GMT-Master Reference 6542, a stainless steel automatic wristwatch with date, circa 1959

Description

By 1953, the commercial trans-Atlantic airline industry was at a point where planes were able to take off on one side of the ocean and land on the other in a matter of mere hours. As a result of this expansion and innovation, Pan American airlines approached Rolex, and the two companies began working on a watch that could easily tell the hour in two different time zones.The Reference 6542 GMT-Master was released in 1954 and became the official timepiece of Pan-Am Airlines. It was equipped with a Bakelite bezel with radium luminous indexes and bezel. Their pilots found the watch to be a useful tool in the cockpit where many timing calculations were necessary over the duration of the flight.