Rolex GMT 126715CHNR
Rolex is a complicated brand, you either love them at first sight, or you learn to love them, but you never really hate Rolex, because they’re just that good. The issue today is that you just cannot get one unless you have the extra cash laying around to pay double if not triple retail, or have a very very tight relationship with your AD.
Some pieces, luckily, escape from dealers’, flippers’ and investors’ claws, allowing for most to get their hands on the piece. For the longest time, most golden sports models were in this position, but after John Mayer spilling the secret, it’s become tougher and tougher to acquire most if not all precious metal sports models too.
Introduced in 1955 under the reference 6542, the GMT has been one of Rolex’ most well known watches, adorning the wrists of PanAm pilots, Fidel Castro, Pablo Picasso, Tom Selleck and Marlon Brando to name a few. The reference then transitioned into the ref 1675, and then into the five digit references until the modern executions as we know them. Now for the most part, Daytona exempted, Rolex’ modern executions have always been beefed up to ghastly proportions.
The GMT remains quite beefy but fortunately the lugs are quite thin making the on-wrist experience very nice. I’d be curious to see if the case in the future gets the same treatment as the Submariner and be slimmed down even more.
So I’m sure there are some of you out there, that have been into watches for ages but don’t have the slightest idea of how to set a GMT watch.
The crown has two settings, the first click when pulled out is used to set the GMT time, and the second click allows you to set the hour hand. What’s amazing is how quick the watch is to set and the fact that you can backwards and forwards, even on the date wheel, an amazing detail that is truly functional when travelling between timezones.
The 126715CHNR is a quintessential underdog Rolex in the sense that it is a GMT (a fan favourite for many), it has historical credibility through the Root-Beer and Concorde models, yet for some reason it is overlooked by many, preferring the Pepsi for its oh so recognisable bezel, status symbol and ‘investment’ qualities. I also believe many feel that the rose gold is hard to pull off, which may be true in some cases, but the hint of Rolex’ rose gold is extremely light and depending on the light sometimes looks like white gold (I swear I’m not visually impaired).
Something I love about the CHNR is the GMT hand - on both the BLNR and BLRO, this GMT hand is painted, and often times you can see the finishing at the end of the GMT hand isn’t perfect. On the CHNR, this isn’t a problem, as the hand is a polished rose gold finishing, elevating the watch in its aesthetic.
On the wrist, the solid rose gold case and bracelet feel a little heavy at first, but once you get used to it feels exceptional. The warmth of gold is something I’ve already talked about, and absolutely love. Despite being a softer metal, the CHNR doesn’t scratch nearly as easily as I thought it would and with Rolex’ proprietary alloy called Everose gold, owners can be certain the tint of their rose gold won’t change over time.
This can happen with certain rose gold alloys where the copper used to give the gold its rose hue is attacked by chlorine and other day to day chemicals and loses its colour. Rolex have countered this by adding platinum to the mix, which protects the copper and enables the watch to remain for ever rose.
Another beautiful aspect of the CHNR is the combination of the Chocolate and Noir bezel with the everose hue that at times is very reminiscent in tint to old 6542 bakelite bezels (again, not visually impaired I promise !).
My favourite thing about the GMT is its functionality - having traveled all my life, the GMT complication is the only complication I’ve actually used. Whether it be for checking meeting times from a different time zones, figuring out if family back home are awake or fast asleep, the complication gets genuine use, which I find is lost in a lot of watchmaking and watch use today. The GMT embodies in my opinion a true tool watch and, for my usage of it, delivers exceptionally.
Rolex were originally developed as tool watches, and before owning this piece I felt they had lost a bit of that, in fact I’ve often said Tudor have become what Rolex was originally intended to be - but, despite the fact that it’s solid rose gold, the 126715CHNR delivers as an amazing luxury tool watch and gets a lot more wrist time than I originally thought.