Rolex

Rolex GMT Master II Luxury Watch

A must have for any luxury watch enthusiast; the Rolex GMT Master II is a great looking and very functional high-end Swiss timepiece. It’s a beautiful watch which is sophisticated in both appearance and operation, yet it somehow manages to present itself as understated and modest. The Rolex GMT Master II has a long and interesting history, and is certainly one of the most popular Rolex Professional models.

The big feature of the Rolex GMT Master II is the additional 24-hour hand which tracks hours against the bi-directional rotating bezel in “military time” as opposed to standard 12-hour time. It was originally created for Pan Am pilots back in the early days of transatlantic flights. The watch’s movement became more sophisticated over the years, and now allows the standard hour hand and the date to be set independently of the other hands which makes moving from one time zone to the next very smooth and simple.

The GMT feature of the Rolex GMT Master II is typically used in one of two ways. The first way is the technique the Pan Am pilots used, which is to keep track of both GMT and local time simultaneously. The second technique, which is more commonly used by travelers as opposed to pilots, is to set the 24-hour hand and the 12 hour hand to the same hour while in your home time zone, then to adjust the hour hand and date either ahead as you travel east, or back as you travel west. The movement in the GMT Master II is very unique in that it allows you adjust the hour and date backwards just as easily as forwards.

The Rolex GMT Master II is available with a black or brown dial and comes with your choice of three different bezel styles: all back, red and black, and the classic blue and red. The Rolex GMT Master II currently sells for $4,525 and is almost never discounted. As always, if you decide to go Rolex shopping, make sure you are buying from an authorized dealer or a reputable personal seller. Don’t expect discounts on stainless steel sports models, make sure all the paperwork is in order, and if the price looks too good to be true, it is!

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The Rolex Yacht-Master II Luxury Watch

An upgrade from the original Rolex Yacht-Master luxury watch the Rolex Yacht-Master II is a beautiful watch that any watch enthusiast would be proud to own. In a review by www.watchreport.com they stated “At BaselWorld 2007, Rolex announced a new sports watch for yachtsmen: the Rolex Yacht-Master II. When Rolex releases a sequel to an existing model, you can always expect to see impressive new functionality. Rolex made significant changes to the GMT Master movement between the original GMT Master, and the GMT Master II, the latter allowing the hour hand and the 24-hour hand to be set independently. Likewise, the Explorer II changed dramatically from the original Explorer, adopting the same movement as the GMT Master II which added a 24-hour hand and date. And now the Yacht-Master II represents another extremely important step in Rolex evolution.”

A true luxury watch, the Yacht-Master II differs from its predecessor by using an extremely complex and innovative new movement with a countdown timer which can be programmed to start between one and ten minutes in order to accommodate regattas with varying start sequences.  I use the term “program” rather than simply “set” because the value is actually remembered, and when the countdown timer is reset, the countdown hand will return to the last programmed value. For a mechanical watch, this is an extremely impressive feat. There is a tradeoff we must note, the date which was present in the initial Yacht-Master had to go to make room on the dial as to allow for the additional complication of the movement.