The Fat-Lady!

[mike]

Please allow me to introduce the newest member of my little group, the GMT-MASTER II reference 16760 also known as "The Fat Lady"

The 16760 has been called by some the rarest of the 16xxx series of GMTs. Manufactured circa late 1983-84 till 1988, the 16760 was the first GMT to use the "jump-hour" feature.
Rolex incorporated the 3085 fast beat movement in the 16760 and by de-coupling the 12 hr. hand from the 24 hr. hand one was able to advance the 12 hr. hand in one hour increments while the minute and second hands were still in motion. To do this Rolex negated the quick-set date feature that had made it's debut on the 16750 GMT transitional and later in the reference 16700 with the 3175 movement.
Rolex incorporated a new thicker case to house the larger movement causing one German collector to dub the 16760 "The Fat Lady".
There are those that feel the case of the 16760 approaches the SD in size.
The 16760 was manufactured with onlt the RED/BLACK insert, however black and the later RED/BLUE will fit provided one obtains inserts for the MASTER II series.
As with all pieces of the era the 16760 sports a tritium dial albiet of the gloss WG surround gender.
The bracelet fitted was the 78360 with 501 end links befitting the thicker case. Of course the crystal is sapphire.

Interestingly as the 16760 was introduced concurrent with the cheaper 16750 it was not a big seller hence the short run and relatively few numbers as compared to it's long running cousin the 16710.

A couple pics,





Note the thicker case and larger crown guards as compared to the 16710





Finally, if I may, an update of my GMTs