Rolex GMT-Master 1675 Ultra Tropical Gilt & Chapter Ring Dial

Among all the configurations in which a Rolex GMT-Master 1675 can be found, the ultra tropical gilt dial with chapter ring from the earliest production represents the absolute summit. This example, with its 694 serial number placing it firmly in 1961, carries every detail that defines the most desirable first-year 1675: the gilt printing on the dial, the chapter ring separating the minute track from the dial surface, the exclamation mark at the end of the "Swiss Made" inscription, and the cornino crown guards on the case. The dial has developed an extraordinary deep brown tropical patina, one of the most pronounced and uniform examples we have encountered in decades of handling early GMTs.

Key Specifications

Collector's Note

The chapter ring is the detail that separates the earliest 1675 production from everything that followed. Present only on the first examples made, it is a raised ring that physically separates the printed minute track from the main dial surface, creating a three-dimensional quality that later dials, printed flat, never replicated. On a tropical dial, where the lacquer has shifted from its original black to a warm brown over sixty years, the chapter ring becomes even more visible, catching the light and adding a sculptural quality to the dial that photographs cannot fully convey.

The cornino crown guards are the second defining feature of this configuration. The pointed, elongated guards of the 1961 production were replaced by the rounder "Mercedes" guards within a few years, making the cornino a reliable marker of the earliest 1675 examples. Together with the gilt printing, the chapter ring, and the exclamation mark, this watch presents the complete set of first-year details in a single example, a combination that becomes rarer with every passing year.

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