Collector Book GMT-Master I and II 296 Pages 2024 Edition Mondani ROLEX

A two-tone bezel as the thread

The GMT-Master appeared in 1955 to show two time zones at once. Its signature is the two-colour bezel separating day hours from night hours. Seventy years on, generations are still told apart by it: the colours used, how they hold up, the successive materials.

The book follows that evolution reference by reference. The nicknames the market gave the combinations — Pepsi for red and blue, Batman for black and blue, Rootbeer for brown and gold — are documented alongside the references that carry them, which prevents the common confusion between an original bezel and a replacement.

1983: the GMT-Master II

Rolex introduced a calibre allowing the hour hand to be set independently of the minute and 24-hour hands. To avoid confusion with existing models, watches fitted with it were named GMT-Master II. The book runs both lines in parallel, which makes a nomenclature many people mix up finally legible.

Component by component

Dials, bezels and their colours, hands, indexes, case backs, movements, winding crowns, lugs, bracelets, clasps, case and serial numbers, alphanumeric codes, warranties, boxes and accessories. The different dial marks, modern and vintage, are detailed one by one.

Estimates

Every published reference carries an updated estimate. On this range the gap between two visually similar examples can be considerable: an evenly faded original bezel is worth more than a new replacement. Those are the nuances the book puts a figure on.

Continue

Browse all our collector watch books. To follow several ranges rather than one, the three-volume Rolex encyclopedia.