Rolex officially say GMT bezel will only ever be two-color?

[Cru Jones]

“Emblematic” does not mean “exclusive”.

[Swearengen]

It wouldn't be a 24 hour bezel from a sub.

Originally Posted by joli160

Would a blue Sub bezel not fit on a GMT to ‘create’ a blueberry ?

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by drrd

Btw, the blueberry GMT story is hilarious.

Like the X-Files.

I love my Blueberry GMT.



The modern interpretation is a great homage to the 1980s original. The fit and finish doesn't match a Rolex but it's not as far away away as the price difference might suggest.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by drrd

Ah, thanks for the info.

I only had a brief dip into vintage Rolex and that scared me.

No problem. Its successor, the 16710, went with all three inserts (black/coke/pepsi) from 1989 till I think 2007, so it was quite a long run into the black ceramic

[JSCP]

here;


https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/ro...ference-points

[dannyp]

This isn’t the same as “There has never been a quartz Blancpain and there never will be.” This isn’t speaking in absolutes. It’s merely pointing out what’s most closely associated with the watch and will always be, rather than stating that it’s all there will ever be.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

The GMT 16700 had an all-black or pepsi insert option from the late 1980s till around 2000. So all-black is part of the GMT heritage.

[summit]

Originally Posted by Cru Jones

“Emblematic” does not mean “exclusive”.

Emblematic means it represents the GMT.

Hard to conceive of a new GMT that doesn’t have the feature that represents it and allows immediate identification of it.

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by summit

Emblematic means it represents the GMT.

Hard to conceive of a new GMT that doesn’t have the feature that represents it and allows immediate identification of it.

I think it's safe to assume that any new GMT will have a 24 hour bezel insert and a GMT hand.

[summit]

Originally Posted by Harry-57

I think it's safe to assume that any new GMT will have a 24 hour bezel insert and a GMT hand.

Well that’s also an Exporer II right? Not an “insert” (for now) but a 24hr bezel and 24hr hand.

[Harry-57]

Originally Posted by summit

Well that’s also an Exporer II right? Not an “insert” (for now) but a 24hr bezel and 24hr hand.

Sorry. A 24 hour bezel insert in a bi rotatable bezel. I hope they never put a ceramic insert on the Explorer II but it won't matter to me because I already have mine :)

[Gab27]

Originally Posted by drrd

Agree with the OP.

Wasn’t the black ceramic GMT one of the first ceramics?

Surely the only reason for the all black colour was because Rolex hadn’t yet sorted out the process of recolouring one half of the bezel?

Why would they return to that compromised look for a GMT?

As if the latest black/grey wasn’t proof enough of doing a two colour ceramic bezel because they can.

This is my assumption. The black ceramic on the (unquestionably handsome) 116710LN was what they had the technical capacity to reliably produce in sufficient quantity at the time of its debut.

[summit]

Thanks for all the replies.

Certainly Rolex isn’t likely to explicitly state their intention but with the release of the grey/black and updated website presentation I think it’s impossible to ignore what Rolex has said. The two-color represents the GMT. That’s where Rolex is at right now with this model.

Their statement immediately stood out, as it’s been pointed out all black had been available in aluminium and ceramic for a good deal of time. Rolex has decided to set the current state of affairs for us; GMT is a two-color bezel watch.

Still, I posed the thread as a question to illicit counter arguments that could change my thoughts. So far nothing has.