Two Colour Bezel Travel Watches for Less

In the 1950s, airline crews flying the first long haul jet routes needed to know the time at home and at their destination at the same time. The answer was a watch with a fourth hand that turned once a day, and a rotating bezel marked in 24 hours, half red for daytime and half blue for night. The design became one of the most recognizable in watchmaking, and the steel versions of the best known model now start at about $11,500.

Today most people who buy a red and blue bezel never set a second time zone. They buy it because it looks good. That is a perfectly reasonable reason, but it is worth knowing what you are buying, because the affordable market splits cleanly into watches that have the function and watches that have the look.

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Watch Index · prices checked October 9, 2026

The watches in this guide, ranked

Every watch this guide mentions, ranked by Value Score or by what one watch costs today with each store's current offer counted.

How a real GMT works

A GMT watch has four hands. Three are the usual hour, minute and seconds hands showing local time. The fourth is a second hour hand, usually with an arrow tip, that makes one turn every 24 hours instead of every 12. Because it moves at half the speed of the normal hour hand, it can be read against a 24 hour scale on the bezel without confusion between morning and evening.

Set the fourth hand to the time at home, and it shows home time against the bezel while the main hands show local time. Rotate the bezel, and the same hand can show a third zone: turn the bezel by the number of hours of difference and read the hand against the new position. The red and blue halves tell you at a glance whether that time falls in the day or the night.

The key point: the bezel alone does nothing. Without the fourth 24 hour hand, a 24 hour bezel cannot show a second time zone on a watch whose hour hand turns twice a day. Our GMT explainer covers the variations, including watches where the local hour hand jumps instead.

The look: Lucky Fours Imperial

The Imperial has the design people picture: a rotating bezel in red and blue with large 24 hour numerals, a black dial with round luminous style markers, a date at three under a magnifier, and a five link bracelet with polished center links. It is a well proportioned interpretation and the bezel colors are deep rather than bright, which keeps it from looking like a toy. It costs $129.99 with 5 colorways.

It is a quartz watch, and in the store photographs it has three hands and a date, with no separate 24 hour hand. So we treat it as a style watch: the bezel turns and looks the part, but it is not a working GMT. If you never planned to use the function, that costs you nothing, and the Imperial is a fraction of the price of any mechanical GMT.

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The function: Timex Marlin Quartz GMT 40mm

The Timex Marlin Quartz GMT 40mm at $249 is the honest choice if you travel or work across time zones. It is a 40mm polished steel watch on a brushed and polished steel bracelet, with an ice blue sunray dial and a dedicated GMT hand read against a blue and brown 24 hour scale printed around the dial. Interestingly, that scale is two tone as well, just in quieter colors and inside the crystal rather than on a bezel. It is its own vintage styled watch, in keeping with the 1960s Marlin line, rather than an echo of the red and blue design. Timex also lists a version on a leather strap. You get the function, a known name and a one year Timex warranty.

The trade is simple. The Imperial gives you the famous look for $129.99. The Timex gives you the function for $249. Neither does both, and nothing under $500 that we know of does both convincingly.

*as listed on each brand's US website, October 2026

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Wearing a two color bezel

The red and blue combination is a sports watch, and it is loud by design. It works best with casual clothes, denim, navy and white, and in a relaxed office. With a suit it reads as a deliberate choice, which can work if the rest of the outfit is quiet. If you want something calmer from the same family, a single color bezel diver such as the green bezel Baretta is easier to wear daily; compare the options in seven luxury watch looks for less.

And if you already own a calmer watch, the two color bezel makes an excellent second one. Under the Lucky Fours buy one, get one free offer with mix and match, the Imperial can be paired with a dress watch such as the Santos for the price of one. For more choices under this budget, see the best watches under $200.

WatchesUnder is owned by BlackRobin Capital Inc.

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