To mark the model’s 50th anniversary, Rolex has updated the Explorer II with a new movement and subtle design modifications. We look at what the most recent version can offer collectors, explorers and adventurers.

Before last year’s Watches and Wonders in April, speculation about the anniversary Explorer already ranged far and wide. Would it be given a ceramic bezel? Would it get a green hand, or other elements in the color Rolex has so often used for anniversary models? Would the case diameter be changed? Nothing of the sort. Changes to the new Explorer’s appearance are minimal. Even most watch enthusiasts can only identify the wider bracelet in a side-by-side comparison.

Was this disappointing? Actually not; design continuity is one factor that makes Rolex so successful and stable in value. While other brands replace their less popular models every two years with completely new versions, Rolex improves the technology of all of its watches — even those that are less in demand. And until a few years ago, the Explorer II was one of the Rolex sport models that could even be bought from a jeweler at a discount. Those times have passed. The new, improved model has gained considerable popularity despite minimal changes to its look. And this is not only due to the new caliber, which has since become almost standard in the Rolex portfolio.

50 Years on an Expedition 

How did it all begin? In 1971, Rolex presented the Explorer II as an expedition watch. The 24-hour display was designed to be particularly helpful for cave explorers who would work in the dark for days on end or for those on polar expeditions during the Arctic summer when the sun never sets. The Explorer II was the professional upgrade of the Explorer presented in 1953, which was without a date or a second time zone. This design icon continues to be produced today.

The Explorer II has been on numerous Arctic and Antarctic expeditions and has been worn by explorers of volcanoes and caves. The first model had bar hands with a pointed tip, rectangular indexes and an orange 24-hour hand. The second model followed in 1985. The 24-hour hand was now slimmer and red instead of orange. Applied markers were round in the typical Rolex style, and the familiar Mercedes-shaped hour hand was added. A white-dial version was offered alongside the black-dial model. The new Caliber 3085, which was also introduced in the GMT-Master II that same year, permitted the independent setting of the hour hand to a second time zone. This made the fixed coupling of the 24-hour hand to the hour hand a thing of the past and increased its usefulness.

In 2011, to mark the 40-year anniversary, Rolex took the next evolutionary step and based the 24-hour-hand model on the original “orange hand” model, as it’s known among collectors. Rolex also increased the case diameter from 40 to 42 mm and also enlarged the hands and indexes.

New Details 

The most significant modification of the revised 2021 Explorer, our test watch, is its more harmonious proportions. The bracelet, which has now grown to a width of 22 mm, the narrower lugs and the wider clasp make for a better and more attractive fit with the 42-mm case.

The dial shows only minimal changes. The applied white-gold indexes now have a matte black PVD coating to match the matteblack lacquered white-gold hands. The large markers and hands enhance legibility. But the white dial of our test watch is a disadvantage in this regard. The version with a black dial is easier to read. And now, and for the first time, Rolex has given the flat crystal an anti-glare coating on the inner surface — a noticeable change, which has a positive effect. At night, the Chromalight luminous material increases legibility with its intense blue glow, which lasts until the early morning hours. The Cyclops date magnifying lens increases legibility only if you look directly at the watch from the front.

Overall, the design with the sloping steel bezel with a sunburst finish, the white dial, and the orange hands is a success. However, the combination of modern-looking elements with typical Rolex and historical Explorer II elements is not as seamless as other icons of the brand — the Submariner and the GMT-Master II, which have remained unchanged for decades. The white dial and the 42-mm size are atypical for Rolex watches and are an interesting alternative to the majority of sport models with a black dial.

One tiny new detail can be found on the dial: a small Rolex crown at 6 o’clock. It indicates a new generation of movement, as on other Rolex models.

Movement Update 

The new time-zone Caliber 3285 has replaced the older 3187. With the exception of the Milgauss and the Air-King, a new generation of calibers powers all other Rolex models. The greatest advantage for the wearer is the extended power reserve, which now lasts three days instead of two, thanks to the higher efficiency of the Chronergy escapement. For this purpose, the geometry of the pallet fork and escape wheel was optimized. And with the LIGA process, in which these components are galvanic, Rolex was able to create a perforated and, therefore, lighter structure. Thanks to the nickel-phosphorous alloy used, the escapement does not react to magnetic fields. The new movement also has a ball bearing instead of a friction bearing.

When we opened our test watch, we noticed that Rolex has been further optimizing the movements without any fanfare. The rotor bearing now has 27 balls instead of just seven, which allows the rotor to run almost as quietly as a bushing-type rotor. This should please many Rolex fans.

The well-known advantages of Rolex movements have remained: the in-house Paraflex shock absorber, which is designed to return to its normal position better in the event of impacts, the extremely stable balance bridge instead of a balance cock that is only attached to one side, the free-sprung hairspring with Breguet overcoil made of a paramagnetic niobium-zirconium alloy and the free-sprung fine regulator with Microstella weights on the balance wheel. And the movement can be adjusted using a special tool, no disassembly required. Decorations include a sunburst finish, but no hand engraving is present.

As always at Rolex, the official chronometer certificate from the Swiss testing agency COSC confirms a high accuracy rate of the movement in different positions and at various temperatures. Rolex’s own in-house specifications demand even more precise regulation that ensures accuracy averaging between -2 and +2 seconds per day. On the timing machine, our test watch met these high expectations and showed an average deviation of only 0.3 seconds.

All six positions remained between -2 and +3 seconds; accordingly, the greatest deviation between the positions was 5 seconds. Amplitude differences were quite substantial, however, with a 50-degree drop between the vertical and horizontal positions.

In addition to accuracy, our test watch also meets Rolex expectations of quality. Finishing is virtually perfect — excellent polishing and satin finishes on the case, the bracelet with no play between the links, and a finely printed dial. Every component exudes high quality and can withstand careful scrutiny with a loupe.

The case has Rolex’s own screw-down Twinlock crown and is water resistant to 100 meters. This is sufficient. But we would have liked to see the more secure Triplock crown that offers a higher level of protection on this expedition-style watch, as on the GMT-Master II.

Despite the crown guards, the crown is easy to unscrew. The first position, as you would expect, winds the mainspring. When you pull the crown out to the second position, you can adjust the hour hand in hourly increments, which is useful when you travel to another time zone. The 24-hour hand indicates home time. If the hour hand moves over the date line, the date will change accordingly. This works forward as well as backward and is almost as smooth as a proper quickdate adjustment mechanism. The minute hand can be advanced in the third position, along with the 24-hour and normal hour hand. The secure Oysterlock clasp is also easy to use. Lifting a safety bar over the spring-held lever opens the sturdy folding clasp. The practical Easylink extension of up to 5 mm can be unfolded from the clasp.

At $8,550, the Explorer II has a list price below the GMT-Master II in Oystersteel ($9,700) with its rotating 24-hour bezel. The price is appropriate, and while demand is greater than supply, it’s still not as extreme as the GMT-Master II. Frequent buyers may have a realistic chance of getting this watch from a certified dealer in a shorter period of time, but count on waiting awhile.
Conclusion Evolution over revolution: Rolex avoids major design changes and, for this reason, once again, has built the best Explorer II of all time with its new movement and minor modifications like the more harmonious bracelet proportions.

