If you think about it, all that bezel does is offer a simple ability to track units of time. If you have a meeting in 20 minutes, you rotate the bezel accordingly so that the arrow points to your future minute when the meeting begins. Have a steak on the grill and you need to flip it in 5 minutes? Rotate the bezel.
The Turnograph predated the submariner by many years and offered that feature. Then the sub took it and made it useful for diving by having a thicker and more robust, water resistant case, but the basic feature is the same. The Thunderbird offered that feature on a sleek, dress watch without having to wear a clunky dive watch to get it.