The green-tinted sapphire crystal fitted to the reference 116400GV Milgauss has quickly become one of the defining characteristics of Rolex’s anti-magnetic line of watches. The Rolex Milgauss was first introduced in 1956; however, it was not until 2007 that it received its now-signature, green sapphire crystal – an exclusive feature that was originally introduced as a way for Rolex to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Milgauss line.No other watch in Rolex’s current catalog is fitted with a green-tinted (or any other color) sapphire crystal. However, at the present time, all Milgauss watches that are currently in production leave the factory with green sapphire crystals. Rather than simply being a layer or coating, the light green tint is present throughout the entire material of the crystal, and will not fade or discolor after prolonged wear and use.Rolex claims that it took them many years of research and development to master and perfect the secret procedure of manufacturing their green-tinted sapphire crystals and that the actual process of producing the crystals takes multiple weeks. What is most interesting is that despite a usual eagerness to patent their various in-house technologies, Rolex claims that the green sapphire crystal in the Milgauss is “not patented, as it is so difficult to make that no one else would even venture to try.”Rolex will never reveal their exact formulas and secrets about how they manufacture the green-tinted sapphire crystals fitted to the Milgauss; however, we do know some general information about green-colored synthetic sapphire and the production of sapphire watch crystals as a whole.There are a number of different ways to produce synthetic sapphire, all of which fall into the following general methods of production: melt growth, solution growth, and high-temperature/high-pressure growth. It is hypothesized that Rolex uses a hydrothermal method of production for its synthetic sapphire crystals, which is slow, expensive, and uses heat and pressure to imitate the conditions present deep inside the earth that is responsible for the production of naturally-occurring crystalline gemstones.
But as so often happens, any objections were short-lived. Fairly soon after its arrival, the LV (standing for Lunette Verte, or green bezel) started attracting much more of the right kind of attention, with devotees learning to appreciate the eccentricities. It also had the definite whiff of a future classic, something that set collectors with one eye on future monetary gains to gravitate towards it.As it turned out, they were right. Just seven years after its introduction, the Kermit was withdrawn to make way for the ref. 116610LV. Now housed in the beefed-up Super Case, this new piece added a green dial to match the bezel, leading to it being known colloquially as the Hulk.A short run of an unusual edition of a true industry giant has seen prices for the Kermit far outstrip the equivalent classic black models, and should be set to only get higher with time. Definitely one to consider.This one is a real puzzler. There hasn’t been a black and red bezel GMT-Master (much better known as the ‘Coke’) since 2007. That was when the last reference to offer the option, the ref. 16710, was scrubbed from the lineup. This means that there has never been a Cerachrom example of this archetypal and hugely popular Rolex color scheme, which we originally saw debut on the very first of the GMT-Master II references way back in 1983, the ref. 16760 (nicknamed the ‘Fat Lady’).The red and black had enough of a distinction from the blue and red bezel pieces to warrant its place, and as we all know, the ‘Pepsi’ has been (and still is) a massive seller for the brand.
IW389001 is in whole black, including the dial, it is the model I prefer. While IW389002 has a green dial. There is one little difference between the two watches on the dial, that is IW389002 has a red circle on the center of the dial to display 12 hours. Two subdials are positioned at 12 and 6 o’clock. The subdial with a small red hand is small seconds subdial, while the subdials at 12 o’clock have two small dials in sunken design, the outer one is 60-minute chronograph counter, while the inner one is 12-hour chronograph counter. All hour markers are in white, the markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock are applied with luminous material, they will emit a strong green light at night.Compared with the green dial of IW389002, I like the black one of IW389001 more. It has a match of white details in blackground, which greatly increases the dial readability. Black looks cooler too.
Previous:Previous:replica rolex explorer occasion Next:Next:replica rolex explorer 2 occasion
