Rolex GMT-Master 1675 'MK4'
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Rolex GMT-Master 1675 'MK4'
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During its production of roughly twenty years, the Rolex GMT-Master reference 1675 has been subject to various alterations on both, an aesthetic and technological level. Especially, the dial underwent evident adjustments.
This type of dial is an MK IV and features a tall, small-based coronet. Furthermore, the word 'ROLEX' has wider serifs, and the word 'Oyster Perpetual' doesn't have serifs at all. Finally, the right vertical line in the second 'M' of the word 'GMT-Master' falls on top of the middle of the 'C' in 'Chronometer', which is not the case for later MK's.
As you can see on the pictures the GMT has a very clean dial where the tritium is beautifully aged to an eggshell-kind-of colour. The bezel insert has discoloured to a very nice blueish/grey colour that perfectly matches the dial as well.
This all sounds very important until you realize that this, more importantly, is a watch that comes with a very cool provenance. It wasn’t worn by Paul Newman or Marlon Brando but actually by someone who really bought the watch for its function. We were very excited when we got the possibility to buy this watch from its first owner who was a pilot on intercontinental flights. Of course, the major part of the watch dealers would try to sell you this story but we actually received a picture of him wearing the watch at the job!
The watch dates back to the year 1977 and besides the very cool provenance, the watch comes with its original ‘folded’ Jubilee bracelet and is also accompanied by the original box, papers and service history.
Introduction
Rolex GMT-Master
Fasten your seatbelts for the story of the Rolex GMT-Master. Aviation company Pan-Am requested Rolex to create a wristwatch that would display multiple time-zones simultaneously, as their flights got longer; crossing multiple time-zones. Rolex came up with the GMT-Master (‘GMT’ stands for ‘Greenwich Mean Time’) in 1954. The watch features a date-function and an extra hour hand (with triangle) that points out the second time zone on the bi-directional turning, 24hour bezel. Still linked to aviation and although meant for professional use, it enjoys a much wider fan base ever since it first saw light. Over the years it underwent some changes and there are so many wonderful variations of this all-time Rolex classic. Some GMT’s are great as a single purchase, others are a wonderful addition to any collection and some of them can be considered as the crowning glory.Reference 1675Introduced in 1959 and with a very long production run of little over 20 years: the 1675! On this model they added the ‘pointed crown guards’ (1675 with PCG AKA ‘Cornino)’ that got replaced by regular rounded crown guards in 64/65. The dial also underwent some changes from glossy gilt chapterring to a matte radial dial in the end. (with a lot of variations in between, like the rare ‘exclamation mark’, ‘underline’ and ‘Double-swiss’ dials). There was a change in the red GMT hand as well as the small arrow was replaced by a bigger one. The 1675 was mainly produced in steel, but was also available in 18k yellow gold or a combination of both materials. In the early 70s it became the first Rolex Professional watch with – optional – factory fitted jubilee bracelet.'Pepsi Bezel'The red/ blue bezel inserts on the steel GMT’s are referred to as ‘Pepsi bezels’ as it assembles the same colours, but in fact Rolex chose this combination because of the Pan-Am colours. The heritage of the Pepsi bezel starts in 1959, when the rare bakelite bezels were used. Up until 2007 aluminium Pepsi bezels were used (optional, next to an all-black or black/ red aka ‘Coke bezel’). After being discontinued for 7 years, Rolex re-launched the beloved ‘Pepsi’, yet this time made out of Cerachromand only available on the white-gold model. In 2018 Basel world Rolex introduced the stainless steel Pepsi with Jubilee bracelet.