Rolex Explorer II Specs

Manufacturer: Rolex SA, Rue François-Dussaud 3-7, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland 

Reference number: 226570 

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, second time zone 

Movement: In-house movement Caliber 3285, automatic, chronometer, 28,800 vph, 31 jewels, stop seconds, quickadjust date with hour advancing mechanism, Paraflex shock absorber, Glucydur balance with Microstella regulating screws, 70-hour power reserve 

Case: Stainless steel 904L, flat sapphire crystal with Cyclops date lens and inner anti-reflective coating, screwdown Twinlock crown, fully threaded 904L stainless-steel caseback, water resistant to 100 m 

Bracelet and clasp: Oyster bracelet made of 904L stainless steel, with safety folding clasp and incremental extension piece 

Rate results: Deviation in seconds per 24 hours

Dimensions: Diameter = 42 mm, height = 12.1 mm, weight = 164 g 

Price: $8,550

Scores:

Bracelet and clasp (max. 10 points):
The safety folding clasp with incremental extension piece and the steel bracelet are well made, sturdy and attractive. 9

Case (10):
The cleanly polished saltwaterresistant case could have a higher water resistance for an expedition watch. The screw-down crown provides security. 9

Dial and hands (10): Carefully crafted dial with applied indexes. The matte lacquered hands are not as attractive as the polished hands found on other Rolex models. 9

Design (15): Excellent design but not as timeless as other Rolex models. The wider bracelet provides better proportions. 13

Legibility (5): The large hands and indexes are still easy to read despite low contrast on the white dial. The blue luminous material shines for a long time. 4

Operation (5): The deeply grooved crown is easy to use. The date can be adjusted quickly, and the stop-seconds mechanism facilitates setting the time accurately. 5

Wearing comfort (5): Curved links make the watch comfortable to wear, even with the wider bracelet. Extension piece in the clasp. 5

Movement (20): The well-designed and sturdy inhouse movement provides a long power reserve. 19

Rate results (10):
Very low average deviation, but in the minus range. Values in all positions are close. 9

Overall value (10):
Appropriately priced and high value retention – but it’s hard to get. 9

TOTAL: 91 points

To learn more about Rolex, click here, and to subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

For many collectors, the history of the dive watch starts in 1953 with the introduction of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and Rolex Submariner. Divers, however, already had to rely on water-resistant watches, decades before the commercialization of two of the category’s most iconic models. We take a deep dive into how the history of underwater exploration and the evolution of the wristwatch are connected.

In 1942, German trade publication Uhrmacher-Woche (Watchmaker’s Week) began an extensive article about water-resistant watches with the following opening paragraph: “15 years ago, when the water resistant watch hit the market, many expected it to be an advertising gimmick or a fashion fad, because it isn’t really necessary to wear a watch when swimming.” The author then quickly went on to conclude that “the development of the air-tight watch became a technical necessity and important for the outcome of the war, because in rooms with lead storage batteries, in factories, on board submarines the air is filled with acid fumes.”

From the Pocket to the Wrist and Into the Waters of WWII 

What makes this article from 80 years ago remarkable is the combination of several misconceptions about the development of the waterproof or water-resistant wristwatch that ultimately culminated in the invention of the dive watch. First, Rolex clearly did manage to create an impact “15 years ago” by placing its famous full-page advertisement on the front of London’s Daily Mail on Nov. 24, 1927, proclaiming the success of the first waterproof wristwatch and chronicling “the debut of the Rolex Oyster and its triumphant march worldwide” after then-26-year-old British professional swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam the English Channel wearing a Rolex Oyster, thus spending more than 10 hours in the chilly waters between France and Great Britain. Second, not a single word mentions divers or diving, even though helmet diving had already become an established industry by then. Other fields of application seemed much more important than diving or “swimming,” which ironically was also the case with many of the innovations that helped establish diving itself. It was, for example, the idea for a smoke helmet by Charles Deane in 1823 that led to the development of the first successful diving helmet (which consequently resulted in Augustus Siebe, an engineer and former watchmaker, working on a helmet fitted to a full length watertight canvas diving suit in 1830). The same was true of the oxygen rebreather, which was as much intended to be an emergency escape apparatus for submarine crews, mine workers or firefighters, as it finally allowed helmet divers to work more independently without surface-supplied air via a diver’s umbilical.

Ironically, those early helmet divers came up with a rather pragmatic way to know how much time they had already spent underwater: the first dive watches were simply regular pocketwatches, mounted on the inside of a diving helmet. One reason for this solution: back then, the “bracelet watch” was “looked upon by Americans as more or less of a joke,” according to the New York Times from July 9, 1916. But, like the German Uhrmacher-Woche, the paper also concluded in the same article that “the telephone and signal service, which play important parts in modern warfare, have made the wearing of watches by soldiers obligatory.” Looking at those early field watches, wearing one underwater, over a thick dive suit and thus completely exposed to both water, pressure and potential bumps would have been much riskier (and more expensive) than simply mounting a pocket watch on the (hopefully) dry inside of a helmet.

Two years after the New York Times piece on trench watches, on June 11, 1918, New York based “manufacturers of high class specialties for Waltham watches” Jacques Depollier & Son was granted a patent in the U.S. for a “waterproof and dust-proof watch.” In an ad from the same year, Depollier also came to a similar conclusion as the New York Times. “With the general use of wrist watches for soldiers, sailors, aviators and others engaged in the open, the demand for waterproof watches has become much more insistent, and the fact that the demand still exists unsatisfied is an indication that a reliable waterproof watch has not until now been produced.” Depollier’s “D-D” field and marine watch was equipped with a double clinched bezel that promised to keep out “water, dust and gas.” Again, Depollier, like the New York Times, did not mention the diver as its intended target audience, even though their watch “might be completely submerged in water” and was advertised using a picture of it being placed in a fish bowl.

Rolex, on the other hand, brought out its first attempt at a waterproof and dustproof watch, the Submarine, in 1922. It turned out to be an impractical design, according to Rolex, since the watch was “relying on a second outer case to protect the main watch body. The outer shell had to be opened every day in order to wind the watch, thereby also weakening the metal gasket that sealed the opening.” Four years later, two major technical innovations of the company had made the single-case wristwatch watertight: a screw-down back and bezel, as well as a newly patented winding crown, which could be screwed down to seal the case. Rolex advertised the Oyster as the “wonder watch.” Mercedes Gleitze provided the proof (and also became the brand’s first testimonial).

Like Rolex before, Omega came up with a similar idea of a double-case construction for a watch that was targeted specially at “sportifs, marins et coloniaux” (athletes, sailors and soldiers). In 1932, the “élégante” Omega Marine utilized a patented case sealed with cork to “keep water and the elements away from the heart of the watch.” The rectangular watch even featured an adjustable clasp and was tested in Lake Geneva at a depth of 73 meters (later conducted laboratory tests found the watch to be waterproof to a depth of 135 meters).

