KEYSTONE-FRANCE/GAMMA-KEYSTONE VIA GETTY IMA
GES (CHICHESTER ON YACHT; BUCKLER’S HARD);
© ROLEX (ROLESIUM YACHT-MASTER); © ROLEX/JEAN-DANIEL MEYER (CHICHESTER’S ROLEX)the first Class “A” Observatory
Certificate was awarded to a
wristwatch, namely a 25mm
Rolex movement. Tested for
45 days and nights, in five
different positions and at
three different
temperatures —the same
criteria as any marine
chronometer—Wilsdorf
demonstrated that it was
possible to miniaturise the
performance of a full-size
chronometer that an ocean-going
vessel would use to plot its course,
and attach it to the wrist of the
wearer. The observatory-certified
precision of the marine chronometer, a
vital navigational instrument, could be
found in a wristwatch for the first time.
Seen in this context, a yachting watch
should have been the among the first
Rolex watches to be launched and it is
amazing to think that the brand waited
until 1992 to issue one. Oyster, Perpetual,
Datejust, Day-Date, GMT-Master,
Submariner, Explorer... all these and
more were launched during those
amazingly fecund four and a halfSub of the same year look its age.
But the Yacht-Master was
much more than an updated
Submariner. The latter
was for underwater
professionals and leisure
divers. The Yacht-
Master, as the name
suggested, was aimed at the
skipper/owner/master of a
yacht; and given that yacht
ownership is not for the
financially faint of heart, this was
a plutocrat-ready timepiece.
Tool watches normally required
a few years to bed down before a
gold version was offered, but the
Yacht-Master made its debut in 18ctRolesium (steel and platinum)
version—an incarnation of the watch
which transformed the Yacht-Master
into a true icon of “stealth wealth”.
The case and bracelet were in steel,
while the now famous Yacht-Master
bezel was executed in platinum. As well
as being a highly prized precious metal,
platinum is famously hard-wearing,
and as a white metal it is sometimes
hard to distinguish from other white
metals: in other words, not dissimilar
to steel. With a textured platinum bezel
on a steel watch, this was so understated
that it was almost invisible.
I will leave the Yacht-Master II to be
discussed by Tracey Llewellyn (see page
46 ) and return to the Yacht-Master ofClockwise from left: Sir Francis Chichester
in 1966; in Buckler’s Hard in 1970; his Rolex.
Inset, above: the 1999 Rolesium Yacht-Mastergold. The thing about yachts is you have
to tie them up in a harbour and you look a
bit daft turning up to dinner in a yachting
cap and blazer, but the glint of the
Yacht-Master solves the problem of
fellow yacht owners recognising each
other in civvies on dry land.
What set the Yacht-Master apart was
the solid gold bezel with raised
numerals and minute gradations that
caressed the fingertips with a seductive
braille-like tactility. It also appeared in
a 39.5mm case, soon upgraded to
40mm, which in the early 1990s made
it a behemoth. Self-effacing it was not...
like most yachts.
I love gold so I naturally liked the
Yacht-Master and it came as a complete
surprise that I fell in love with the 19992015, which saw the model take a
momentous step in developing its own
identity. This was the year that Rolex
presented the Oysterflex bracelet,
which combines the ruggedness of a
metal bracelet with the suppleness of an
elastomer strap. Comprising two
flexible metal blades over-moulded
with high-performance black
elastomer, it is at once sleek and strong.
The Oysterflex bracelet appeared on
a new 40mm Everose gold Yacht-
Master, which featured another first for
the range: a “Cerachrom” bezel insert
of high-performance, matt black
ceramic, in effect creating an entirely
new Yacht-Master aesthetic that is now
built upon and reinforced by this year’s
Yacht-Master 42.decades before Wilsdorf ’s death in 1960.
After that came the Cosmograph
Daytona in the early 1960s; but I will
court controversy and suggest that at
best the Cosmograph Daytona was only
half-new as Rolex had made
chronographs before. So one could
argue that it was not until 1992, 32 years
after the end of the Wilsdorf era, that
Rolex gained a new model family:
Yacht-Master.
It has been suggested that the
Yacht-Master was in fact a design for
an updated Submariner, which had
been abandoned because it was too
radical. This is certainly given
circumstantial credence by the
presence of the “Triplock” crown,
cyclops date magnifier and crown
guards. Certainly, in 1992, it made theWith a solid gold bezel
and 4 0mm case,
self-effacing it was
not... like most yachts
AUTUMN 2019 VANITY FAIR ON TIME 43