An automatic, unpolished stainless steel, Rolex GMT Master with date, reference 1675. This watch could be considered the most iconic, and certainly the most recognizable, watch in the Rolex stable. Since its inception into the Rolex line up in 1955, this watch has been worn and loved by pilots, members of the military, movie stars, dictators and today's watch collectors. This reference is the first departure by Rolex from its initial offering; reference 6542. The 1675 was introduced by Rolex in 1959 and remained in the line until 1980. There are many different examples that evolved throughout this twenty one year run. Initially launched with the same style of glossy dial, small headed second time zone hand the 1675 remained quite true to its first iteration. This all changed cosmetically with the launch of the matte dials in around 1966/7, which ran right until the end of the reference. This current example presented is one of the first models of the matte dials. This is the Mark 1 version of the matte dial, and is characaterised by the center bar of the E in Rolex being long, matching the top and bottom bars in length. This dial had a fairly long run being used in GMT's up until around 1972, which saw the introduction of the Mark 2 dials. We won't go into those here, but there are many good resources discussing these changes. A further bonus point to this particular stunning watch is the highly coveted bezel insert. These aluminium bezels from this time whose daytime hours section has a beautiful fuchsia color.While the Mark 1 had quite a long run, it seems that only certain Mark 1s produced circa 1967-68 were born with bezels in this beautiful fuchsia color. The watch also carries the moniker the "Pink Panther" by collectors, and is perhaps one of the most highly coveted of all 1675 matte dial GMT watches. This dial is marked "Swiss T>25", meaning that this dial has applied Tritium luminous material. This material replaced the highly dangerous and radioactive Radium in 1963. Just like radium, tritium was also radioactive; however, it came with a much lower level of radiation and a much shorter half-life. While tritium was exponentially safer than radium, it only had a half-life of twelve years. This meant that after just a few decades, only a tiny fraction of the initial luminescence would remain. Additionally, as tritium ages, the color changes, which creates often beautiful, and highly sought after patinas on the luminous markers on these older Rolex watches. Tritium was far from perfect, which led Rolex to search for a better alternative. The colour of the luminous material here is a light and warm vanilla colour, and it will continue to age beautifully over time. It is being pointed out for transparency that the hour marker at two o'clock as some slight discoluration, and a line through it. When placed under UV light, and under magnification, there is no sign of restoration and replacement, it is perhaps just the way it was initially stamped onto the dial and as a result of which has aged such. It does not affect the overall beauty of the watch on the eye. The watch is powered by a Rolex, Swiss made, twenty six jewel automatic calibre 1570 movement. The calibre 1570 that also powered the iconic sports watches such as this and the Submariner during this time. A reliable workhorse of a movement that served Rolex very well in its nearly decade long usage. The case is as you would expect to find from a tool watch approaching almost sixty years old. There are light scratches and signs of wear. It has, however, never been polished, which is very uncommon with watches from this period, and adds a very large premium to the value of this already stunning example. These cases have lovely chamfers to the edges, and these remain full and strong. The watch is presented on its original, and long, Rolex Oyster rivet bracelet. This bracelet was produced by American company C & I for Rolex, and is date stamped I-69, having been produced in the first quarter of 1969. There is some stretch to it, but nothing that is troublesome. Overall, this is a superb Rolex watch, with the added bonus that it is presented unpolished and with a gorgeous matte dial which, in very direct light, is also slightly starting to pull brown hues. We were very fortunate to obtain this watch from the son of the original owner, and is fresh to market. This is why the watch remains in such barn find condition.