A New Type of Watch, Robust Enough to be Worn Underwater 

In 1935, the paths of the watch industry and underwater operations finally became fully intertwined, when the director of G. Panerai e Figlio in Florence, Giuseppe Panerai, was approached by the Italian Navy to develop a water-resistant compass and a watch for operators of its newly developed manned torpedo. While Panerai had already been a supplier of special navy equipment, the company had never produced wristwatches. On Oct. 24, 1935, Rolex therefore sent Panerai a Ref. 2533 with a large 9k gold cushion case for tests, the very same watch that should later evolve into the Radiomir, used by Italian special forces (and later by the Germans after having seized some of these watches during the German occupation of Italy that lasted until May 2, 1945).

While members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS commando frogman unit were initially equipped with Panerai-supplied Rolex watches, the American Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT), predecessors of the U.S. Navy’s current SEAL teams, were equipped with “canteen watches” from the likes of Hamilton and Elgin (featuring a screw-on cover for the crown that was held in place with a small chain). Like the watches supplied by Panerai, these significantly smaller canteen watches were not equipped with a bezel, but simply indicated time with their luminous hands.

For the rotating bezel, clearly the visually most distinctive element on a dive watch, the watch industry first looked to the sky. On July 31, 1929, Philip Van Horn Weems applied for a patent for a “method of and apparatus for navigator’s time keeping” using a rotating bezel. The patent was granted in 1935 and soon found its way on to many pilots’ watches, the most important one being the legendary Weems watch from Longines. It would take a few more years until the watch industry began to recognize the potential for its diving customer. More precisely, with the rise of autonomous diving, based on open-circuit, compressed-air devices, like Yves Le Prieur’s invention from 1925, and, more importantly, Émile Gagnan’s and Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s regulator that was first patented in 1943 (and mass produced by La Spirotechnique after the war), the Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) revolutionized diving, and consequently increased demand for a reliable underwater timing device.

Blancpain started in the early 1950s with the development and testing of the brand’s first wristwatch intended exclusively for divers. The Fifty Fathoms (a reference to the depth rating of 300 feet or 91.4 meters) was the brainchild of Jean-Jacques Fiechter, then CEO of Blancpain, who also happened to be an avid diver. In an interview conducted in 2018, Fiechter recalled that he was diving off the coast of France when he lost track of time and ended up running out of air, prompting an immediate ascent to the surface without stopping for decompression, and thus leaving him at the risk of the bends. His solution, and ultimately Blancpain’s “first modern dive watch,” was commercialized in 1953 and came with a new positioning for the caseback and crown gasket that would better protect the case and movement from water, resulting in a patent for both designs. More importantly, Fiechter had also introduced a unidirectional bezel with the Fifty Fathoms that would allow the watch’s wearer to better track how much time was spent submerged. In short, Blancpain had both improved the water-resistant case and added a bezel that was exclusively aimed at keeping track of time spent underwater.

Rolex, on the other hand, already had implemented a bezel on a watch with the Zerographe and was now working on the most waterresistant watch case of that time with an experimental watch, the Deep-Sea Special, which was attached to the exterior of Piccard’s Trieste during its first deep-sea trials down to 3,150 meters (10,245 feet) off the island of Ponza in 1953 (Jacques Piccard himself was seen wearing a Longines Chronograph 13ZN when diving outside the submarine). In 1960, Don Walsh, Jacques Piccard and another Rolex watch would reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench (10,916 meters, 35,814 feet). Almost simultaneous with testing the Deep-Sea Special, the company introduced the Submariner in 1953, a diving watch equipped with a rotating bezel. In 1954, the watch industry’s trade publication Europa Star first mentions the Submariner briefly as a watch that “has been specially designed for deep-sea diving,” and like the Rolex Turn-O-Graph, the Submariner “carries a Time Recorder bezel,” which “enables the consumption of air in independent diving equipment to be easily controlled.” According to Europa Star, the Submariner was “tested on 132 sea trials in the Mediterranean and declared a to be an essential accessory to diving equipment.”

While Blancpain and Rolex have defined the look and function of the modern dive watch, both had approached the problem from the same angle: a robust, highly water-resistant wristwatch equipped with a bezel that would be able to withstand external pressure. What they didn’t factor in: the rise of saturation diving, first in the military field, then in commercial application. Dr. George F. Bond, a U.S. Navy scientist, had introduced the concept of saturation diving in the late 1950s. Earlier experiments had shown that divers were able to live and work underwater for days or weeks at a time before making a single, comparatively short decompression period. Bond’s work is not only credited as the beginning of saturation diving, but also marked the start of the United States Navy’s Man-in-the-Sea Program. From 1964, a trio of saturation diving experiments that let divers work and live in undersea habitats (Sealab) was launched and supported by the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit (NEDU). With the ill-fated Sealab III, the habitat was lowered to 610 feet (190 m) off San Clemente Island, California, on Feb. 15, 1969, a depth that would bring a standard-issue Submariner already near its limits. But it wasn’t just the depth that posed new challenges; helium caused the weakest part on some of the watches, the crystal, to pop off during decompression. And this wasn’t just happening to the divers in the Navy. In 1968, Japanese watchmaker Seiko received a letter from a saturation diver from Kure City, in Hiroshima prefecture. In that letter, the diver also complained that the dive watches from Seiko lost their crystals during decompression. While some divers simply unscrewed the crown before compression, Rolex wanted to offer a different solution for its 1967-introduced Sea-Dweller dive watch. From an ad from 1974: “The Rolex Sea Dweller, however, is fitted with a patented gas escape valve.” Rolex had applied for a patent for this valve on Nov. 6, 1967. “In effect, this means that the watch decompresses with the diver,” explained T. Walker Lloyd, then an oceanographic consultant for Rolex in the same ad. The Sea Dweller then went on to become standard equipment of the Compagnie maritime d’expertises (COMEX) employees (and replacing the previous partnership between Omega and COMEX).

A Diver’s Tool 

Omega and Seiko, however, chose a very different approach to solving the helium problem: instead of improving an existing watch, they both went back to the drawing board. One result was the Seamaster 600 “PloProf” (Plongeur Professionel) from 1970 that was built to be more robust than any other watch from the company before. From an ad from that period: “We also put the 600 through our helium test. Helium, having much smaller molecules, can penetrate where water can’t. So if a watch is proof against helium, it’s proof against just about everything else. This test showed that the 600 is one hundred times as air- and water-tight as the Apollo spacecraft.” Another ad from Omega explained the three major innovations like this: “we carved the Seamaster out of one block of stainless steel; no joints behind. Then we gave it a heavy, hardened mineral glass, which actually screws in. We gave it a turning elapsed-time bezel, which has its own lock to prevent accidental moving. We gave it an extra-safe, twin-locking crown.” Seiko, too, went with a monobloc case construction for its 1975-introduced professional dive watch, the 6159-7010 with a guaranteed water resistance of 600 meters (a watch that was, like the PloProf, in fact much more water resistant than this). The Seiko, however, took seven years to develop and resulted in 20 patents. The 6159-7010 was also built in a way that it could withstand the pressure differences without having to rely on an additional opening in the case, but came with a protective shroud, taking into consideration the heavy underwater work of its customers. On the other hand, both the Seiko and the Omega came with a design, size and price that prevented it from being worn by a large group of consumers, while the Sea-Dweller looked much more like a regular watch both underwater and onshore.

