Description

Rolex GMT Master II Watch with Rubies, Sapphires and Diamonds

GMT Master II History

The GMT Master was launched in 1954 in collaboration with Pan Am for use by the company’s pilots and navigators. Specifically, the watch was intended for very long flights. In fact, GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time – which is used as a global time standard. The original GMT Master wristwatch that was released has a 24 hour display fourth hand complication which is directly linked to the same time zone as the standard time display.  This GMT hand was an extra feature that allowed crew members to set the watch to a separate time zone, while using the rotatable 24 hours scale bezel to keep track of a second time zone. Greenwich Mean Time is a time zone required for all aviation flights. During the time, the release of this watch was important because global positioning systems (GPS) did not exist. Sometimes aircraft were out of range of normal radio navigation and the GMT Master allowed them to keep track of important time, as well as to use astronavigation. This meant relative geographical position was calculated by relative angles of the horizon, the sun, and any other astronomical indicator.