GMT II hand length

[Golden Ellipse]

So, looking at the new GMT’s post-Basel, I noticed that a couple of the new models have longer minute hands than the prior generation. Look at the minute hands on this:

https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...chnr-0002.html
And this
https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...chnr-0001.html

Vs this:

https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...10ln-0001.html
And this
https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...18ln-0002.html

Earlier the minute hand fails to reach the minute index track...but in the newer CHNR versions, it clearly extends deeper.

Not a big deal, but it does address one of my small pet peeves with 116710LN and their kin.

[meganfox17]

Why stop there? The length of the minute and seconds hands of DSSD D-Blue Ref 126660 has also been tightened & extended by ~1mm

[Maxy]

Am happy with this development from Rolex. It always made one hand set and used for multiple models and some of them ended up compromising with exact length. Rolex should make hands specifically for each watch model even though it will shoot costs a little bit! This is the way to go!!

Even my Hulk or SubC has smaller hands and not reaching their minute markers!

[ronricks]

Minute and seconds hand are longer on the new GMT’s

[meganfox17]

The issue with the so-called aesthetically more pleasing Rolex stepwise corrections is that in 3-4 yrs time, some wise guy is going to create the hype on a TRF thread and declare these MK1 versions with short production span highly collectible and therefore worth the premium

[037]

Originally Posted by meganfox17

The issue with the so-called aesthetically more pleasing Rolex stepwise corrections is that in 3-4 yrs time, some wise guy is going to create the hype on a TRF thread and declare these MK1 versions with short production span highly collectible and therefore worth the premium

The hype is real.

[brucethemanlee]

Yep its true, speaking to Rolex rep in NY during Basel 2018 event and he said the 3 new GMTs with new movement have longer hour/minute hands. The updated WG BLRO with blue dial still has the shorter hands from last version

[Recht]

That explains the price increase.

[rolehex]

Originally Posted by meganfox17

The issue with the so-called aesthetically more pleasing Rolex stepwise corrections is that in 3-4 yrs time, some wise guy is going to create the hype on a TRF thread and declare these MK1 versions with short production span highly collectible and therefore worth the premium

Exactly.

[TimeToWatch]

Originally Posted by Golden Ellipse

So, looking at the new GMT’s post-Basel, I noticed that a couple of the new models have longer minute hands than the prior generation. Look at the minute hands on this:

https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...chnr-0002.html
And this
https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...chnr-0001.html

Vs this:

https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...10ln-0001.html
And this
https://www.rolex.com/watches/gmt-ma...18ln-0002.html

Earlier the minute hand fails to reach the minute index track...but in the newer CHNR versions, it clearly extends deeper.

Not a big deal, but it does address one of my small pet peeves with 116710LN and their kin.

Good eye! I was at the Basel release earlier this week and this was something they pointed out in the re-design

[WS9D]

Never thought there was a hands issue on my GMTs before. Still don’t.

[eonflux]

Great that Rolex made this change.
The minute hand should never have been so short!

[Rashid.bk]

Like the skinny hour hand on SD4K compared to the GMT 2C. A watch designed to dive so deep and had an hour hand with less lume real estate. It may have been thinner than the Submariner too but can't remember at the moment.
Regardless, happy this is getting fixed. The "collectors" can have their short hands dials and speculate about what's going to happen in 50 years when I'm dead or too old to care.

[JacksonStone]

Originally Posted by Ks6pd

Never thought there was a hands issue on my GMTs before. Still don’t.

Nor do I. There was a nice logic to the hand lengths on both the GMT and Sub (which I don't doubt will see the same change when it gets a movement upgrade): the second hand extended slightly past the lume markers into the seconds scale at the outer edge of the dial; the minute hand stopped right at the outer edge of the lume markers; and the hour hand was just long enough to the touch triangle and rectangle markers. It seems to me the hand lengths were very clearly thought out and well judged, and weren't oversights that needed correcting. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with slightly longer hands, necessarily, but I don't see them as objective improvements to what they are replacing.

[dmash]

Originally Posted by brucethemanlee

Yep its true, speaking to Rolex rep in NY during Basel 2018 event and he said the 3 new GMTs with new movement have longer hour/minute hands. The updated WG BLRO with blue dial still has the shorter hands from last version

And the old 3186 movement, which is insanity considering the SS piece, which is >$20,000 cheaper, has the 3285.

[037]

99% of Rolex buyers (yes, I'm making up this number) probably don't know or care about movements and hand length. It's the remaining 1% of enthusiasts, collectors, prospectors and flippers who do.

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by 037

99% of Rolex buyers (yes, I'm making up this number) probably don't know or care about movements and hand length. It's the remaining 1% of enthusiasts, collectors, prospectors and flippers who do.

Yeap, a reason surely why they changed the SD4K to 43mm.
Wis were crazy about the SD4K and no cyclops while the average person says, what, this is three grand more and thicker and the date is harder to see...but it looks the same....no thanks, I'll take the Sub.

[tyler1980]

as long as the hands still point to the minutes and hours i don't care.

[eonflux]

Originally Posted by Rashid.bk

Like the skinny hour hand on SD4K compared to the GMT 2C. A watch designed to dive so deep and had an hour hand with less lume real estate. It may have been thinner than the Submariner too but can't remember at the moment.
Regardless, happy this is getting fixed. The "collectors" can have their short hands dials and speculate about what's going to happen in 50 years when I'm dead or too old to care.

A dive watch should have a prominent minute hand, whether or not the hour hand is reduced a bit to not compete visually.
Not reaching the minute markers also make the hands even further away from the timing bezel.

It looks like on at least some vintage Subs, GMTs, and Explorer IIs, the minute hands were longer, reaching and/or overlapping the minute marks a bit.

What's odd about the short hands on more recent Subs and GMTs is that the Daytona, AFAIK, minute hands don't just reach the minute markers, but seem to consistently cover about 1/2 the markers.
My present and past watches from AP, IWC, Breitling, etc, all do this.

Of note, on some of the Tudor models such as the Black Bay and GMT, the minute hand overlaps the minute markers quite a bit.
But on the Pelagos and North Flag, the minute track is designed differently, and the minute hand is way short of the minute markers.

Rolex could have gone a little further with the updated longer hands on the SD43 and SS Pepsi GMT, and for those who care, an even nicer improvement, and for those who don't, it won't make a difference because they never cared anyway.