All three models also undoubtedly helped improve the quality of dive watches substantially. In 1966, the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) had set up an investigation committee for diving equipment, including dive watches, which back then were deemed not only “a vital part” of the diver’s equipment, but apparently also the most troublesome. In 1968, BSAC member Geoff Harwood concluded that “the majority of the complaints and allegations of faulty equipment and unsatisfactory dealings with manufacturers and distributors have been concerned with diving watches” — which led to the decision “to carry out a survey in order to determine the extent of the problem.” Harwood’s conclusion was not as encouraging as the industry might have hoped for, “since so few of each make are represented, we cannot draw a conclusion as to ‘best buy’ or to definitely not recommend a certain watch.” And added, “[E]ven if you buy an internationally famous watch costing over £50 you still stand a fair chance of finding it full of water when you come to start your decompression schedule after a deep dive.”

Or, as Robert R. Springer wrote in his Skin & Scuba Diver’s Digest of 1975, “At one time an oddity, today, specially constructed waterproof and pressure-resistant watches have become something of a status symbol among the socalled beautiful people — even though most of them never reach depths greater than the bottom of a martini glass. The practicing scuba diver, however, needs a functional item, rather than an impressive one. And, in looking for an underwater watch, it pays to be highly selective.”

Becoming an Ambassador of the Sea 

In 1983, while the watch industry was slowly starting to recover from its worst crisis to date, the Orca Edge hit the market as the first commercially viable dive computer. Watch brands at that time mostly focused on making dive watches more water resistant (the IWC Ocean 2000 from 1984, for example, was the first serially produced dive watch water resistant to 2,000 meters), and multi-function quartz watches and dive computers quickly started to reduce the mechanical dive watch first to the role of a backup instrument, then mostly a status symbol, as observed by Springer in 1975. In 1990, Seiko launched the “world’s first computerized diver’s watch,” equipped with a water sensor and depth sensor that displayed diving time and depth. Five years before, Citizen had introduced the first Aqualand and also the first quartz watch to incorporate an electronic, digital depth gauge. Despite the existence of a more versatile (and often less expensive) option, dive watches have become one of the most successful categories for luxury watch manufacturers in recent years. The Submariner from Rolex, for example, ranks on positions 2 and 5 on Chrono24’s most popular list from 2020. Even at Breitling, a brand traditionally synonymous with pilots’ watches, the Superocean dive watch has become the brand’s most popular watch category. It’s hard to imagine Tudor’s recent rise to fame without the 2016-introduced Black Bay dive watch, or Rado’s success among watch collectors and enthusiasts without the re-introduced Captain Cook from 2017. Even Seiko has based most of its recent global success on the Prospex dive watch collection. And Panerai, the former supplier of the Italian Navy, was resurrected in 1993 exclusively as a watch brand. Last but not least, since 1995, Omega has been equipping the world’s most famous spy with a Seamaster dive watch, and by doing so has created one of the most recognizable luxury watches of the industry.

But perhaps more importantly, dive watches have become an ambassador for the importance of the oceans. Blancpain, for example, became a force in protecting the biodiversity of the oceans. The 2014-founded Blancpain Ocean Commitment initiative (BOC) is a unique program in the watch industry that has already helped a number of environmental initiatives get off the ground (some of them already underway before BOC was launched). Oris, too, believes “passionately in conservation and is committed to acting sustainably” and has launched several limited edition watches that support various conservation efforts. Others, like Luminox, Breitling and Ulysse Nardin, have started to promote upcycling methods with their releases.

From a quality and performance point of view, today’s mechanical dive watches are better than they have ever been. They have reached the deepest parts of the ocean repeatedly and offer any kind of additional feature one could dream of. In recent years, they have become a symbol of sustainability and preservation, and offer a nostalgic look back at how man conquered the deep at the same time. In other words, the dive watch has stood the test of time and proven that an analog product can coexist with a digital alternative.

To subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

IWC has been developing and building watches for pilots for 85 years. Originally inspired by cockpit instruments, these wristwatches are still regarded today as robust, precise, functional and reliable. And they have long since ceased to be solely for professional pilots. Rather, its unmistakable appearance makes an IWC Pilot’s Watch a trendy “tool watch,” i.e., a genuinely practical tool, which you can use to master many situations in everyday life.

In 1936, IWC introduced its first Pilot’s Watch. It had a rotating bezel with a tapered hand for marking a departure time. This Pilot’s Watch encased hand-wound Caliber 83, which was equipped with an antimagnetic escapement.

In the late 1930s, IWC developed a professional watch for pilots for the German Air Force with a satin-finished steel case and a diameter of 55 mm. Other features included an easy-grip winding crown, a black dial with luminescent numerals and hands, a stop-seconds function and a long leather strap so the watch could be worn over a flight suit. Each timepiece also had to meet the test conditions of the German naval observatory, which measured the timekeeping in six positions and at three different temperatures. Powered by hand-wound Caliber 52 T.S.C., this timepiece, as well as identical models made by the German watch manufacturers A. Lange & Söhne, Laco, Stowa and Wempe, played a decisive role in shaping the design of the genre of the pilots’ watch.

The Mark 11 debuted in 1948 and soon became a real cult watch. Many aircraft captains relied on this timekeeper, which had a softiron inner case, which protected Caliber 89 against magnetic fields up to an intensity of 80,000 amps per meter. Many subsequent generations of the “Mark” were patterned after this model.

IWC continued its tradition of pilots’ watches in 1988 with a Pilot’s Chronograph based on the ETA/Valjoux’s Caliber 7750, a mass produced, automatic movement that has already proven its mettle in millions of watches. Modified and assembled by the experts in Schaffhausen, this caliber ticked for many years inside IWC Pilot’s Chronographs, including various special editions and models with split-seconds complications. But newly designed manufacture calibers in the 69000 series are now gradually replacing chronograph movements based on the ETA/Valjoux 7750.

New 69000 Caliber Family Replaces the ETA/Valjoux 7750 

The 69000 caliber family was developed over a period of four years and made its debut with Caliber 69375 inside the Chronograph Ingenieur in 2017. Caliber 69380 arrived two years later in the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Spitfire. Now, after another two years, Caliber 69385 powers the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, which belongs to the Standard Collection and was given this name because there are other unusual models, such as the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “Antoine de Saint- Exupéry” or the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Top Gun Ceratanium, that encase Calibers 79320 and 79420. These numbers refer to the corresponding ETA/Valjoux 7750 basic caliber. You can tell the difference immediately with a quick glance at the dial. The ETA/Valjoux 7750-based calibers have their subdial for the seconds at the 9 and the chronograph’s counter for up to 12 elapsed hours at the 6, while the positions of these two indicators are reversed on the dials of watches that encase the calibers in the 69000 series.

