Replacing the first generation of the GMT-Master ref. 6542, Rolex introduced the ref. 1675 in 1959 featuring a newly upgraded metallic bezel replacing the delicate bakelite bezel as well as upgrading its case by incorporating crown guards to enhance its protection of the crown. Designed as a tool watch and worn by pilots to keep track of various time zones during their travels, majority of the production were encased in stainless steel, making gold examples extremely rare and desirable.

However, early gold examples of the ref. 1675 differed from its stainless steel counterpart as it features a case without crown guards and only added on a few years later. Furthermore, the present example features a desirable dial with leaf hands only witnessed in early examples, cup-shaped luminous markers deemed by collectors as “bicchierini”. As yellow gold examples of the ref. 1675 is already rare, the present early example of the reference with no crown guards and preserved in excellent overall condition with an attractive dark brown metallic bezel insert is a grail. With tremendous presence on the wrist, the present example is certainly one of the nicest GMT-Master ref. 1675 in yellow gold to appear in recent times.