Great article! Thank you.
An interesting fact- I have a GMT2 ref 16710 that I purchased in London in year 2000 and I obtained both a blue and red and also a black and red bezel for it! (you could do such things then!) I recently had it serviced by Rolex and interestingly they told me they had replaced the hairspring with the new parachrome hairspring! -Of course they did not return the original hairspring to me. I’m wondering- has my watch gone up or down in value by them installing the parachrome hairspring on my ref 16710?? Also… after accidentally knocking off the bezel against car doors etc. and losing the tiny click spring at least three times in the last twenty years I decided to actually glue down the bezel- so it doesn’t rotate now….”sacrilege!” you may say but I’m now confident the bezel will never pop off again!
I remember the salesman in London advising me to go for the GMT 2 rather than the explorer 2 because he said “you can always replace the bezel on the GMT2 and it will look like new.” How right he was -25 years later….. after a service, my GMT2 looks like it did the day I bought it…..
Muhammad Adnan Dawood
16. January 2025 11:32
Beautiful
Manida Blackwell
15. January 2025 9:32
Great information
Darius Kotwal
15. January 2025 8:47
nice and informative. Additionally if I want to buy a genuine Rolex GMT Master II in India how do I go about it ? with peers etc of course.
Felix Davidson
15. January 2025 4:26
I have the 2020 “Root Beer” which I believe most attractive of all… it came to my possession in 2021 during the Covid-19 Pandemic and so despite the terrible year of devastation around the world it serves as a reminder of humanity whereupon the pressures we exert on the planet have become so great that scientist are consideraing that the earth has entered into a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene or The Age of Humans which meams we are the first people who live in a time defined by human choice in which the dominant risk to our survival is ourselves and the way forward from Covid-19 will be the journey of a generation to the next frontier where we hope that all people will choose to travel together to choose the necessary alternatives to paralysis in the face of rising poverty and inequalities alongside alarming planetary change. Human development is about empowering people to identify and pursue their own paths for a meaningful life, one anchored in expanding freedoms… wearing the GMT Master-II with its dual time zone and ability to find true North embodies this (The GMT hand can also be used for compass orientation in the northern hemisphere. With the watch held parallel to the ground and the hour hand pointed in the direction of the sun, the GMT hand, when adjusted to the same time on the 24-hour GMT display, will indicate due north.”
Tony Yeomans
15. January 2025 0:02
I have had my GMT Master II since 2004. It was serviced in 2011 and at £600 it has not become a habit! Rolex wanted to renew the bezel and the crown wheel which I agreed to although neither was known to have a fault or scratch. The watch is gold and steel with a black face and a black aluminium bezel which is not mentioned in the article. Apart from the six months it took for the service, I have worn it every day and continue to do so. First time I have heard of the “wobble” but I cannot see one so maybe I got an upgrade during the service!
There are odd moments, unfortunately, that I do take it off depending where I am. I loved the watch when I bought it and still do as I feel the “old” look is far superior to anything rose gold or similar. I did buy my first GMT Master in 1967 in Singapore. I was asked to buy it by a guy I worked for on Saturdays when at school in the UK. At £90 it was around six months of my wages at the time. It was notably cheaper than in HongKong or Japan where the price was £95!
BazzaM
14. January 2025 23:26
What about the Zombie ?
Yogendra Limbu
14. January 2025 23:17
I like GMT- Master II, coke (red and black)
Derek Middleton
14. January 2025 10:09
No mention of the jubilee bracelet “batgirl” ?
Luc Villeneuve
13. January 2025 13:33
Love it
Fran
13. January 2025 2:08
Small correction: the photo caption reads “ Vintage Rolex GMT Master II from 1967” but the Master II wasn’t released until 1982.
Comments
Awesome article Aaron.
Great article! Thank you.
An interesting fact- I have a GMT2 ref 16710 that I purchased in London in year 2000 and I obtained both a blue and red and also a black and red bezel for it! (you could do such things then!) I recently had it serviced by Rolex and interestingly they told me they had replaced the hairspring with the new parachrome hairspring! -Of course they did not return the original hairspring to me. I’m wondering- has my watch gone up or down in value by them installing the parachrome hairspring on my ref 16710?? Also… after accidentally knocking off the bezel against car doors etc. and losing the tiny click spring at least three times in the last twenty years I decided to actually glue down the bezel- so it doesn’t rotate now….”sacrilege!” you may say but I’m now confident the bezel will never pop off again!
I remember the salesman in London advising me to go for the GMT 2 rather than the explorer 2 because he said “you can always replace the bezel on the GMT2 and it will look like new.” How right he was -25 years later….. after a service, my GMT2 looks like it did the day I bought it…..
Beautiful
Great information
nice and informative. Additionally if I want to buy a genuine Rolex GMT Master II in India how do I go about it ? with peers etc of course.
I have the 2020 “Root Beer” which I believe most attractive of all… it came to my possession in 2021 during the Covid-19 Pandemic and so despite the terrible year of devastation around the world it serves as a reminder of humanity whereupon the pressures we exert on the planet have become so great that scientist are consideraing that the earth has entered into a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene or The Age of Humans which meams we are the first people who live in a time defined by human choice in which the dominant risk to our survival is ourselves and the way forward from Covid-19 will be the journey of a generation to the next frontier where we hope that all people will choose to travel together to choose the necessary alternatives to paralysis in the face of rising poverty and inequalities alongside alarming planetary change. Human development is about empowering people to identify and pursue their own paths for a meaningful life, one anchored in expanding freedoms… wearing the GMT Master-II with its dual time zone and ability to find true North embodies this (The GMT hand can also be used for compass orientation in the northern hemisphere. With the watch held parallel to the ground and the hour hand pointed in the direction of the sun, the GMT hand, when adjusted to the same time on the 24-hour GMT display, will indicate due north.”
I have had my GMT Master II since 2004. It was serviced in 2011 and at £600 it has not become a habit! Rolex wanted to renew the bezel and the crown wheel which I agreed to although neither was known to have a fault or scratch. The watch is gold and steel with a black face and a black aluminium bezel which is not mentioned in the article. Apart from the six months it took for the service, I have worn it every day and continue to do so. First time I have heard of the “wobble” but I cannot see one so maybe I got an upgrade during the service!
There are odd moments, unfortunately, that I do take it off depending where I am. I loved the watch when I bought it and still do as I feel the “old” look is far superior to anything rose gold or similar. I did buy my first GMT Master in 1967 in Singapore. I was asked to buy it by a guy I worked for on Saturdays when at school in the UK. At £90 it was around six months of my wages at the time. It was notably cheaper than in HongKong or Japan where the price was £95!
What about the Zombie ?
I like GMT- Master II, coke (red and black)
No mention of the jubilee bracelet “batgirl” ?
Love it
Small correction: the photo caption reads “ Vintage Rolex GMT Master II from 1967” but the Master II wasn’t released until 1982.