1984 Rolex GMT-Master Black Bezel Tritium 16750
Ref: 16750

Points of Mention

This watch is sold as "Watch Only" and therefore comes with no Rolex box or Rolex paperwork. The watch comes paired with a 1991 Rolex Service 20mm Rolex stainless steel Oyster bracelet with the “S” stamped on the folded flip-lock clasp to signify this - the bracelet has 12 links in total. The watch is from Circa. 1984 and is in worn, vintage condition, but overall good as you can see. The minute hand and GMT hand are later Rolex Service replacements infilled with LumiNova, the remaining hands and dial are original Tritium. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

The Watch

Here we have a 1984 Rolex GMT-Master Black Bezel Tritium 16750 with a 40mm polished and brushed stainless steel Oyster case that curves over your wrist with drilled tapered lugs, a lug-to-lug length of 47.5mm and a case thickness of 12.5mm give the watch an impressive wrist presence. At 3 o’clock a signed screw-down crown protected by crown guards. The stainless steel bezel has deep knurling for extra grip and a black 24-hour scale insert holding a plexiglass crystal above a matte black dial. An outer minute track surrounds disc and baton indexes infilled with Tritium marking the hours, at 3 o’clock a date window with cyclops magnification on the plexiglass. Steel Mercedes hour hand infilled with Tritium, a later Rolex Service replaced minute hand and a red stem arrow pointed GMT hand infilled with LumiNova complemented with a lollipop counterweighted sweeping second hand. At 12 o’clock we have the Rolex motif with “ROLEX Oyster Perpetual Date” printed underneath, and at 6 o’clock “GMT-MASTER Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” completes this dynamic travel companion. On the reverse, a screw-down coin-edged case back, inside an automatic Rolex Cal. 3075, 27 jewels, 28,800 beats per hour, this workhorse of a movement was in production from 1981 until 1988. The watch comes paired with a 1991 Rolex Service 20mm Rolex stainless steel Oyster bracelet with the “S” stamped on the folded flip-lock clasp to signify this - the bracelet has 12 links in total.

Personal Note

The Brand

In 1905, German-born Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis set up a company in London that imported Swiss movements which are installed in British cases and sold to jewellers who put their names on the dials. Recognising the potential for their brand, Wilsdorf created the brand name Rolex in 1908. In 1910, a Rolex became the first wristwatch to carry the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland. Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to move the business to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf quickly set out to solve the age-old problem of moisture and dust entering a watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex watchmakers came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf named the Oyster, and released to an appreciative audience in 1926. In 1931, Rolex introduced the first automatic winding wristwatch, giving it the legendary name Oyster Perpetual. In 1945, they released Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight. The 1950s saw a whole lot of releases such as the Air-King (1958), the Explorer (1953), the Submariner (1953), the GMT Master (1955), the Day-Date (1956), the electromagnetic field resistant Milgauss (1956), the Lady-Datejust (1957) and the first Deep Sea model (1960). Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, saw ownership of Rolex S.A. (a collection of sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation which was founded by Wilsdorf in 1945, the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely.