GMT-Master
1972
£13,500
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Find me one like thisOriginal matte black dial with luminous markers, Mercedes hands and GMT arrow hand. This rare dial type is referred to as a Mark 2 dial and is correct for the 2.9 million serial number of this watch. The dial is signed “Swiss- T<25” referring to the original tritium luminous used on the dial & hands which both have a nice patina. The dial has not been touched and remains in excellent original condition.
The GMT reference 1675 in stainless steel with ‘Pepsi’ bezel. The 2.9 million serial number in-between the lugs denotes the year of production to 1972. The case is sharp with defined chamfered lugs and has some light scratches on due to general use and lack of polishing. The rotating bezel with 24 hour “Pepsi” insert is a Rolex service replacement and is in excellent condition. This reference features a plexiglass crystal with “Cyclops” magnifying the date display and a Rolex Twinlock screw down crown.
This Rolex “heavy” Oyster bracelet is from a later period to the watch. It has the reference 78360 with clasp code K12 and 501 B end links. Bracelets can be resized on request.
Released in 1954, the GMT-Master resulted from Pan Am and Rolex collaborating on a watch that could tell the time in two different places at once
With the further innovation and popularisation of commercial flying, the distances of flights became greater. This resulted in pilots crossing into different time zones more frequently. Thus, a need for uniformity across the industry was borne as potential issues could arise when communicating with ground teams in a different time zone to the pilots. To eliminate these errors, the aviation industry adopted a standard time-zone, Greenwich Mean Time. As such, the GMT-Master’s fourth hand, the 2nd-hour hand, was to stay on Greenwich Mean Time – which is where the name for the watch comes from.