When Pan American World Airways made its first non-stop intercontinental flight between New York and Moscow in 1959, the watch used by the crew for navigation was a Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-MASTER chronometer. The GMT - MASTER, which provided a perfectly legible reading of the time in two different time zones simultaneously, would become the official watch of Pan Am, one of the most emblematic airlines of the Golden Age of civil aviation. And it would be recognized by pilots as an essential tool in the cockpit.

At BASELWORLD 2013, Rolex is introducing a new version of the Oyster Perpetual GMT - MASTER II in 904L steel, with a rotatable bezel featuring for the first time a two-colour ceramic CERACHROM bezel insert in blue
and black representing day and night.

EXCLUSIVE TWO-COLOUR CERACHROM BEZEL
A technological and aesthetic feat, the new CERACHROM bezel insert is obtained by a unique process developed and patented by Rolex which allows this ceramic component with two distinct colours to be produced
as a single piece. It echoes the traditional two-colour bezel of the original GMT - MASTER and GMT - MASTER II models. The CERACHROM insert, introduced in 2005, has the advantage of being virtually scratchproof,
highly corrosion resistant, and its colour is unaffected by ultraviolet rays. Its diamond-polished surface presents an exceptional lustre. The engraved 24-hour graduations are coated with a thin layer of platinum via a PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) process.