There are two types of watch reviews I particularly enjoy writing. One is a review for a watch that is truly bonkers. Something either outrageously expensive, avant-garde in its design sensibilities, off the beaten path and kind of rare, or some combination of all of the above. These are the types of watches I personally gravitate towards as a collector (well, not the outrageously expensive part, but the rest of it) and I find that typically I have an awful lot to say about them. It’s fun to write these reviews because it feels like I’m sharing my actual enthusiasm for something in a really pure and direct way.
The other type of review I like to write is for watches that are basically on the opposite side of the spectrum when it comes to my taste. It’s a challenge (if not necessarily fun in the same way) to write about a watch that brushes up against my own biases. It’s a useful exercise as a writer to evaluate something that is outside of your wheelhouse and comfort zone. And it certainly makes for better and more interesting copy than writing about a watch that is simply generic, neither a challenge to your taste or something you’d plunk down the credit card for to purchase yourself.
The new watch from Jack Mason is, for me, decidedly in that second category, a watch that I can tell from one photo is objectively nice and will have a strong following among enthusiasts, but is just not the type of thing I typically go for. The new Strat-o-timer GMT Frontier is a vintage inspired sports watch loaded with 60s/70s design codes, a combination that is not usually my thing, mostly because I’m predisposed to a “seen it all before” mentality, an admittedly unfortunate side effect of working in watch media.
Still, I jumped at the chance to write about this watch for a few reasons. First, I think Jack Mason is a genuinely interesting brand. Their trajectory in the watch space is completely unique, pivoting from an orientation toward fashion watches to fully embracing enthusiast watch culture, not to mention a commitment to doing as much as they can here in the United States (Jack Mason is based in Dallas, TX) including assembly, regulation, and design work.
Second, I’m just kind of a sucker for a white dialed sports watch. The Frontier is a two piece mini drop from Jack Mason that includes the Alpine edition, seen here, as well as the Night, which of course has a black dial. Maybe it’s the particularly wintery weather we’ve been experiencing in New England as of late, but I saw an immediate appeal in spending a few days with a white dialed sports watch. I mean, I hate this weather, and I’m trying to do what I can lean into reality in the hope that it makes me more comfortable living in a climate where going outside causes literal physical pain.
The Strat-o-timer GMT has been around for a few years now and I think could reasonably be considered the enthusiast oriented flagship in the Jack Mason collection. They’ve actively iterated on the format recently with a number of fun colorways (there have been several fun Dr. Pepper inspired editions), but the Frontier is a far more tool oriented approach to the Strat-o-timer with a solid steel bezel that has been given a very nice brushed finish that gives the watch a more serious and sober look, stripped of loud colors. The bezel is really the functional highlight of the watch, in my opinion. It has a great knurling around the perimeter and a satisfying action that makes it a pleasure to rotate, even though in my few days with the watch I never had an opportunity to track a third time zone with it. Still, a pretty solid fidget spinner, which is a genuine accomplishment.
The dial, as you’d expect with a watch like this, prioritizes easy legibility at a glance, and features large applied rectangular hour markers (each of which has a small downward oriented facet sloping toward the dial interior) that are generously filled with lume, with long black minute hashes in between. The hands and markers get black outlines that make them immediately recognizable against the white dial. The only hint of color is the orange 24 hour hand, which is perhaps a too on-the-nose reference to classic Rolex Explorer II references, but it works nonetheless.
The case measures 40mm in diameter, 47mm lug to lug, and 13mm thick. The sizing is fine on my wrist, maybe a little larger than I’d personally like, but it’s not offensive and the watch is well proportioned. The case finishing is somewhat vague, a result I’m guessing of the hardness coating that has been applied to it (Jack Mason claims it measures at 1,200 Vickers on the hardness scale). Again, this is a personal preference, but I’d probably prefer case finishing that is a little more well defined and less “soft” than what we see on the Strat-o-timer, but that’s an aesthetic taste thing on my part, and I’m happy to concede here that Jack Mason is offering customers something of value in the hardness coating. This is a tool watch, after all, and if you’re inclined to use it as such a hardness coating that reduces the impact of scratches is a nice thing to have.
For the bracelet we have a seven-link, Jubilee-style design that I found to be very comfortable and easy enough to dial in the correct size with single sided screws and on-board micro-adjustment capabilities on the clasp. The micro-adjustment mechanism is not super sophisticated, but it gets the job done and helps make the case that this kind of feature should be included for any sports watch of this ilk. I will say the clasp is perhaps a little long, and while it didn’t pose a comfort issue on my wrist, those with smaller wrists might be warned to try this one on before committing. The lug width is 20mm, so if the bracelet is not to your taste, it would be quite simple to swap it for a strap of just about any kind, or an aftermarket bracelet.
Zach Kazan
2026-02-11 19:00:00