Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLNR«Batman»

Imagen: Rolex, web oficial

The storyWhy this reference matters

By the mid-fifties, intercontinental flights were crossing time zones one after another and crews needed to read two hours at once. Rolex answered in 1955 with the GMT-Master, which ended up as the official watch of several airlines, Pan American World Airways among them. Its signature was a two-colour bezel that split day hours from night hours at a glance, a visual trick still doing its job seventy years later.

That first two-tone bezel was bakelite with radium numerals, and it proved costly in every sense: it cracked, and it was radioactive. Rolex ended up recalling the affected pieces in 1961, and the survivors are auction rarities today. The GMT-Master II followed in 1982 with the calibre 3085, which at last let you jump the hour hand forwards or back one hour at a time without disturbing the minute or seconds hand. That is the gesture that makes a dual-time watch genuinely useful.

Ceramic reached the bezel in 2007, but in black only; getting two colours onto one ring was the hard part. Rolex cracked it in 2013 with the 116710BLNR, the first two-colour ceramic bezel in watchmaking, blue and black. The "Batman" nickname turned up on its own, without the brand asking for it. In 2019 the reference became the 126710BLNR with the calibre 3285, and in 2021 the Oyster bracelet came back as an option.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

This 126710BLNR-0003 is the one on the three-link Oyster bracelet; the -0002, same base reference, comes on the five-link Jubilee. For the market that distinction is not cosmetic: the Oyster is the "Batman" and the Jubilee the "Batgirl", a nickname coined in 2019, when Rolex launched the new reference on Jubilee only and people needed some way to tell them apart.

Against the 116710BLNR of 2013: that one was sold on the Oyster bracelet only and carried the calibre 3186, while this one runs the 3285 with around 70 hours of reserve. Both share the 40 mm case and the blue-and-black bezel, so the movement and the bracelet options are the real line between the generations.

The rest of it: a bidirectional 24-hour bezel in two-tone Cerachrom with moulded numerals and graduations, a screw-down Triplock crown, the Cyclops over the date, a black dial with blue Chromalight, and 100 metres of water resistance, which is a reminder that this is a travel watch and not a diver. In Rolex shorthand, BLNR is the blue and black bezel; BLRO is the blue and red of the "Pepsi".

CollectingWhat collectors check

Start by reading the full reference suffix and looking at the bracelet, because "Batman" and "Batgirl" are the same 126710BLNR and the market does not price them the same. Plenty of listings use the two nicknames interchangeably, or simply the wrong way round, so trust the bracelet in the photograph rather than the headline.

Test the GMT function before anything else. With the crown in the right position the hour hand should jump forwards and backwards one hour at a time, dragging neither the minute hand nor the seconds hand with it. Check too that the 24-hour hand lines up exactly with its graduation when the bezel sits at zero.

On the bezel, look for chips along the edge, because ceramic shrugs off scratches but not sharp knocks, and check that the colour changeover falls where it should. Work the Easylink on the clasp and feel the play between the links: they tell you how the watch has actually been used, better than any description will.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

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Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with