Rolex Yacht-Master II 116681

There is perhaps no greater odd, colorful or niche tool watch than the regatta timer and without question the Rolex Yacht-Master II is the peerless leader of that fearless group. Lots of brands - Audemars Piguet, Heuer, Bremont, Louis Vuitton, Omega, Panerai, Girard-Perregaux, Bulgari, and Ulysses Nardin to name a handful - have presented this complication but Rolex bests all challengers in straightforward, legible aesthetics, ease of use and outright cache. The Yacht-Master II line came to being in 2007 but when this two-tone ref. 116681 was released at the 2011 Baselworld Fair with its bright blue Rolex patented Cerachrom ceramic bezel, 44mm Everose gold and steel case, matching Oyster bracelet with polished center links, Triplock crown and advanced Rolex in-house caliber 4161 the bon vivants rejoiced. The white lacquer dial - with its blued pencil hands and Everose snailed sub dial - is almost entirely spoken for by the semi-circular countdown ring, which gives little question as to the purpose of this watch - to help skippers determine when to cross the starting line in a regatta. Typically from the first gun (or horn) to the start of the race it's a five minute countdown but ten minutes isn't uncommon, hence the 10-minute scale. Operating the chronograph couldn't be easier via a combination of the Ring Command bezel and the winding crown. Simply turn the bezel one click to the left, unscrew and pull out the crown, set the arrow-tipped, red regatta timer hand to the desired time, return the bezel one click to the right, screw in the crown and...regatta. Incidentally, if Ring Command sounds familiar that's because it's the same patented technology used on the Rolex Sky-Dweller, which is another fabulous, niche watch that pulls no aesthetic punches. In steel the Yacht-Master II is a bold watch, but in two-tone the 116681 is a knockout that stands alone in its ability to start conversations. There are a lot of Rolexs to buy at this price but perhaps none more interesting. You owe this to yourself.