Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675/3 - Rootbeer Nipple Dial

Straight Facts

What is a Nipple Dial?

Let’s rewind the clock to the 1950s. Pan American World Airways, is in talks with Boeing to launch the worlds first passenger jetliner, massively shortening the time between American and European Nations. It does however, present an interesting dilemma. Pilots need to be able to tell time in two places at the same time with a very quick glance. Who does Juan Trippe turn to? Rolex. While worldtimers and GMTs were not a new invention - the way Rolex chose to answer it was incredibly novel AND simple. The addition of a ‘slow’ 24 hour hand that made one revolution per day and a simple change of the bezel to a military 24 hour time would allow the wearer to quickly read time in two places at once. Points awarded here for mechanical simplicity, and execution. The bezel would be in two different colors to represent AM/PM times, and those colors would be the PanAm colors of Red & Blue (naturally). While the watch was developed rather quickly and the first generation 6542 released in the mid 50s, the Boeing Jetliner (the 707) took a little longer to develop. That being said, when PanAm flew the 707 on its maiden flight from New Yorks Idlewild Airport (not yet JFK!) to Paris (with onboard catered food from Maxim’s of Paris!) it was the Rolex GMT-Master on the flight crews wrist.

Which leads us to the present example GMT-Master, a second generation 1675. While the 6542 GMT was a great watch, it was not without its flaws. The 1675 saw the introduction of crown guards, aluminum bezels … AND Two-Tone. While the 6542 was available in all-gold, the 1675 reference gave us the ‘Root Beer’. With its signature brown autumnal colors - this is a collector favorite reference. These models came with several types of bezels and dials - this one having a matte brown dial with ‘nipple’ indices, called that for their generally small round appearance. These brown matte dials were often prone to chipping - but the one housed in this case is in perfect condition throughout with no signs of any degradation.

The dial aside, the bezel is in excellent condition and these solid brown bezels are not easy to find or come across - these were more commonly born with the two-tone brown bezel inserts. The case is fixed to a beautiful two-tone jubilee which is in excellent overall condition, and truly make the watch complete. Say it with us - GMT ON JUBILEE! The only way to fly.

*Some marks or spots on the dial are reflections or dust on the crystal and are due to high intensity strobe lighting used while photographing. They are not actually on the watch or visible in natural lighting.