Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659-0002
The Yacht-Master’s bidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated bezel is made of precious materials. The raised polished numerals and graduations stand out clearly against a matt, sand-blasted background. This functional bezel – which allows the wearer to calculate, for example, the sailing time between two buoys – is also a key component in the model’s distinctive visual identity.
Like all Rolex Professional watches, the Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659-0002 offers exceptional legibility in all circumstances, and especially in the dark, thanks to its Chromalight display. The broad hands and hour markers in simple shapes – triangles, circles, rectangles – are filled with a luminescent material emitting a long-lasting glow.
By operating its own exclusive foundry, Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659-0002 has the unrivalled ability to cast the highest quality 18 ct gold alloys. According to the proportion of silver, copper, platinum or palladium added, different types of 18 ct gold are obtained: yellow, pink or white. They are made with only the purest metals and meticulously inspected in an in-house laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment, before the gold is formed and shaped with the same painstaking attention to quality. Rolex’s commitment to excellence begins at the source.
All Rolex watches are assembled by hand with the utmost care to ensure exceptional quali-ty. Such high standards naturally restrict Rolex production capacity and, at times, the de-mand for Rolex watches outpaces this capacity.
Therefore, the availability of certain models may be limited. New Rolex watches are exclu-sively sold by Official Rolex Retailers, who receive regular deliveries and independently manage the allocation and sales of watches to customers.
C.D.Peacock is proud to be part of the worldwide network of Official Rolex Retailers and can provide information on the availability of Rolex watches.
The Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659-0002 was, once upon a time, Rolex’s least popular model. Reportedly a botched attempt to rejuvenate the Submariner line for a wealthier audience, it languished for decades at the bottom of the pile, unloved. But something has changed in recent years, something that has revitalised the Yacht-Master into a watch people actually want. Could the latest addition to the collection be the best yet?
Okay, so the story goes that in the early days, post-quartz crisis, Rolex was floundering to realign the brand into something that would catch the attention of a modern audience. Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe had demonstrated a demand for high-end, high-priced sports watches, and by comparison, Rolex’s no-nonsense Submariner et al were a little reserved.
In fact, a little reserved was Rolex’s whole business model. The brand had spent a century building up dominance from scratch by utilising a simple platform to build a series of professional watches that were primarily designed for work and not play. There was no fancy finishing or exquisite designs—it was the utilitarian nature that made a Rolex stand out from its competitors.
But professionals didn’t need these watches any more, and so that left Rolex with a problem. It was time to adapt or go home. That’s when someone at Rolex headquarters had a good idea: why not take the Submariner, give it a polish, dress it up with fancy materials and re-release it as the new-and-improved Submariner for the gentleman who likes to dive not from an oil platform, but a yacht?
So, that’s what Rolex Yacht-Master 42 226659-0002 did, but legend has it that right at the last minute a decision was made, and this new watch was released not as the new Submariner, but the Yacht-Master instead. First seen in 1992, all in gold with a dial in rich blue sunburst or white with black markers, the new Yacht-Master was destined to make a splash.
