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Lot Essay
With Rolex original fitted presentation box.
Highly precious-stone set sport's watches are doubtlessly amongst the rarest species of the "crowned" Geneva manufacturer. Made in very small series only, these stunning models are considered coveted treasures in today's market.
The present watch is from the very first series of the precious stone-set GMT-Master reference 16758 launched in 1979, also called "SARU", referring to the sapphire and ruby setting. It is distinguished by its diamond, sapphire and ruby-set bezel, a tribute to the blue and red coloured bakelite bezel of the first GMT Master model launched in 1956.
To fully appreciate SARU's incredible rarity and importance within Rolex's history of sports watches, one needs to put this model into context: since the introduction of tool watches in the 1950s, all models were initially exclusively cased in stainless steel. Only gradually gold versions were added to the line, however diamond-set references remained the ultimate niche product. In fact, only the Cosmograph series 6263/6265 and the GMT-Master were ever granted this exclusive treat of being upgraded with precious stones. Whereas the Cosmograph became available in the 1980s either with a bezel set with round-cut diamonds (then ref. 6269) or with baguette-cut diamonds (then ref. 6270), the GMT-Master was only marketed in the present SARU version. As a matter of fact, in over 30 years of public auctions, not more than ten watches of the latter references combined have appeared on the market. Comparing this extremely small number with the substantial production run of all Rolex sports watch references, the quota of diamond-set examples can not even be expressed in percents, but only in five, six or seven digits after the comma. Logically, all of these variants are today considered the rarest trophies for the demanding collector.
Produced in an exceedingly small series only, the present ref. 16758 SARU is believed to be one of only three examples of this model to appear in public auction to date.
Reference 16578 SARU is mentioned as "a very rare version in 18K gold with diamond, sapphire and ruby-set bezel, pavé-set diamond dial with sapphire indexes" in 1908 - 2008 100 Years of Rolex by Franca and Guido Mondani, p. 175.
Highly precious-stone set sport's watches are doubtlessly amongst the rarest species of the "crowned" Geneva manufacturer. Made in very small series only, these stunning models are considered coveted treasures in today's market.
The present watch is from the very first series of the precious stone-set GMT-Master reference 16758 launched in 1979, also called "SARU", referring to the sapphire and ruby setting. It is distinguished by its diamond, sapphire and ruby-set bezel, a tribute to the blue and red coloured bakelite bezel of the first GMT Master model launched in 1956.
To fully appreciate SARU's incredible rarity and importance within Rolex's history of sports watches, one needs to put this model into context: since the introduction of tool watches in the 1950s, all models were initially exclusively cased in stainless steel. Only gradually gold versions were added to the line, however diamond-set references remained the ultimate niche product. In fact, only the Cosmograph series 6263/6265 and the GMT-Master were ever granted this exclusive treat of being upgraded with precious stones. Whereas the Cosmograph became available in the 1980s either with a bezel set with round-cut diamonds (then ref. 6269) or with baguette-cut diamonds (then ref. 6270), the GMT-Master was only marketed in the present SARU version. As a matter of fact, in over 30 years of public auctions, not more than ten watches of the latter references combined have appeared on the market. Comparing this extremely small number with the substantial production run of all Rolex sports watch references, the quota of diamond-set examples can not even be expressed in percents, but only in five, six or seven digits after the comma. Logically, all of these variants are today considered the rarest trophies for the demanding collector.
Produced in an exceedingly small series only, the present ref. 16758 SARU is believed to be one of only three examples of this model to appear in public auction to date.
Reference 16578 SARU is mentioned as "a very rare version in 18K gold with diamond, sapphire and ruby-set bezel, pavé-set diamond dial with sapphire indexes" in 1908 - 2008 100 Years of Rolex by Franca and Guido Mondani, p. 175.