A Chronograph Movement Designed To be Robust and Suitable for Everyday Use 

On the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 with green dial, our test watch, the progress of the seconds is shown with a small red hand on a subdial at 6 o’clock. The red color makes it easy to distinguish this seconds hand from the chronograph’s elapsed-time hands. When the chronograph is switched on, the elapsing seconds are shown with a slender steel needle at the center of the dial, while the elapsing minutes are tallied on a subdial at 12 o’clock. The small white hand for the elapsed minutes advances position farther along each time the elapsedseconds hand passes its zero position, i.e., every 60 seconds. As stated earlier, the elapsed hours are counted on a subdial 9 o’clock, where an identical small white hand advances slowly and continuously. This hand’s gradual progress indicates that it is powered by the same basic construction in Caliber 69000 as in ETA/Valjoux’s Caliber 7750. But there are a few differences. After all, the automatic column-wheel chronograph movement is a modern, newly designed caliber.

Manufacture Caliber 69385 inside the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 consists of 231 individual components and, like every IWC Pilot’s Watch, was designed with a focus on robustness, reliability and precision. This is also why the chronograph, which can be used to tally intervals of up to 12 hours’ duration, is controlled by a column wheel. This complex component with two functional levels remains a challenge to manufacture, although modern design and production methods make the processes involved in its fabrication easier today.

A traditional rocking pinion alternately couples and uncouples the going-train from the chronograph. The energy, on the other hand, is provided by a modern, double-acting, self-winding system with a pawl. But this is not the winding system that’s named after IWC’s former engineer Albert Pellaton, which is still used in the calibers of the 89000 series. Rather, the bidirectional click winding system installed here results from a recent development within the Richemont Group. This innovative system efficiently converts kinetic energy from the motions of the wearer’s wrist into tension for the mainspring, which provides a 46-hour power reserve when fully wound. This is not an unusually long running autonomy by today’s standards as contemporary chronograph calibers often offer greater power reserves. For example, the ETA/ Valjoux movement, modernized to Caliber A05, offers 60 hours, as does the updated El Primero 3600 or Caliber 9900 in Omega’s Master Chronometer. Breitling’s Caliber B01 offers 70 hours and Heuer’ Calibre 02 provides 80 hours of power autonomy.

The frequency of the balance can be finely adjusted by shifting the position of the regulator. This is a simpler method than turning eccentric screws along the balance’s rim as is done in Caliber 89000, but IWC opted for the less complex variation because the company wanted to add a less expensive caliber to this series. Several thousand dollars separate the prices of models encasing different calibers.

Caliber 69385 keeps time quite respectably. Our wearing test measured an average daily gain of 3.5 seconds. We were pleased to see that neither the rate behavior nor the amplitudes deviated significantly when the chronograph was running. With the stopwatch function activated, the average daily gain was 1.8 seconds and the amplitudes hovered around 285 degrees.

The New Chronograph Maintains IWC’s Pilot’s Watch Heritage 

A gaze through the window of sapphire crystal in the screw-in back of the case, which now resists pressures up to 10 bar (compared to the former pressure resistance of 6 bar), shows the typical features and finishings of IWC’s calibers, for example, circular graining, circular grinding in Geneva-wave style, and satin finishing on the skeletonized rotor with the well-known engraving: “Probus Scafusia.”

This promise of quality, which was used as early as 1903 and means “Proven from Schaffhausen,” is also implemented in the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41, this new addition to IWC’s popular portfolio of established Pilot’s Watches. No matter how you look at this chronograph, it reflects the typical DNA of an IWC Pilot’s Watch. The stainless-steel case, measuring 40.85 mm in diameter and 14.55 mm in height, is mostly satin finished. Only the steep and narrow bezel has a bit of high gloss shine and is the sole exception to the norm that IWC Pilot’s Watches have upheld since the 1930s.

The round chronograph pushers, which run through bushings, and the large threaded crown are unmistakable. Thanks to the crown’s deep knurling, it is easy to to unscrew. The crown slides into its withdrawn positions with secure latching points; a bit of pressure returns it safely to its inserted position. When the crown has been withdrawn to its middle position, the date and the day of the week can be smoothly reset by turning the crown clockwise or counterclockwise. When the watch is running, the calendar indications “creep” toward their next settings between 11:25 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. The day of the week changes first, followed by the date. Both the switching operations and the positioning of the calendar display at the 3 recall the past, when the ETA/Valjoux caliber was used.

A Perfect Pilot, Even with A Green Dial 

Thanks to column-wheel control, the buttons for the chronograph function have secure pressure points and move surprisingly evenly. Triggering the stopwatch function starts the slender elapsedseconds hand, which sweeps smoothly along the bold scale on the edge of the dial. However, while the indexes and Arabic numerals are eye-catching and amply dimensioned, only the three larger markers at the 3, 6 and 9 are luminous, as are the orientation triangle and its two dots at the 12 as well as the lance-like, rhodium-plated hour and minute hands for the main time display from the dial’s center. This matches the typical luminous arrangement on IWC’s other Pilot’s Watches, although the numerous white markers here might lead to the mistaken conclusion that all 12 hour markers glow in the dark.

In daylight, all 12 markers contrast excellently with the currently popular glossy green sunburst dial, which explains why the dial is very easy to read on the whole. Depending on how the light falls, the color of the dial varies from a luminous green to almost black and sometimes only the circular-grained counters appear black, thus creating a contrast with the otherwise green background. The excellent readability that always distinguishes IWC’s Pilot’s Watches is further improved by the slightly domed sapphire crystal, which sometimes gives the impression that it is not there, thanks to antireflective coating on both its upper and its lower surface.

The EasX-Change system is new, but has already proven its merits. This innovative solution eliminates the task of fiddling with the wristband’s crosspieces or even taking a trip to the jeweler when you want to change one wristband with another. Applying slight downward pressure on the metal clamps at the reinforced ends of the strap releases the clamps from the crosspieces and makes it easy to remove the two halves of the strap. An audible “click” signals the successful insertion of a new wristband, and that’s all there is to it. Options include calfskin and rubber straps in various colors, as well as a new, slender, stainless-steel bracelet with an integrated system to finely adjust its length. Attached to the familiar brown calfskin strap that tapers slightly about two centimeters beyond the strap lugs and has contrasting colored stitching and an angular pin buckle, the Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 with its green dial proves to be a perfect IWC Pilot’s Watch.

IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph 41 Specs:

Manufacturer: IWC Schaffhausen, Baumgartenstrasse 15, 8201 Schaffhausen, Switzerland 

Reference number: IW388103 

Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds subdial, weekday, date, chronograph (central elapsedseconds hand, counters for up to 60 elapsed minutes and 12 elapsed hours) 

Movement: IWC 69385 based on Caliber family 69000, automatic, 28,800 vph, 33 jewels, Incabloc shock absorption, fine adjustment via bipartite regulator, Glucydur balance, 46-hour power reserve, diameter = 30.0 mm, height = 7.90 mm 

Case: Stainless steel with domed sapphire crystal above the dial with anti-reflective coating on both sides and secured against sudden loss of pressure, sapphire crystal in the caseback, water resistant to 100 m 

Strap and clasp: Brown calfskin strap with pin buckle 

Rate results: Deviation in seconds per 24 hours (Fully wound / after 24 hours)

Dimensions: Diameter = 40.85 mm, height = 14.55 mm, weight = 110.0 g 

Variations: With blue dial and calfskin strap (Ref. IW388101, $6,500); with blue dial and stainless-steel bracelet (Ref. IW388102, $7,200); with green dial and stainlesssteel bracelet (IW388104, $7,200)

Scores:

Strap and clasp (max. 10 points): Rustic, high quality, leather strap matches the Pilot’s Watch style, practical system for changing wristbands, various strap options. 9

Case (10): A simple, classic case in IWC’s familiar Pilot’s Watch style, anti-reflective crystals, screw-down crown. 8

Dial and hands (10): Dial in trendy green; the DNA of IWC’s Pilot’s Watches has been preserved in the bold numerals, hands and indexes. 9

Design (15): The watch’s entire design follows IWC’s characteristic Pilot’s Watch style. 14

Legibility (5): Easy to read thanks to the large typeface, strong contrasts and anti-reflective crystal, nighttime luminosity follows the IWC Pilot’s Watch DNA. 5

Operation (5): Easy to use screw-down crown, the pressure points of the push-pieces are very uniform, perfect strap changing system.

To learn more about IWC, click here, and to subscribe to the WatchTime print magazine, click here.    

Sports, like so many things in life, are a matter of taste and talent. One person may choose to compete in the Ironman challenge while another considers chess to be a sport. The latter is in good company because the International Olympic Committee agrees with him.

Eager to woo adherents of both viewpoints, A. Lange & Söhne advertises its new Odysseus, our test watch, as a “sporty, elegant watch for very active people.” The elite manufacture has given this new watch plenty of features that make it more robust and enlarge its field of activity. Choosing stainless steel as the material for its case already helps quite a bit because this alloy is much less susceptible to scratches than the precious metals gold and platinum, which Lange has used exclusively in its watches. And unlike Lange’s typical crocodile-skin straps, this model’s stainless-steel bracelet doesn’t mind a dip in a lake. Furthermore, wearing this watch while enjoying activities that raise a sweat doesn’t mean you’ll have to pay €290 plus VAT (around $375 total) to replace a stained but otherwise high-quality leather strap.

A Supple Stainless-steel Bracelet with a Sophisticated Clasp
High temperatures or physical exertion can also cause your wrist to swell slightly, but that’s not a problem for Lange’s Odysseus thanks to the clever adjustment system in its clasp. The circular logo on the buckle can be pressed down, thereby lengthening the strap in fine increments to add a maximum of 7 mm. Simply push the strap back into the buckle to shorten it. This practical mechanism works very well and we used it more often than we’d initially expected.

Alongside stainless steel as the material for the case and bracelet, the case’s increased resistance to pressure qualifies this watch to participate in a wider range of activities. The Odysseus is the first Lange watch that can withstand pressure of 12 bar, which corresponds to water pressure at a depth of 120 meters. Strictly speaking, the pressure resistance to a depth of 30 meters that Lange typically provides isn’t even suitable for a shower or a swimming pool. Thanks to its screw-down crown, the Odysseus can easily survive a dive from the deck of a sailboat. A sporty watch should be easy to read, both in the light and in the dark. The Odysseus meets this requirement with luminous material on its hour hand, its minutes hand and its large indexes; only the small seconds hand remains dark.

With all of these new features, is the Odysseus still recognizable as a Lange watch? There’s no cause for concern here because the manufacture has retained important characteristic features. This applies to the lance-shaped hands and to the seconds hand with its skeletonized counterweight, to the typeface used for the calibrated scales and, to a certain extent, to the case, for example, the shape of the lugs and the polished bezel. Of course, Lange’s big date display also contributes to recognizability. The large width of the bracelet at the lugs and the comparatively delicate hand for the small seconds admittedly take some getting used to, but all in all, Lange has adroitly combined new and old design features.

The Blue Dial — a Work of Art in Itself
The dial is a work of art: both the wreath of hour indexes and the subdial for the seconds are grooved, while the inner part of both the main dial and the subdial have rough surfaces. The bar-shaped hour indexes are made of white gold and each one not only slopes downward toward the center of the dial, but also has an M-shaped cross section and is filled with luminous material along its midline. The satin-finished minutes scale runs along the flange — a practical solution, and a somewhat unusual one for Lange. The red numeral 60 on the flange adds a dash of sportiness and also recalls the red numeral 12 that Lange used on rare anniversary models with enamel dials.

Also new, the day of the week appears in a window positioned directly opposite the double aperture for the big date. Like the dial, the disks for these two displays are blue — a small but important detail that’s all too often ignored. And when it’s overlooked, the mismatched color scheme detracts from the harmony of the design. In addition, the typeface chosen for the displays is the same one that spells out the brand’s name on the dial.

Lange not only developed the mechanism for the day-of-the-week display; it also redesigned the mechanism for the big date because the latter is now located near the edge of the dial, instead of closer to the middle as before. To achieve the largest possible display area, the big date indicator puts the digits into a ones ring and a 10s disk instead of in the previous cross shape. Furthermore, the ones ring is now larger and runs around the periphery of the movement, so it’s marked with the digits 0 to 9 twice.

The mechanism for the day of the week and the big date is propelled by the hour wheel, which completes one full circle every 12 hours. Its motion is transmitted to the 24-hour wheel, which requires one full day to finish each 360° rotation. The 24-hour wheel directly advances the day-of-the-week indicator. At the same time, it also propels a program wheel that guides the proper progress of the ones ring and the 10s disk. The program wheel powers the gear train of the ones ring so that it advances by one increment per day. An exception occurs when the 31st day of an expiring month transitions into the first day of a new month, in which case a missing tooth in the program wheel assures that the gear shift is skipped once. The program wheel also propels the gear train of the 10s disk every 10 days. Only when changing from the 3 to the empty field does switching take place after two days rather than 10. To correct the date, Lange has integrated two pushers into a component that’s likely to be mistaken for a crown protector: the upper pusher advances the date and the lower one resets the day of the week by one day. These pushers, disguised as crown protectors, are easy to operate and each has a precise pressure point. It’s extremely unlikely that they would be triggered unintentionally. The special design also makes it possible to switch both indicators forward or backward by turning the crown clockwise or counterclockwise beyond the midnight position. The mechanism cannot be damaged by incorrect use. In total, the calendar system consists of 99 components.

A New Movement, from Automatic Winding to The Balance
Lange didn’t merely redesign the calendar function; the entire movement was engineered specially for the Odysseus by the Glashütte-based company. Caliber L155.1 Datomatic with unidirectional winding rotor builds up a 50-hour power reserve. With a diameter of 32.9 mm, it’s the right size for this watch and, in addition to automatic winding, it offers other features that are appropriate for a sports watch movement. For example, it’s the first Lange caliber with a balance paced at the speedy frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour. Thanks to this faster pace, shocks and vibrations exert less of an effect on the accuracy of the movement. To minimize air turbulence at this higher frequency, the engineers designed a smooth balance wheel with four countersunk regulating screws rather than relying on a classic screw balance or a balance with regulating weights on top of its wheel.

