HOLIDAY BUYING GUIDE: The Rolex Yacht-Master ref. 116655
Felix Scholz
The new Everose Yacht-Master was one of the biggest hits of 2015. Far from a fad, its appeal is only intensifying as time goes by and the innovations introduced begin to sink in.
The Yacht-Master is Rolex’s view on the perfect luxury lifestyle watch. First introduced in 1992, it’s one of the rarer Rolex lines, because the proposition of the watch is very specialised.
The ideal Yacht-Master customer is literally someone who owns a yacht. Someone who is active but doesn’t necessarily get their hands dirty with fouled rigging. A person who is just as likely to need to suddenly don a dinner jacket as dive into the ocean. For this rare breed of individual the Submariner is a little too functional and the Datejust not quite robust enough.
As a result, the Yacht-Master has been perennially stuck between the two worlds of form and function and has never really seemed comfortable in its own skin. The 116655 is set to change this.
Cased for the first time in 18ct Everose gold, what you really notice about this case design is how much more refined it is when compared to that of the Submariner or GMT. Even though both are 40mm, the softer lines and gentler curves of the Yacht-Master make it a very different watch.
The matte black Cerachrom bezel is brand new, as is the Oysterflex bracelet. These subtle but significant inclusions and additions make the 116655 the most pointedly ‘on-trend’ Rolex produced in modern times and the Big Crown has nailed the brief in a big way.
RRP A$31,600 ROLEX.COM