Rolex GMT-Master Ref 1675 - Mk4 Dial Retailed by Tiffany & Co.

Straight Facts

The Elephant on the 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 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 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. To many in the collector community the 1675 is the de rigueur of GMT-Masters. It fixed all the issues of the 6542 by making a better all-around watch with crown guards and a more durable aluminum bezel. Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room - err on the dial - this watch was sold new by Tiffany & Company. The legendary New York (and now LVMH owned) retailer is one of the most iconic American brands and used to be an Authorized Retailer for many prestigious watch brands like Rolex, Patek Philippe, OMEGA, Movado, and many others. Largely due to their prestige in the market they were allowed to stamp their retailer name onto the dials and while this stopped (with Rolex anyways) in the late 1980s - these watches have been highly sought after ever since.

The dial aside, the bezel is in excellent condition with only slight fading to its signature blue/red color palette (thanks PanAm) and the case is well preserved, but has certainly been polished previously. The dial shows no signs of damage and exhibits consistent patina throughout. With its iconic New York connection, this is not a watch that comes around often!

*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.