One Man’s Early Christmas Present (Rolex) – First Impressions

Not too long ago, this article was written about which watch would be the ideal one for me. After much deliberating and conversing with my colleagues, and some esteemed friends and fellow time geeks, I had settled on the Rolex GMT-Master II Day and Night. Also known fondly as the ‘Bruiser’ though in my mind it came across as rather crass and uncouth, why should a watch be referred to in those same terms as a heavy-hitter or dealer of pain and punishment. I prefer ‘Batman’ and the image that conjures up is surely much better, billionaire, playboy, superhero, with lots and lots of toys! Definitely more to my liking or maybe I am over compensating, anyways, apologies for going off on a little rant, so we shall move on. The piece will now be referred as the ‘Batman’ for the duration of this article.

Luckily ten days after the last article I had taken receipt of one of the finest everyday watches I have even had the pleasure of setting my eyes on, barring the Royal Oaks of the world this has to be a close second for me as a timepiece for every occasion. Here it is in its box, whilst in the boutique all the tiny bits of protective plastic were taken off that are used to protect the piece. I did not count them all individually but I guess there to be over twenty covering almost the entirety of the watch itself, this is testament to the care and attention that Rolex takes in ensuring the watch is received in the utmost pristine condition.

The standout feature for me so far has to be the ceramic two tone bezel, in my short time with the watch, it has an almost chameleonic nature to it. Depending on the angle in which it is held, seen, photographed, the amount of ambient light, and even type of light means that the blue half of the bezel appears at times to be a royal blue to an almost midnight blue. The finish to the bezel in the black half is almost mirror-like, exactly the same as the ceramic Submariner, but the blue stays blue and only in the brightest light does it reflect and sparkle as much. The dividing line between the two colours is perfect, no colour bleed, no blurring at all. I know this has been documented before but reading about it and seeing it are two different things, especially when you see it with my rather shoddy amateur pictures.

Even the lume is stunning, look at it, clear beautiful and easily legible. What has surprised me the most so far about this watch is that it is put together so ridiculously well, fit and finish are very important to this Man, the attention to detail is impeccable. I do have one complaint and here is my festive BAH Humbug moment, that is the dial, I like it but it is missing one simple thing that is not missing on the standard GMT Master II, and that is the GMT-Master II lettering on the dial is in Green on the standard, but on this very special ‘Batman’ it is a boring white!? WHY?? It should have always been the same blue as the 24 hour hand, the blue half of the bezel. There is a slight problem with all this, now that I have noticed the white lettering, it is almost impossible to unsee it! You know what though? The watch is still everything I had wished for and more. Next time the wearability and overall impressions over a period of time will be covered.

This Man wishes you all a fantastic, wondrous and watch-filled Christmas, we shall catch up in the aftermath! Merry Christmas, hohoho!

— Featured Photo Credit: Dave Kaiten for BeckerTime’s Archive.