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As always, when you begin analyzing a vintage Rolex, every little detail matters and should match the “patina all over”. In other words, the case should age to the same degree as the dial, hands, and bezel. In most cases, when the case welder has finished his work, he simply focuses on the lugs and bevels of the watch with the newly added bevels. Don’t forget that collectors want their replica Rolex laser-welded because the case looks very tired and worn out. Logically, the rest of the watch will still show you aging, and once the case looks new, you will immediately notice that it doesn’t match the rest in detail.  
But what if the dial is great and the case only needs a little surgery to become more impressive? If it’s not obvious that the parts don’t match, look closely between the lugs and you’ll see that this matte area is much more “worn” than a brand new one. On top of that, the holes in the case are usually newly drilled and you notice that when ringing them up, the inside is different, lacking the necessary patina and looking new.
Next, you have to know what the cheap Rolex case looks like, what the exact curve of the bevel is, and how wide it is, because every reference is distinguished and then you can compare. In addition to the glossy finish, the matte polish on the case tells you if it is a redo or original. A current finished matte finish has a different light break than a matte finish that was finished 20-40 years ago. Small scratches will appear on a matte finish and you will see the depth of it, plus a newly added polish will never have the same structural sanding lines when done later. Here’s a good NOS example of what a small crown looks like when it leaves the factory. Study the lines, polish, curves, and dimensions, but most importantly, the condition of the entire body is matched. Every part is NOS, not just the center case/lug.
Up close, you will see polished examples where the fine lines are not perfectly straight, because most likely the polished case was done by hand, while the unpolished case was done while all the parts were still assembled, and always the same, in one piece. Another important feature of polished watches is that the case looks good at first, but it is mainly on the case back where the engraving is worn and polished.

When Rolex 1675 model replaced the original GMT-Master model in 1959, the company introduced some notable updates to the then-new model. First, the 1675 GMT-Master got a crown protector – a detail that was lacking in the previous model. To accommodate the new shoulders on either side of the winding crown, the 1675’s case was increased by 2 mm to a diameter of 40 mm. In addition, another important change made by replica Rolex is the replacement of the bakelite bezel of the old 6542 with an aluminum bezel on the GMT-Master 1675.
Since Rolex produced the GMT-Master 1675 for 20 years, the replica watch has undergone a number of changes throughout its history. For example, early examples of 1675 had pointed crown guards (known as PCG or El Cornino), which eventually evolved into the more rounded guards we are familiar with today. In addition, the Ref. 1675 changed over time; early examples were equipped with a lustrous gold-plated dial that featured a shiny black dial with gold lettering. Starting in the mid-1960s, the company moved to a matte black dial with white text. Rolex also added the option of an all-black 1675 bezel in the early 1970s, alongside models with the iconic blue and red “Pepsi” GMT-Master bezels.
Finally, Rolex has also updated the movement inside the GMT-Master 1675. The first movement to power the reference 1675 was the 1565 caliber, which ran at 18,000 BPH. By the mid-1960s, this movement was replaced by the 1575 caliber, whose frequency was increased to 19,800 BPH. In 1971, Rolex added a hacking function to the 1575 caliber that allowed the seconds hand to pause while adjusting the time.  
This particular GMT-Master 1675 is a later model, made in the late 1970s. Its dial is matte black, and its tritium luminous pattern has been transformed into a warm cream shade. In addition, it has what collectors call a Mark 5 dial, defined in part by the vertical line to the right of the M in “Master” aligned with the middle of the C and H in “Chronometer”.
But it’s the detail on the dial, just above the indexes at six o’clock, that makes this GMT-Master 1675 particularly noteworthy. An AB logo sits above the GMT-Master name, which makes this a co-branded dial. The AB logo comes from the Arkansas Best Company (now renamed ArcBest Corporation), which was founded in 1923 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, as OK Transfer, a local freight company. The company was incorporated as Arkansas Best in 1966 and became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. We can only assume that the company issued these AB marked Rolex GMT-Master 1675 co-branded examples to its longest-serving personnel.
The bezel is the most recognizable attribute, with its signature blue and red Pepsi color scheme, which was replaced at the time of service, giving the fake watch almost as original an appearance as when it was made nearly 40 years ago. It may be a pilot’s watch, but the GMT-Master’s legendary toughness and resilience make it a logical choice to honor the needs of the transportation industry.
In addition to the GMT-Master 1675 with the AB logo we highlighted above, Rolex made many other examples of the same model with different co-branded dials. The most famous of these all is the double-stamped Tiffany GMT-Master 1675, with the Tiffany & Co. logo above the GMT-Master name – retailed exclusively at select Tiffany boutiques, of course.
There are also vintage GMT-Master 1675 models bearing the official insignia of Middle Eastern countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Oman. These double-stamped copy Rolex watches were often worn by government, military, and police personnel, or given as gifts to civilians by their leaders.
The co-branded dial segment is a fascinating corner of the vintage Rolex market – some collectors focus on researching and accumulating them. the AB branded Reference GMT-Master 1675 is just one fascinating example of a large number of other double-stamped Rolex dial examples.

