Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675 - Fuschia Bezel

Straight Facts

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 shorting 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 worldimers 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 York’s 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. To many in the collector community the 1675 is the de rigueur of GMT-Masters. One of its biggest improvements came in the form of an aluminum bezel insert. The new bezel lost the impregnated lume of the bakelite - but was massively durable. After the 1675, it even became commonplace for Rolex to swap aluminum bezels onto all 6542 that came for service. An additional upside of the aluminum, was that the red/blue color ways tended to fade into beautiful colors over time. This particular example being among a small subset of watches whose original aluminum bezels faded to an incredible fuchsia color which is simply visually stunning. These Fuchsia bezel GMTs are extremely desirable in the collector community. That being said - the watch itself is no slouch! The watch case is likely unpolished, and the dial lume has aged to that beautiful cream color we all crave so much! Finished off with a period correct Oyster Riveted Bracelet, and you have a GMT-Master ready for its next 50 years of adventure and jet-setting.

*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.