REVOLUTION AWARDS 2018
BEST MEN’S WATCH
ROLEX GMT-MASTER II
Time stands still when I think of you.” Cut Copy’s perceptive lyricism offers a more poetic description of the Rolex GMT-Master II than my layman’s prose ever could. There are some products that have shaped their industries, and others that have shaped industries beyond their own. The original GMT-Master, when it first emerged from the secretive labs of Switzerland’s crown jewel, did both. That’s something few can boast.
The second-timezone watch democratised a watch function that held rank in the halls of high watchmaking – the world-timer. It made keeping track of time across continents convenient. It heralded an era of watch development that emphasised function over material, utility over glamour. In so doing, it became an object of glamour of its own. After all, you don’t need a watch that indicates time in a different part of the world unless you’re a frequent traveller, the owner of a multinational firm, or you have assets across the globe. The fact that an airline and its piloting crew were the earliest adopters of Rolex’s GMT-Master added to its equity. (This was a time when no one had to walk barefoot in an airport and be subjected to having their body scanned and assessed by security personnel.)
My fondness for Rolex’s GMT watches stems from a young age, but it has transformed into an admiration for the rigour with which the firm continues to enhance its staples. That’s a business attitude that few bother with today. The development of the two-colour Cerachrom and the vividness of its colouring will likely remain a perpetual Rolex secret. Although, on a very personal note, I do find it surprising – nay, downright shocking – that both Rolex and its sibling Tudor have released “Pepsi” editions of the watch this year, I’m relieved that Rolex has kept the “Root Beer” to itself and equally aware that the brand would probably prefer I didn’t refer to it as such. Yet that’s the power of a cult following – to define a product far beyond what it was intended for originally.
The new Calibre 3285 that drives the watch editors.
