1988 Rolex GMT Master 18k YG Ref. (16718)

The Rolex GMT is the jet-setting icon of the Rolex sports watch family. The history of this sophisticated, versatile style dates back to 1954 when Rolex received a request from Pan Am to create a technical pilots watch that could indicate two time zones simultaneously.   As advances in aviation made transcontinental flights commercially available Pan Am needed a watch that could be issued to their crews on the long-haul international flights.

GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time - the time zone which regulates world clocks and is required for all aviation planning and schedules. The Rolex GMT Master has a fourth 24-hour hand that directly displays the same time zone as the standard 12-hour hand but on a 24-hour scale. The addition of this GMT hand enabled crews to set the watch to GMT or another time zone, and, using the rotating 24-hour scale bezel, correct the offset to display a second time zone on the 24-hour scale.

This feature is just as useful today, allowing the modern traveler to easily keep track of his home time zone, no matter how far he may have journeyed.