Rolex GMT Master II 126755SARU Pave Dial Rose Gold, 2020

Dealer description — S.Song Watches

The Rolex GMT-Master has always been one of the brand's most recognisable sports watches. Originally developed in the 1950s as a tool watch for pilots, its defining feature was the ability to simultaneously display multiple time zones through a dedicated 24-hour hand and rotating bezel. Over the decades, however, Rolex has taken the GMT-Master far beyond its utilitarian beginnings, producing everything from simple stainless steel watches to some of the most extravagant gem-set sports watches ever made. Importantly, the SARU is not a recent creation. The combination can be traced back to 1979 and the extraordinarily rare Ref. 16758SARU, one of the earliest and most historically significant gem-set Rolex sports watches. The name SARU refers specifically to the sapphire and ruby-set bezel, recreating the GMT-Master's famous red and blue "Pepsi" colour combination using precious stones. Over subsequent generations, Rolex produced SARU GMTs in a number of configurations, including examples with conventional dials as well as far more elaborate pavé diamond dials and diamond-set bracelets. The Ref. 126755SARU seen here is the modern Everose gold evolution of that idea. Introduced in 2019, its 40mm case and Oyster bracelet are made entirely from 18-carat Everose gold, while the case itself is further set with brilliant-cut diamonds. Most importantly, the traditional ceramic bezel is replaced by baguette-cut blue sapphires and red rubies, separated by diamonds at the cardinal positions. It is an incredibly extravagant way of recreating one of the most recognisable bezel designs in watchmaking. This particular example takes things another step further with its factory pavé diamond dial. The dial is completely covered in brilliant-cut diamonds, interrupted by the applied luminous hour markers, Everose gold hands and date aperture at 3 o'clock. Against such an extravagant backdrop, I love that Rolex has retained all of the familiar GMT-Master elements. The Mercedes hour hand, arrow-tipped GMT hand, Cyclops date and rotating 24-hour bezel are all still there. Underneath everything, it remains unmistakably a GMT-Master II. There is something wonderfully ridiculous about a watch originally conceived as a professional pilot's instrument being executed like this. Yet the SARU is much more than Rolex simply adding gemstones to an existing watch. The sapphire, ruby and diamond-set GMT has existed in various forms for decades, making the SARU one of Rolex's most historically important and recognisable gem-set combinations. What began with the incredibly rare 16758SARU has survived through multiple generations of the GMT-Master, with each interpreting the same basic idea in a slightly different way. Inside is the automatic Rolex Calibre 3285, Rolex's modern-generation GMT movement. It allows the local hour hand to be adjusted independently and provides approximately 70 hours of power reserve, while retaining the practicality of 100 metres of water resistance. The 126755SARU is certainly not a subtle watch, nor is it supposed to be. With its Everose gold construction, pavé diamond dial and spectacular ruby, sapphire and diamond bezel, it is one of the most extravagant modern Rolex sports watches. More importantly, however, it continues a genuinely important chapter in Rolex's history. The SARU has gone from being an obscure and extraordinarily rare gem-set GMT of the late 1970s to one of the most recognisable jewelled Rolex configurations today, and in this pavé dial configuration, the 126755SARU is perhaps the ultimate modern expression of it.