Lange also designed the bearing of the balance wheel for optimum robustness. Instead of a cock, which is borne on only one side, the balance of the Datomatic is supported by a bridge, which is screwed on both sides. Lange’s typical swan’s neck fine adjustment for the beat has been replaced by a similar construction in which a vertical eccentric screw replaces the horizontal one.

When it comes to embellishments, Lange has upheld its time-honored practices. The balance’s bridge is manually engraved with floral motifs, its edges are beveled and polished, and its screws are blued. There’s a three-quarter plate and at least one bearing jewel in a screwed gold setting, which accepts the pivot of the escape-wheel’s shaft and thus defines the heart of the watch in a very traditional way. Only the striped pattern has slightly wider stripes than usual. Every detail embodies horological artistry at the highest level, just as one would expect to encounter in a Lange timepiece.

A Genuine Lange Watch with an Expanded Field Of Application
The rate values are equally impressive. The Odysseus that we tested gained only 1 second per day on the wrist. Our timing machine reconfirmed the accurate timekeeping and calculated an average daily deviation of +1.1 seconds with a fully wound mainspring. The amplitude and thus also the accuracy decrease significantly after 24 hours, but this is less relevant for an automatic watch. What is important, however, is the wearing comfort. When it comes to metal bracelets, you sometimes have to make compromises, but Lange’s new bracelet lies very smoothly on the wrist and doesn’t pinch any hair. In addition to the quick adjustment mechanism mentioned earlier, the bracelet can also be shortened easily. Two recessed pushers on the back and toward the outside of each link can be pressed to remove individual links.

Lange modified the design of the bracelet and the clasp. The ingenious extension system in the buckle and the construction of the bracelet were developed by IWC for its Pilot’s chronographs. (Lange and IWC are both part of the Richemont Group.) The workmanship is perfect throughout the watch, with the sole exception of milling marks that weren’t polished off on the inner sides of the clasp’s hinges. Beveled and polished edges are a distinguishing feature of high-quality watches. Lange accordingly bevels and polishes the edges of parts in the watch’s movement, case and bracelet. These shiny planes contrast beautifully with satin-finished surfaces and add a distinctive sporty touch to the five rows of links that comprise the stainless-steel bracelet.

The Odysseus is therefore a genuine Lange watch — and readily recognizable as such —thanks to the movement’s technology and the typically high quality of the workmanship and embellishments. Furthermore, the manufacture from Glashütte has significantly expanded the range of applications for its watches with this first serially produced model in stainless steel, which offers a case made from a robust mater-ial and with greater pressure resistance, in combination with an excellent metal bracelet equipped with a quick-adjustment mechanism. These features are well worthwhile — not only on a sailing trip, but also on a summer day beside an invitingly cool lake.

SPECS:
Manufacturer: A. Lange Uhren GmbH, Ferdinand-Adolph-Lange-Platz 1, 01768, Glashütte, Germany
Reference number: 363.179
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, big date, day of the week
Movement: In-house Caliber L155.1, automatic, 28,800 vph, 31 jewels, Lange hairspring, Glucydur balance, Kif shock absorption, fine adjustment via four regulating screws, the beat can be finely adjusted via an eccentric and a swan’s neck spring, 50-hour power reserve, diameter = 32.9 mm, height = 6.20 mm
Case: Stainless steel, sapphire crystals rated 9 on the Mohs scale above the dial and in the back, water resistant to 120 meters
Bracelet­­­­ and cla­­sp: Stainless steel, secured deployant buckle with integrated mechanism to finely adjust the bracelet’s length
Rate results (Deviation in seconds per 24 hours, fully wound/after 24 hours):
On the wrist +1.1
Dial up +0.4 / +2.2
Dial down +3.3 / +3.4
Crown up -1.3 / -6.8
Crown down +2.5 / -4.0
Crown left +0.4 / -6.3
Greatest deviation 4.6 / 10.2
Average deviation +1.1 / -2.3
Average amplitude:
Flat positions 278° / 238°
Hanging positions 245° / 196°
Dimensions: Diameter = 40.5 mm, height = 11.1 mm, weight = 146.0 g
Price: $28,800

For a close look at the newest version of the Odysseus, in white gold with an integrated, sporty rubber strap, click here.

One thing is clear: Left-handed people have it harder than the rest of us. Although they are no longer forced to write with their weaker right hand (even Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour is said to have trained himself to use his right hand), most everyday objects, like scissors and can openers, are designed for right-handed people. Lefties find them hard to use. Left-handers make up about 10 percent of the population, so it’s a pretty substantial minority. Most tools these days are available in left-handed versions, but there hasn’t been a similar shift in the watch world.

Why do left-handed people have trouble with watches at all? In principle, if you use your left hand more often and want to protect a watch from bumps and scratches, any watch can be worn on the right. But it’s pretty hard to operate the crown (even though a watch should always be taken off for setting, to avoid putting excessive lateral pressure on the winding stem). When you hold a conventional watch with a crown in your hand, you either have to wind it and set it with your right hand or turn the watch upside down, with the 12 o’clock position down, to use your left. And this isn’t ideal for time setting — especially for a watch with a second time zone, when the local time should be adjusted any time you enter a new time zone.

Even though brands like Panerai, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Tudor and Sinn have built watches with the crown on the left, most have this feature to keep the crown from pressing against the back of the hand or wrist when the watch is worn on the left, as usual.

Now Rolex is presenting a solution in which not only the crown is positioned on the left side of the case, making it easy to operate with the left hand, but the date display has also moved to the left. This makes it easier to read when the watch is worn on the right and is partly hidden by a shirt cuff.

Left or Right? 

The new GMT-Master II is very well suited for left-handers as well as for people who like to wear their watches on the right. But what about the other 90 percent of the population? Well, then this watch is just as difficult to use as any other GMT-Master II is for left-handers. It’s not a huge problem, but let’s just say it’s much easier to use with the crown on the other side.

And how does it look with these new changes? While the crown on the left is not very remarkable, the date on the left side seems a little off — like a picture that is upside down. It takes some getting used to. You might at first think you’ve got your watch wrong-side up, until you notice the brand name and logo and see that the watch is really right-side up. But you do get used to it.

Another new feature is the black-and-green bezel — something never seen before at Rolex.

We’ve seen a completely green rotating bezel on the Submariner LV. Green is actually the anniversary color at Rolex, and the GMT-Master II was introduced exactly 40 years ago, in 1982. However, it did not differ in appearance from its predecessor, the GMT-Master, but only in its function — the 12-hour hand could be adjusted independently of the GMT hand.

Now, in addition to the Pepsi (red-blue bezel) and the Batman (blue-black bezel), we have a third color variant among the steel models. Admittedly, color is always a matter of taste, but we like the older versions better than the new one.

When the GMT-Master was first introduced in 1955, it had a two-tone 24-hour bezel in red and blue that was designed to differentiate easily between the day and night hours of the second time zone. Another more elegant version was introduced later with an all-black rotating bezel, but the more legible two-tone scale remained essential to the design. When you’re on the road, it’s much easier to see at a glance whether you can call home or if everyone is already asleep.

