The 2024 GMT-Master II is More Significant Than You Think

This new GMT Master II 2024 has been a long time coming. The impressions of the general watch world haven't been ones of excitement, and at first glance, many figured that this watch wasn’t that impressive. Guess what? They’re wrong. So why does a near-monochromatic GMT seem to be so groundbreaking to us here at Everest? Let's discuss why this is a necessary watch in their current lineup. 

Context For the Gray-and-Black GMT-Master II

Before we dig in too far as to why this watch needs to be in the Rolex GMT-Master collection, I am briefly going to walk you down memory lane. In 2007 Rolex released a completely new GMT-Master II in steel: reference 116710LN. It had an all-black dial and ceramic bezel. It had a dab of green on the 24-hour hand and green ‘GMT-MASTER II’ dial text. In my opinion, it was perfection. Instantly this watch brought Rolex into the 21st century by utilizing a mind-bending bezel mechanism and a ceramic manufacturing process that is still groundbreaking to this day. It was a renaissance for Rolex’s professional line, leading to sweeping changes over the last fifteen years or so – every other Rolex model pulls from this release’s aesthetics and over-engineered nature. Then in 2018, the 116710LN was quietly removed from the collection in favor of the incredible 126710BLRO GMT-Master II, aka the ‘Pepsi’. At the time, this was the right move – the ‘Pepsi’ was available only in white gold for four years prior.

Six years later, Rolex has taken us down a wild path of color options related to the GMT-Master II line. They’ve clearly been listening to what we want (some say they haven’t, but those people are wrong). The model is offered in multiple materials, color configurations, and even crown positions (the LHD having a green and black bezel, by the way – talk about crazy!).

With this generation of colorful and/or precious metal options, Rolex customers were without the straightforward, entry-level appeal of the 116710LN. They could sell you spicy and colorful, but in reality, they no longer offered a pizza margarita, if you will. This new 126710GRNR is here to temper the extremes of the rest of the collection.  This more basic colorway is a gutsy move. It says to the watch world, “don’t forget what makes a Rolex a Rolex: classic styling that will be timeless for generations”. For that, I applaud them.

For the last three years, Rolex has been trying some super fun color options on many of their references. Last year we literally got a Day-Date with puzzle pieces on the dial and emojis instead of days! That was super cool, but it was not a mass-market product. It was Rolex reminding us that we should have fun in life. The new-for-2024 GMT-Master II is Rolex reminding us of why we fell in love with them thirty years ago, and how much it is that we love them.