2008 Rolex GMT Master II Ref. 16710 "Stick Dial" With Box And Papers

The Rolex GMT is the jet-setting icon of the Rolex sports watch family. Like the Rolex Submariner, the Rolex GMT is sophisticated, rugged, and versatile.

In 1954 Pan Am started using the newly designed Boeing 707 which allowed for Pan Am to fly transcontinentally and is said to have started the commercially available jet age. In the same year, Rolex received a request from Pan Am to create a technical pilots watch which indicated two time zones simultaneously that could be issued by the airline to their crews on long-haul transcontinental international flights.

GMT or UTC stands for Greenwich Mean Time or Coordinated Universal Time which is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. GMT or UTC is the time zone that is required for all aviation planning, weather forecasts, schedules, and other paperwork.The original Rolex GMT Master has a fourth 24-hour hand directly displaying the same time zone as the standard 12-hour hand but on a 24-hour scale. This GMT hand enabled the crews to set the watch to GMT or another time zone, and, using the rotatable 24-hour scale bezel, set to the correct offset thus displaying a second-time-zone on the 24-hour scale.

This specific Rolex Ref. 16710 GMT-Master II is particularly rare being only produced for one year, also being the last production year of the 16710. Transitional in the fact that Rolex fitted this model with the newer 3186 movement, including the blue parachom hairspring. Also being a stick or "rail" dial where the text is shown as "II" as opposed to the use of traditional roman numerics. This specific watch has become one of the most rare and sought after of the GMT models produced to date, airing into extreme exclusivity. Perfect transitional model for the person in love with the more classic GMT-Master II styles with the aluminum "pepsi" and "coke" bezels while enjoying the functionality of the more modern movement.