Spinnaker’s Dumas GMT Gets a Hand-Drawn Inkdial Treatment

Spinnaker’s latest Dumas GMT shifts the familiar travel-watch format into more illustrative territory.

The Dumas GMT Automatic Inkdial Limited Edition is a collaboration with British Chinese artist Ben Li, better known to watch enthusiasts as Inkdial, and it turns the dial into the main act.

Rather than simply adding a signature or a new color, the watch carries Li’s pen-and-marker visual language across the dial, strap, rotor and packaging.

At a glance

• Spinnaker has unveiled the Dumas GMT Automatic Inkdial Limited Edition, a two-colorway collaboration with watch illustrator Ben Li.
• Both versions use a 43mm stainless steel case, TMI NH34 automatic GMT movement and hand-drawn-style dial artwork.
• Each colorway is limited to 450 numbered pieces, with availability from November 6, 2026 and an RRP of $495.

A sketchbook treatment for the Dumas GMT

Ben Li began Inkdial as a personal project in 2020 and has since built a following for watch illustrations made with ink and marker pens.

His style leans on fine outlining and cross-hatching, giving recognisable watches the texture of a drawing rather than a flat product rendering.

For the Spinnaker Dumas GMT Automatic Inkdial Limited Edition, that approach is applied directly to the watch face.

The dial is designed to look as if it has been worked by hand, with cross-hatched texture and drawn outlines sitting beneath a flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.

Li’s “Ink-made” signature appears at 6 o’clock, while the exhibition caseback reveals a decorated rotor carrying the words “Paper Casing and Inkdial”.

The concept continues onto the rubber strap, which features a cross-hatch texture intended to echo the shaded surfaces of Li’s drawings.

Ink Blue and Ink White

The release is split into two versions, both built on the same Dumas GMT platform.

Ink Blue, reference SP-5188-01, uses a deep blue dial and hands, a silver GMT hand and a matching blue rubber strap.

Spinnaker describes the blue version as dense in character, like ballpoint pen pressed into paper.

Ink White, reference SP-5188-02, takes the opposite route with a pale paper-toned dial, silver hands, a gold GMT hand and a grey rubber strap.

Spinnaker frames the white version as lighter in feel, closer to the first stroke on a fresh page.

Each colorway is limited to 450 individually numbered pieces, making 900 watches across the full edition.

GMT hardware with everyday utility

The watch uses the TMI NH34 automatic GMT movement, a Japanese calibre from the Seiko Group’s movement supply network.

Its practical appeal is straightforward, as the GMT hand allows the wearer to track a second time zone while travelling or working across cities.

The Dumas GMT also has a bi-directional 24-hour bezel, which adds another layer of time-zone flexibility.

At 43mm wide and 14.9mm thick, the faceted stainless steel case keeps the assertive proportions associated with the Dumas line.

A screw-down crown and 30 ATM water resistance give the watch a robust specification for a watch at this price point.

Swiss Super-LumiNova is used in two tones, green and blue, across the applied indexes, hands and bezel.

Details & Specifications

Packaging and collector details

The illustrated theme extends to the “Paper Casing and Inkdial” packaging, which gives the release a stronger sense of completion than a dial-only collaboration.

Spinnaker is also marking Inkdial’s sixth anniversary with six special cards hidden at random across the production run.

Each card is personally produced, hand-signed and hand-numbered by Ben Li at his London studio.

Collectors won’t know whether their box includes one of the six cards until it is opened.

The Dumas GMT Automatic Inkdial Limited Edition will suit buyers who like the practicality of an automatic GMT but want a watch with a more graphic and personal point of view.

It’s not a restrained travel watch, and that’s the point.

At $495, the appeal lies in a combination of recognisable microbrand hardware, a known GMT movement and an artist collaboration that visibly shapes the whole object rather than sitting quietly on the spec sheet.