CWhatWatch

Trume – the first time I heard about this brand was from an old article on another watch news website. Trume was a brand created by the Epson corporation, the research and development arm of Seiko Group. I say it was because I’m honestly not even sure if the brand is still around. While we mostly know Epson as a producer of printers and related electronics, they also develop a lot of the electronics that go into Seiko watches (such as the GPS systems on the Seiko Astron movements). From what I understand, the Trume brand was born out of the need to show what they could really do as a watch company, showing everyone the “True Me.” The Trume watch mentioned in that old article was much too expensive and large for me at the time, but it packed in a lot of technology. I was intrigued but decided to buy into the brand at a lower price point. The watch I ended up purchasing was a titanium true GMT from what I think is called the Trume L Collection, with reference TR-ME2007.

As I just mentioned, the Trume L Collection consists of GMT quartz watches. However, a technology from old Seiko watches makes a reappearance here. The movement powering the watch appears to be a Kinetic style movement rebranded as Swing Generator. Whereas a traditional quartz watch is powered by a battery that needs to be replaced every few years, the movement in this watch is instead powered by a swinging weight, much like traditional automatic mechanical watches. The swinging weight provides energy to the capacitor and in turn powers the hands. I believe the Kinetic movements are the other side of the “Spring Drive” coin, exploring the union of quartz and mechanical movements in another way.

The watch is made completely of titanium with a green 24hr bezel in ceramic and, because of this, has a great wearing experience despite its size. The watch definitely has some Rolex Explorer II vibes, with its fixed 24hr scale. I really enjoy this watch in the green colorway I have. The color tones on the dial are really subtle and rely instead on different textures for visual interest. There is even a highly polished chamfer where the flat part of the dial transitions down to a granular, sand like texture – impressive stuff. The same chamfer can also be seen around the hour markers on the lower level of the dial, glinting when the light hits it just right. The raised chapter ring is home to the full minute track and lumed hour markers. To me, the entire watch is very well built and I really appreciate the subtle design choices that were made – they just work together.

However, where this watch shines is in its functionality. For as long as I have been collecting watches, if you wanted an affordable GMT watch it was going to be a “caller” GMT. This is to say that when setting the time on your watch, you would set your local time on the main hands and then set the GMT hand for a second time zone. When adjusting the main hands once more, the GMT hand would also move in the same increments. This is useful when tracking the timezone in another area long term, say an international branch of your office. This watch, however, is a “traveler” GMT. You set the GMT hand first, most likely as your local/home time, and you can set the main hour hand independently. This has a few advantages. For one, while traveling you can easily change the main hour hand to your destination’s time zone while leaving your home time undisturbed. The other big advantage is that you can easily change the date on your watch by moving the main hour hand ahead 24 hours, removing the need to reset your watch after those months with fewer than 31 days. Furthermore, it being powered by a Kinetic style quartz movement means you will probably never have to reset the watch at all, given there is still some reserve power, maintaining its accuracy.

I purchased the Trume on eBay for roughly $400, and at the time of writing they are still available from various sellers for well under that. I think, for the price, it offers a compelling package of design and features from a brand many have not heard of. I know that for me, this watch presents a strong argument to serve as my main travel watch.

Reference	TR-ME2007
MSRP	$300-$400 on eBay
Case Size	44mm
Lug-to-Lug	51mm/55mm (male end links)
Lug Width	22mm
Materials	Titanium and Ceramic