Rolex

claude.f
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The mother of all bezel Rolex's

and the beginning of the successfully history of the Rolex Sports Watches. TURN-O-GRAPH 6202 Oyster Perpetual Datejust Turn-O-Graph Ref. 6202 was launched in Basel world of 1953, and its design inspiration actually came from a new conception of chronometer technology: Rolex added an innovative rotary chronometer bezel onto the original oyster case, making Turn-O-Graph owning the chronograph function similar to chronometer, while a triangle sign was marked on the top point of rotary chronometer bezel, representing "O", which is also the name origin of Turn-O-Graph. The 6202 have two obvious advantages compared with other contemporary chronometers, one is its solid oyster case is good for anti-shake and wear and tear, the other is because it does not need a chronometer button, and of course have better water resistance. The Turn-O-Graph 6202 is not only the first Rolex which has rotary chronometer bezel, but also lays a foundation for the development of Submariner, YachtMaster and GMT Master. Take Submariner Ref.6204 as example, its rotary chronometer in outside bezel is almost the same as Turn-O-Graph. The 60 minutes in the outside bezel are all with markers, which is quite different from today's Sub, which just has markers in the first 15 minutes. In fact, the difference between Sub 6204 and T-O-G 6202 only lies in the design of dial and head. The earliest GMT Master Ref.6542 basically follows the semblance of T-O-G 6202 and uses movement of Caliber 1065, plus it has a function of 24-hour indicator, so it became a new model with Rolex date magnifier for the first time. The Turn-O-Graph 6202 was only produced for a short time in 1950's, with a quantity of only several thousand pieces, and soon replaced by the well known Thunderbird Dayjust-Turn-O-Graph Ref.6309. The 6309 used the movement of 1065, Acrylics glass mirror with amplificatory date display, and its outside bezel also has a big change. The biggest difference between Thunderbird 6309 and its original 6202 is that the watch bezel is changed into a steel hollow-out outside bezel just like Yachtmaster, and without the every minute marker. The Turn-O-Graph 6202 was the true primogenitor of the Rolex Sports Watches!!!