Timex Just Put a 'Root Beer' Bezel on Its Cheapest Automatic GMT
Timex's Waterbury Heritage Automatic GMT gets a maroon-and-black bezel and a red GMT hand — a $579 automatic GMT with real specs, no invented pricing.
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Watch nicknames are usually reserved for things that cost a house down payment. "Root beer" describes the maroon-and-black bezel on Tudor's Black Bay GMT, a watch that runs well into four figures and still sells out. Timex just put the same color story on a $579 automatic, and it's the most direct read of that specific trend at this price we've seen from a mainstream brand.
The watch is the automatic addition to Timex's existing Waterbury Heritage GMT line, and the movement is the real story under the styling. It runs on an NH34 automatic GMT caliber with 24 jewels, wound by the motion of your wrist rather than a battery, tracking a second time zone with a red-and-white triangle-tipped GMT hand against the two-tone maroon-and-black ratcheting bezel. The 41.5mm brushed stainless steel case sits on a matching bracelet with self-adjustable links and quick-release spring bars, so resizing it at home takes a couple of minutes and no tools.
Why an automatic GMT at this price is unusual
Most watches under $600 that use the word "automatic" are simple three-hand pieces — an automatic movement with a GMT complication, which requires tracking a 24-hour hand independently of the main hour hand, is a meaningfully more complicated (and expensive) thing to build. Brands like Timex, Seiko and Orient are the few that reliably put real GMT function at this price; everyone else either drops the complication or the automatic movement to hit the number. That's the same gap that's made affordable Royal Oak alternatives and value-priced divers like the ones in our luxury dive watch guide into their own small category: watches that borrow a expensive watch's defining visual trick without the expensive watch's price.
The exhibition caseback is the other detail worth noting. Plenty of watches in this price range hide the movement behind a solid steel back; showing it off here is a small vote of confidence in what's actually running the watch, not just the dial in front of it.
Price, colorways and who it's for
The TW2Y93500 shown here runs ~$579 direct from Timex, on the stainless steel bracelet with the maroon-and-black bezel. Timex sells the same case and movement in other bezel colorways, including a green-and-black version, if root beer isn't the read you're after. All of them ship straight from timex.com — no waitlist, no reseller markup, no "add to cart" button that leads to a sold-out page.
This isn't a watch for someone chasing Swiss pedigree; it's for a guy who wants the two-time-zone function and the specific color story on his wrist without spending watch-forum money to get there. Wear it the way you'd wear any tool watch: a plain knit or oxford shirt, sleeves that clear the case, nothing else on the wrist competing for attention. If the 41.5mm case runs a little tall for your wrist, the slimmer steel divers in our dive watch guide sit lower under a cuff. For everything else new in the category, start at Watches or our affordable luxury archive.
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Our guides for this look: 8 Luxury Dive Watches You Can Actually Wear Every Day
FAQ
What does a 'root beer' bezel mean on a watch?
It's watch-collector shorthand for a two-tone brown-and-black (or maroon-and-black) bezel insert, a look popularized by watches like the Tudor Black Bay GMT. Timex's Waterbury Heritage Automatic GMT borrows the same maroon-and-black color story at a fraction of the price.
Is a Timex automatic actually a real automatic movement?
Yes. The NH34 is a Japanese-made automatic GMT movement (built by Seiko Epson's movement division) that winds from the motion of your wrist rather than a battery. It's a genuine mechanical movement, not a quartz watch dressed up to look like one.
Where can I buy the Timex Waterbury Heritage Automatic GMT?
Directly from timex.com, model TW2Y93500 for the maroon-and-black bracelet version shown here. Timex also sells other colorways of the same watch, including a green-and-black bezel on a different reference.
