The GMT-Master 16700.....A Forgotten Reference

[Medtech]

Larry,
Many thanks for this excellent article and the awesome pics.

Here is my one and only Rolex, an E serial 16700 (1990). Original sub bracelet and pepsi bezel (pics shown w/ cheap aftermarket black insert).

[model7el]

great post

[Pencinta Masa]

Thanks Larry for the very useful information.

This is my first post here, and this is my first Rolex - an E series 16700.

[Newportkrieger]

Originally Posted by Pencinta Masa

Thanks Larry for the very useful information.

This is my first post here, and this is my first Rolex - an E series 16700.

I too have an E series 16700. Its a great watch that combines the best of old and new for a great daily wear watch. I am activly looking for an U or A series 16700 with the luminova dial to add to my GMT collection. I personally think that wiht the realatively short production run/numbers this may start to gain some interest in the vintage community despite its sapphire crystal. To me its the "transitional GMT".

fast beat movement
quickset date
scratch resistant sapphire crystal
traditional GMT 24 hr hand function

My daily wear GMT, currently giving me +1 sec/day accuracy:

[sorsara]

when they say Crystal= sapphire

what part of the watch are they talking about exactly?

[Newportkrieger]

Originally Posted by sorsara

when they say Crystal= sapphire

what part of the watch are they talking about exactly?

The crystal is the clear covering over the dial of the watch. A Rolex with a crystal made of plastic/acrylic is considerred "vintage" where as a man made sapphire crystal is considered modern.

[dddrees]

Another excellent review Larry. Thanks again for helping me to build my knowledge on these watches.

[SWIMPRUF]

Nice review Larry.

[604Rolex]

great information! I'm currently looking to purchase a 1999 GMT black bezel with original oyster bracelet. On the box it says 16700 movement.

How much is reasonable to pay for this watch? Condition is fair, normal wear.

[AndersB]

Tools! A great thread and a great watch. One thing though: I believe the weight that you have included in the facts list (127 grams) is for a watch with Solid End Links, and most (or all?) ref 16700s came with non-SEL bracelets didn't they? The non-SELs weigh a couple of grams less. Cheers

[Tools]

Originally Posted by AndersB

Tools! A great thread and a great watch. One thing though: I believe the weight that you have included in the facts list (127 grams) is for a watch with Solid End Links, and most (or all?) ref 16700s came with non-SEL bracelets didn't they? The non-SELs weigh a couple of grams less. Cheers

This is true, the 16700 will weigh around 123 grams, depending on the bracelet it comes with.

[michigander]

Originally Posted by lordcon

I find it interesting that the Rolex instruction manual refers to the watch as a "GMT Master I" as opposed to just "GMT Master". The "I" implies that there is a "II"? somewhere amist?

Because the GMT-Master II was sold along side it.

Here's my N (1991)

[AndersB]

Originally Posted by Tools

The original ref 6542, which had a very short life was black over red. [...]

The color quickly became the familiar "pepsi" dial within a few years.

Is it a confirmed fact that the first 6542s had black/red bezels? In pictures of some early examples it definitely seems as if the bezels are black/red although they are in fact very dark blue over red.

[Hanz079]

Just a question.
What series of this ref 16700 comes with spider dial?
Would a "w" series pepsi with spider dial deemed legit?
Some said during the early nineties, rolex have rectified the spider dial problem.
Thanks

[ScottP]

Excellent!!!

[Alinoe]

This is a great write-up, and was instrumental in helping me decide to pull the trigger on my own 16700!



I do have one question though. The seller said it was from 1996, but it has an S serial, which I read somewhere was 1993. Is there overlap in the serialnumbers/years? Or is it possible it was made in 1993 and just not sold before 96?

[sidlefaye]

its a wonderful watch to wear any day of the year.16700 needed more respect.vintage is cool.but i think the transitional are just as cool or even cooler.

[andyboy39]

Very informative.. Cheers..

[MATCH1969]

nice review, I had one 16700 but had to let it go for an incredible GMT 16760

[dcvelo]

Beautiful, I love mine to pieces, I almost let it go a couple of times, but still kept it. It is definitely one of the originals.
Cheers!!

[Kingair]

Just bought this GMT 16700 in LA . . .

U-model

HAGOne

[MC1988]

Beautiful...

[juju38]

my TDW

16700 E

[bplein]

Nice post!

I use my GMTII-C differently, since it has the hour skipping function.

I always set the hands to local time. So if I fly from Texas to Germany, I bump the hours forward 7 hours. Then I set the bezel to my home time zone. This way I am using the hands for whatever time zone I am in.

A pilot might change time zones so often that this would be a pain, so they may be better off leaving the hands on their "home" time zone and only using the bezel for local. But I prefer to use the bezel to calculate time for any time zone, as I have staff in 3 time zones in the US, one in Japan, and a major customer in Germany. If I fly to another time zone, it's usually for 3 days or more.

[Tudor66]

Awesome write up...I have owned a 16710, and frankly I couldn't get used to the non-quickset date and the independently moving hour hand. I settled on a 1675 for my gmt needs, but I will consider a 16700 at some point...

[JerimiahLee]

A big fan of the 16700 myself. I picked this "A" serial from October 99 sourced from Europe.

[K3VB]

Love the review, recently purchased a 16700 Pepsi it's being serviced ATM to bring it back to life, it's a U serial with Swiss on the dial, I'm assuming from what I've read it's about 1997/1998

[mpaone]

Thanks for the info. Tried to read as much as I could (from work )

recently traded into a 16700 Pepsi L and being a GMT newbie had some q's:

Has an older luminova dial so I know that is a service replacement. The date wheel is white - replacement I assume? Band is 78360 with 501B endlinks- is this original?

Keeps better time than my z serial 16600 BTW (about -2.8 per day!)

Thanks,
-Mike.

[mpaone]

Originally Posted by mpaone

Thanks for the info. Tried to read as much as I could (from work )

recently traded into a 16700 Pepsi L and being a GMT newbie had some q's:

Has an older luminova dial so I know that is a service replacement. The date wheel is white - replacement I assume? Band is 78360 with 501B endlinks- is this original?

Keeps better time than my z serial 16600 BTW (about -2.8 per day!)

Thanks,
-Mike.

Forget it, found the info in the reference thread! Looks like it all matches up, even the N bracelet code.

-Mike.

[charles22]

Great write up, but not forgotten at all :-)

I am excitedly awaiting the arrival of a mint 16700 with all goodies intact - hopefully two days hence. A late one (1998) with the superluminova dial.

Actually excited is an understatement.........this is a grail watch. An absolute Rolex classic - and you get lug holes too. It doesn't get any better :-)

Will do a proper post when she arrives!