In 2007, with the introduction of the ceramic bezel, single-color bezels were initially the only option. This material was difficult to produce in color and very difficult to produce with different colors on a single part. But in 2013, Rolex successfully introduced the Batman, with a blue-and-black bezel. Rolex used a process developed in-house and patented for a singlepiece scale. Prior to sintering in a kiln, a metal salt is deposited on one half of the ceramic part, which produces the color. These UV-resistant bezels also do not fade.

However, in low light, as with the blue-black rotating bezel, it is difficult to distinguish any difference between the colors on the green-black version. On a positive note, the green is subtle in tone, so the watch is suitable to wear with an elegant dress shirt. The green 24-hour hand matches the bezel, as was the case 10 years ago with the steel version with the black bezel.

One might think that Rolex would only need to flip the dial the other way around, but in fact the dial, bezel, date ring and GMT hand are all new products, as is the crystal, due to the new position of the Cyclops magnifying lens and the laser-engraved Rolex crown at 6 o’clock.

Design Classics 

Otherwise, the design of this new model is derived directly from the first GMT-Master. Only the bezel numerals have been updated. There was little to improve on regarding the design, and the GMT-Master has become a classic.

The case is slim at 12.1 mm, even though the watch is water resistant to 100 meters. One rarely finds such a slim and comfortable sports watch these days. The 40-mm diameter is also a good size for most wrists.

And the bracelet with its curved links lies comfortably against the wrist. There is an additional feature that helps when your wrist expands due to heat or playing sports — a halflink extension piece can be folded out from the clasp. This extends the length of the bracelet by 5 mm without a noticeable difference in look. The high-quality clasp on the Oyster bracelet is pretty close to optimum, both in terms of workmanship and operation. When shut, the safety folding bar is hardly visible. Opening it by lifting the Rolex crown reveals a lever that is also easy to lift to open the bracelet. The more elegant five-row Jubilee bracelet is available for an additional $200.

The large winding crown is also easy to use, aside from its position. Unscrewing the crown releases it to wind the watch. In the first position, the normal hour hand can be moved forward and back in hourly increments to set the time in a new time zone. The date jumps in both directions correspondingly. The minute hand is adjusted in the second position (and with it, the 24-hour and the normal hour hand). T he 24-hour hand is normally used for the home time, or by pilots for GMT, while the normal hour hand shows the local time, as is usual for a travel watch.

You can also set another time zone temporarily using the bezel, which advances in onehour increments. For example, if you are in the United States and are working on a project with a company in Germany, setting the correct time zone with the bezel shows you when your business partners are available. The GMT-Master II provides extremely practical time zone functionality.

Modern Movement 

We determined the proverbial precision of our Rolex test watch on a high-end Witschi timing machine. Showing a very good average daily gain of only 1.3 seconds, the GMT-Master II remained within the very strict Rolex specification standard of between -2 and +2 seconds per day, which every watch must also attain to be officially certified as a chronometer by the Swiss testing institute COSC. Testing in six positions showed results that were sufficiently close together, with a maximum deviation of 5 seconds, and the amplitude between the flat positions (dial up and dial down) and the hanging positions remained within an acceptable range. The good rate results are provided by the newest generation of in-house Rolex calibers, the 3285, which is protected behind the solid steel caseback. A rotor with ball bearings produces a long power reserve of 70 hours. The main contribution is supplied by the highly efficient Chronergy escapement with its optimized pallet fork and escape wheel geometry, and the LIGA process that allows Rolex to create a perforated and therefore much lighter construction. Thanks to the nickel-phosphorous alloy used, the escapement does not react to magnetic fields.

Other well-known advantages of Rolex movements include in-house, high-efficiency Paraflex shock absorption, an extremely stable balance bridge instead of a one-sided balance cock, the free-sprung hairspring with overcoil made of a paramagnetic niobium-zirconium alloy, and the fine regulation via Microstella nuts on the balance wheel. The movement can be adjusted without having to remove it from the case, using a special tool.

Decorations such as a sunburst finish are present, but you should not expect to see hand engraving. The new generation of movements can also be identified by a single detail at the bottom of the dial: a tiny Rolex crown between the two words “Swiss Made.”

Price and Availability 

The list price of the left-handed GMT-Master II is $11,050, but availability presents a considerably larger hurdle. Anyone who isn’t already an established customer at a Rolex jeweler will, as with other models, have difficulty getting their hands on a watch. Prices on the secondary market have fallen over the last several months, but demand for Rolex watches is still outweighing supply by far. The green model for left-handers is currently the most desirable GMT-Master II and is being traded at more than $26,000, despite recent price drops.

In this latest version, the GMT-Master II is already a design classic with excellent technological features, quality and accuracy. It comes highly recommended for left-handed people and, despite its more cumbersome operation, for those right-handed people who wear their watches on their right wrist, so date is easy to read. Anyone who likes the color, or who values the prestige of the currently rarest GMT-Master II, will certainly be doing everything right with this new, updated model.

Rolex GMT-Master II

Manufacturer:
Rolex SA, Rue François-Dussaud 3-7, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland 

Reference number:
126720VTNR 

Functions:
Hours, minute, seconds, date; second time zone 

Movement:
In-house Caliber 3285, automatic, chronometer, 28,800 vph, 31 jewels, stop-seconds function, quick-adjust date with hour advancing mechanism, Paraflex shock absorber, Glucydur balance with Microstella regulating screws, 70-hour power reserve 

Case:
Stainless steel 904L, ceramic bezel, flat sapphire crystal with Cyclops date magnifying lens and inner antireflective coating, screw-down Triplock crown, fully threaded 904L stainless-steel caseback, water resistant to 100 m 

Bracelet and clasp:
Oyster bracelet made of 904L stainless steel, with safety folding clasp and extension piece 

Rate results:
Deviation in seconds per 24 hours Average amplitude: 

Dimensions:
Diameter = 40 mm, height = 12.1 mm, weight = 154 g 

Price: $11,050

Scores:

Bracelet and clasp (max. 10 points): 9
Well-made bracelet with a secure clasp.

Case (10): 9
Cleanly polished case with reliably sealing Triplock crown and scratchresistant crystal.

Dial and hands (10): 10
Meticulous finishing of white-gold markers and hands. Dial printing is clean and clear.

Design (15): 13
A classic with an unusual left orientation and a new color combination.

Legibility (5): 5
Large markers and sharp contrast provide good legibility during daylight hours, with bright luminous for night.

Operation (5): 4
The crown position means it is less easy to use for right-handers. Optimum setting of the local time.

Wearing comfort (5): 5
Curved links increase wearing comfort. The integrated extension piece in the clasp is helpful. 

Movement (20): 19
The sturdy, accurate and durable in-house movement offers a long power reserve.

Rate results (10): 9
Very low average deviation. Moderate deviations in the different positions.

Overall value (10): 9
The price-performance is acceptable, and the value will remain high — at least for those who can get one at a reasonable price.

Total (100): 92 Points

To subscribe to WatchTime Magazine, click here.

And to learn more about this watch, visit Rolex, here.