Rolex GMT-Master Ref. 1675/3 nipple dial

1979 | Steel & gold | Automatic | 40.0mm

The GMT-Master 1675 is one of the defining references in the Rolex catalogue and was produced from 1959 through 1980.

It established the visual language of the two-timezone tool watch so completely that every subsequent GMT has lived in its shadow.

Reference 1675/3 is the two-tone variant, combining a steel case with yellow gold bezel and Oyster bracelet centre links, a configuration that reads simultaneously as sport watch and dress watch, and that has aged with a warmth that full steel cannot replicate.

The "nipple dial" designation refers to the distinctive dot hour markers of this generation: each index surrounded by a raised circular surround that creates a small, rounded protrusion, giving the dial a three-dimensional quality that later flat-lume plots lack entirely.

Against the matte black dial surface, the gilt nipple plots and matching applied indices create a visual depth that photographs consistently understate. 

The gilt printing of "GMT-Master", the four lines of text and the "T Swiss T" at 6 o'clock confirm the tritium lume of the period, its warm patina entirely consistent with a dial of this age.

The black bezel insert retains its original depth of colour, the 24-hour numerals reading cleanly against it. The two-tone Oyster bracelet, steel centre links flanked by yellow gold outer links, wears with the characteristic warmth of a combination that Rolex would eventually discontinue, making survivors increasingly sought after.