Rolex debuted its Sky-Dweller collection in 2012. It’s not often that Rolex introduces a brand new model, so it’s no surprise that the novel Sky-Dweller was the biggest news at Baselworld that year. the Sky-Dweller was hard to swallow at first – it had a wide 42mm solid gold case with a rotatable fluted bezel that served to control the movement inside. Its dial is packed with information, including two time zones, a date window, and a month indicator – oh, and it’s also an annual calendar. That’s amazing, isn’t it?
Rolex fitted the first two models with matching oyster gold straps and the latter with a leather strap. Two years later, replica Rolex added three more gold versions with additional bracelet and leather strap options. For the first five years of the Sky-Dweller’s history, the watch was only available in an all-gold version, which was out of reach for most collectors. The pair of then-new Sky-Dweller replica watches were equipped with Oyster bracelets and Rolex offered a few Rolex offered some different dial colors.
Perhaps because the steel/white gold combination is more readily available than the previous all-gold version, onlookers can allow themselves to imagine wearing this watch. Perhaps it’s because Rolex used cleaner baton-style hour markers on the dial and dropped the more ornate Arabic and Roman numerals. Another possibility is that the market is increasingly appreciating the Sky-Dweller’s striking looks and mechanical complexity. After all, this is not the first time that a new Rolex model has taken several years to catch on with the public.
The local time is read by a traditional central hand, while the second time zone is read by a small inverted triangle located slightly off-center above the 24-hour disc. In addition to the traditional date window at 3 o’clock, Rolex also features 12 dial windows next to the Sky-Dweller’s hour markers, which are filled in red to indicate the current month. Finally, one of the most impressive features of the 9001 movements is that it is an annual calendar, which means that the Sky-Dweller can distinguish between months that have 30 or 31 days.
However, the addition of the white Rolex Sky-Dweller, and in particular the blue dial, thrusts the entire collection into the spotlight. What the blue dial offers is something different – wearable and seductive, luxurious and sturdy. It is everything that the Rolex Sky-Dweller did not represent when it was first released.

Rolex’s dive watches are highly sought after. It’s no wonder that Rolex has such an exciting history, many noteworthy collaborations, unique designs, and powerful, precise internal movements. We explore the various models in this feature.
Rolex currently produces some different dive watch models: the Submariner and Submariner Date, the Sea-Dweller, and the Deepsea. The Submariner and Submariner Date have the same case size. Almost all of the watches in the collection are available in versions with different materials, dials and bezel colors. The Submariner without the date is the entry-level piece. Introduced in 1953, the Submariner was Rolex’s first dive watch. At the time, it had a bi-directional rotating bezel for measuring dive time. Initially, the Submariner was water-resistant to 100 meters, but by 1954 Rolex had increased that level to 200 meters. In 1955, the British Royal Navy began using the Submariner as its official dive watch, and the Royal Canadian Navy followed suit the following year.
In 1927, Rolex first became known for its water-resistant watches with patented screw-down crowns, and the clever Oyster name was an effective marketing tool. During the more than 15 hours that Mercedes Glaze attempted to swim the English Channel, she wore a Rolex water-resistant watch that stood the test of time. Rolex advertised the event on the front page of London’s Daily Mail newspaper, earning great acclaim for the watch.
Rolex also developed a special deep-sea watch for exploring the depths of the ocean. Between 1953 and 1960, it participated in a number of sea expeditions, attached to the outer hull of a Submarine. In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh manned their submarine Trieste to dive to the Mariana Trench, at a depth of 10,916 meters, which was just a few meters short of the deepest point of the ocean. The Deep Sea Special survived unscathed. Although this model was built several times, it never went into mass production. Due to the use of a hemispherical crystal and an overall height of 35mm, it was still too large to be considered wearable.