Rolex GMT Master 1675
The first iteration of the GMT-Master, the 6542, was a developed from the Rolex Turn-O-Graph 6202, which had a rotating bezel that could be adapted to work with the twenty-four hour one on the GMT-Master. The 6542 had a Bakelite bezel and no crown guards, but the 1675 that replaced it in 1959 had the aluminium bezel and pointed crown guards as are more familiar today.
The reason for the GMT-Master’s existence was at the request of the airline Pan-Am, whose flight destination had started coming across the Atlantic and through different time zones. The twenty-four hour hand gave reference to AM and PM, and the rotating twenty-four hour bezel could be turned to indicate a second time zone. The early GMT-Masters did not have an independently adjustable GMT hand.
One great wearer of the 1675 GMT-Master was Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert, who wore it as a backup for his NASA issue Omega Speedmaster. Theories abound as to why he wore the GMT-Master as well, but it is probably safe to say that a viable reason would be the same as to why astronaut Scott Carpenter asked Breitling to make him a twenty-four hour version of the Navitimer for his orbits on board Aurora 7 – in space, there is no reference for night and day, and the Omega Speedmaster did not differentiate between the two. Another patron of the 1675 GMT-Master was revolutionary and guerrilla Che Guevara, who wore his GMT-Master through his time in Cuba, the Congo and Bolivia, where he was finally killed.
The styling of vintage Rolex’s, particularly ones of the 1960’s, have such charm and character about them, it’s easy to see why many people favour them over the modern equivalents. The unfussy dials, the curved elegant crystals and the prominent history make them a hard temptation to resist.
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- Manufacturer: Rolex
- Range: GMT Master
- Model: 1675
- Age: approximately 45 years old
- Gender: Gents
- Case: Steel
- Bracelet: Steel (Oyster)
- Size (MM): 40
- Dial: Black Baton