GMT-Master II 16718 Yellow Gold

Used in models GMT-Master II and Explorer II, the Rolex caliber 3185 is based on the 3135, but fitted with an adjustable 24h hand. It was replaced by the 3186 around 2005.

The GMT-Master was developed in 1955 in collaboration with Pan American World Airways for their pilots who needed to track multiple time zones as commercial transatlantic flight became routine. The solution — a rotating 24-hour bezel combined with an additional GMT hand — allowed pilots to read home time, local time, and a third time zone simultaneously. The bicolour bezel inserts that distinguish the GMT-Master's variants — 'Pepsi' (blue and red), 'Batman' (blue and black), 'Coke' (black and red), 'Root Beer' (brown and gold) — have become some of the most recognisable nicknames in the watch collecting community. The GMT-Master II, which allows independent setting of the local hour hand, remains one of Rolex's most coveted professional models.

Full gold; not for the faint of heart! Up to the start of the big watch craze in the late nineties, a full gold sports Rolex was about as bad-ass as it would get when it came to watches.