Keeping Watch

Rolex continues its association with nautical pursuits, with its updated Yacht-master II timepiece playing an invaluable role in the cockpits of racing yachts around the world, not least the coming China Sea Race, Christian Barker writes

t’s not surprising that Rolex, as a great innovator in the field of waterproof watches and a leader in precision timekeeping, has long gravitated to the world of competitive yachting. In a discipline where every split second counts, where the timepieces measuring results and assisting in navigation must not only be unerringly accurate but also impervious to the elements, Rolex’s peerless “tool watches” truly come into their own. Of course, the Swiss watchmaker is also renowned for the luxurious craftsmanship of its products, making it even more of an apt match with the rarefied pursuit of yachting—and its affluent enthusiasts.

Highly legible and impeccably waterproofed, Rolex’s seminal diver’s watch, the Submariner, found favour with yachtsmen from the moment it was released in 1954. Nevertheless, in the 1960s, the company experimented with a model specifically tailored for sailors, producing a handful of prototype Yacht-master chronographs, melding the performance timekeeping of the Daytona with the anti-moisture properties of the Seamaster. The contemporary Yachtmaster, however, wouldn’t be launched until 1992, when Rolex gave the trademark to a new sporty time/date watch that was essentially a more luxurious, elegant spin on the Submariner.

The association between Rolex and yachting dates back to the Submariner’s earliest days. Rolex made its first official yachting alliance in the late 1950s, partnering with the New York Yacht Club, and has forged relationships with many more of the world’s most exclusive oceangoing clubs and associations in the six decades since, including the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, the Royal Ocean Racing Club and Royal Yacht Squadron in the UK, the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, Yacht Club de Monaco, Société Nautique de Saint-tropez, and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.

Since the Yacht-master’s 1992 launch, Rolex has catered to the needs of the privileged members of these clubs by gradually evolving the model, which is today available in steel and platinum, steel and patented Everose gold, and all-everose gold cases, with a variety of dial treatments. In 2007, to provide a more functional iteration suited to the demands of yachting competition, Rolex released the Yacht-master II, a flyback yachttimer chronograph.

This horological marvel boasts one of the more specialised complications in