Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675 - 'Fuchsia' MK1

The Rolex GMT-Master is one of the most historic and iconic watches the brand ever produced. Its origin dates back to a commission request by Pan American World Airways in the early 50’s for their fleet of pilots who needed access to different time zones.

These pieces would feature a similar design to another watch that Rolex was developing around that time, the Submariner, but would include a fourth hand running on 24-hr time, and a bi-colored bezel insert to represent AM/PM times. Those colors, naturally, would be the PanAm colors: Red & Blue. Thus, in 1953, the Ref. 6542 GMT-Master was born. These early pieces were ultimately, fragile arguably flawed in some ways, and were thereforsucceeded by the updated Reference 1675 in 1959.

These pieces introduced a larger case size with crown-guards and a bi-colored blue + red bezel insert made of aluminum. The Ref. 1675 underwent many small changes over its 21-year production run, with a slew of dial, bezel, bracelet, and hand variations. You know, Rolex stuff.

The example that we have here dates to circa 1969 and features an excellent, sharp refurbished case with gorgeous lug chamfers and shows only light signs of wear. The correct 'Long-E' matte black dial inside has a clean mate surface and gently patinated Tritium plots and the handset matches beautifully. The correct ' It comes fitted to a period correct C+I 'stretch-rivet' Oyster bracelet with a signed blade clasp.

And then, of course, there is that standout 'Fuchsia' bezel insert. It remains vibrant & rich in color, with a faint gradient-fade across on the blue half and a stunning lower half with that unique shade of purple. It shows light wear consistent with that of the rest of the watch with only minor chipping on the inner edge.

All things considered, this is a very attractive and honest example of a sought-after variant of the reference, and frankly, these do not surface on the open market as often as they used to!