Rolex is company that is well known for their innovative watch designs. Over the years they have produced a number of time pieces that incorporate features that have since become standard in their own watches and those from other manufacturers.
The Rolex GMT is no exception. It was designed in conjunction with Pan Am Airways and was launched in 1954 to be utilised by pilots and navigators. The unique selling point of the GMT was that is could simultaneously display the time for two different time zones.
In the days before GPS and inertial navigation systems an accurate GMT time source was essential to pilots and navigators as Greenwich Mean Time was and still is the standard for all planning in the field of aviation, navigation, weather forecasting and other standarised scheduling. The ability of the Rolex GMT to simultaneously display the time in two different time zones proved to be an indispensible resource for transcontinental aviators who needed to know GMT and the time in the destination they were bound for.
Of course, the unique dual time zone display combined with Rolex’s famed reliability and high build quality made these watches enormously popular and production has continued to this day. In the 1980’s an updated Rolex GMT II was made available which was almost identical in appearance to its predecessor, but the new model utilised a quickset hour hand, which allowed the time to be adjust to suit the locality without disturbing the minute or second hands.
The Rolex GMT is one the company’s most enduring models and it is still available from Rolex suppliers today, albeit with a slightly updated design.