

• MOVEMENT: MIYOTA 9075 (True GMT)

• DIMENSIONS

  • 40.5MM DIAMETER

  • 12MM THICKNESS

  • 47MM LUG TO LUG

  • 20MM LUG WIDTH

• CASES

  • 316L STAINLESS STEEL

  • BRUSHED FINISH

  • IP COATING (SLATE BLACK)

• WATER RESISTANCE: 100M (10ATM)

• GLASS

  • FLAT SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL

  • INNER ANTI-REFLECTION COATING

  • CASEBACK SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL

• LUME: BGW9 SWISS SUPERLUMINOVA (BLUE)

• DIALS

  • OIL PRESSED DIAL w/ GRAVEL TEXTURE

  • SUNBURST SS DIAL (MONTRÉAL)

  • RAISED INDEXES AND NUMERALS

  • 24H SLOPED REHAUT

  • CUSTOM DATE WINDOW & WHEEL

• HANDS: CUSTOM HANDS WITH BGW9 LUME
  STRAPS

  • STAINLESS STEEL BRACELET (BRUSHED), 2 POSITION MICRO-ADJUSTMENT

  • ITALIAN LEATHER

  • NYLON STRAP

  • QUICK RELEASE

  • 316L STAINLESS STEEL BUCKLES

  • EACH WATCH COMES WITH 2 STRAPS