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Rolex Yacht-Master 116655 Ultimate Buying Guide

Rolex’s Yacht-Master series emerged in the early nineties, touted as a nautically-themed luxury lifestyle offering against the all-out professional tools of the brand’s dive trio.

Although quite clearly cut from the same mold as the Submariner (and there were even rumors it was originally dreamt up back in the eighties as a possible replacement for the legendary Sub), it has always set itself apart with its softer, more graceful lines and choice of materials. The closest you’ll find to the utility of steel here is when it’s being gentrified by the presence of Rolex’s own 18K gold in their Rolesor models or their platinum in the Rolesium versions – a combination that made its debut with the first wave of these Rolex Yachtmaster watches for sale .

Precious metals don’t come cheap, and the YM has consequently not had the same universal mass appeal as others in the Oyster Professional range. It has always purposely avoided going too sporty, aiming the model at a more targeted audience – those who, for example, may own luxury yachts.

Let’s take a look at one of Rolex’s most interesting and beautifully balanced masterpieces, the Yacht-Master in Everose.

What You Need to Know About the Everose Yacht-Master 40 Ref. 116655

Yacht-Master 116655 Key Features

Case: 40mm Material: Everose – 18k Rose Gold Bezel: Bi-Directional, Cerachrom Movement: Automatic cal. 3135 Functions: Date Dial: Black w/ Chromalight Bracelet: Oysterflex Water Resistance: 100 Meters/330 feet

Yacht-Master 116655: One of A Kind

In 2015, a new Yachtmaster with many surprises up its sleeve made its grand entrance. The Yacht-Master reference 116655 brought with it several firsts, not just for the Yacht-Master range, but for Rolex itself.  It was the first Rolex for sale to feature the innovative Oysterflex bracelet, the brand’s take on the rubber strap.  It was also the first Yacht-Master to ditch the precious metal bezel for Cerachrom, Rolex’s term for ceramic.  Of course, the bezel is produced in matte black to match the sleek Oysterflex strap.

The Rolex Yacht-Master Rose Gold 40mm

While their bezels have always featured embossed numerals, as opposed to the engraved ones favored by the rest of the brand’s catalog, the contrast between the high polish of the three-dimensional markings against that gloriously muted, sandblasted ceramic gives an altogether more dramatic effect. This design is echoed on the black dial, replacing what is typically a glossy element on other similarly colored Rolex watches for a matte hue to match the bezel and bracelet.

Juxtaposing against the high-polish and elegantly curved 18k Everose case, Rolex’s own blend of gold and copper with a dash of platinum to seal it all in, it underlines the ref. 116655’s status as the best of both worlds. Dressy enough for the yacht club; sporty enough for the yacht race.

The Oysterflex Bracelet

At the core of the Oysterflex is a blade forged from an alloy of titanium and nickel, molded in a high-performance, hypoallergenic elastomer. It means, not only is the bracelet exceptionally resistant to environmental rigors, but it’s also free to form itself to the shape of the wearer’s wrist while retaining all the strength of any of the brand’s metal bands.

It is an extremely comfortable bracelet, made even more so by the addition of a pair of ‘fins’ underneath that both cushion and support the watch while also providing airflow to cool the wrist on warm days. The bracelet is secured by the same Oysterlock clasp as you’ll find on most Rolex sports models and comes with the 5mm Easylink extension system for a spot of fine-tuning.

The only drawback compared to, say, the traditional Oyster bracelet is obviously in making larger adjustments. There are no links to add or remove, and, unlike other rubber straps, cutting it to size isn’t an option, thanks to the metal core. Rolex offers a choice of bracelet size at the time of purchase, but it does mean you won’t be able to lend your watch to anyone with significantly bigger or smaller wrists than you. Oh well!

The Calibre 3135 Perpetual Movement

Inside the 40mm ref. 116655 is the battle-hardened and utterly reliable Cal. 3135, which remained Rolex’s main engine from 1988 until just recently when it was replaced by its successor – calibre 3235. Performing way beyond the standards set down by the COSC, it’s accurate to within +2/-2 seconds a day.  Cal. 3135 also boasts a Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring and a convenient 48-hour power reserve.  Even if you set your Rolex Yachtmaster down and don’t pick it up until a day or so later, it will continue to read true.

The Next Generation of Yacht Masters: The Rolex 116655 vs. 126655

In 2019, a new collection of regatta timers came to market, replacing the first 6-digit 1166XX generation.  The beloved cal. 3135 retired from the Yacht-Master collection altogether, making way for the new and improved calibre 3235 with a more efficient skeletonized Chronergy escapement and, thus, a longer 70-hour power reserve.  The Everose and Oysterflex Yacht-Master survived the transition, housing the improved movement within the current ref. 126655.  It features a similar design set as ref. 116655, including a 40mm case and the same stunning matte black ceramic bezel.  Also joining the new 40mm lineup were Rolesium ref. 126622 and Everose Rolesor ref. 126621.

Future Classic?

The Yacht-Master ref. 116655 has all the hallmarks of a classic in the making.  It’s a radical departure from the norm, and it debuted several never-before-seen features.  Additionally, Its matte dial with the red text gives it a healthy vintage feel, and its hefty retail price will grant it an invaluable degree of exclusivity.

If we were gamblers, we certainly wouldn’t bet against it becoming a highly sought-after piece in years to come, but that isn’t the best reason to add one to your collection if the budget allows. This is simply one of the most strikingly good-looking and capable watches ever produced by a brand that sets the standard other manufacturers try to live up to. A model welcomed anywhere, whether on deck or on the beach, the Everose gold Yacht-Master 40 is Rolex at their formidable best.

About Paul Altieri

Paul Altieri is a vintage and pre-owned Rolex specialist, entrepreneur, and the founder and CEO of BobsWatches.com. - the largest and most trusted name in luxury watches. He is widely considered a pioneer in the industry for bringing transparency and innovation to a once-considered stagnant industry. His experience spans over 35 years and he has been published in numerous publications including Forbes, The NY Times, WatchPro, and Fortune Magazine. Paul is committed to staying up-to-date with the latest research and developments in the watch industry and e-commerce, and regularly engages with other professionals in the industry. He is a member of the IWJG, the AWCI and a graduate of the GIA. Alongside running the premier retailer of pre-owned Rolex watches, Paul is a prominent Rolex watch collector himself amassing one of the largest private collections of rare timepieces. In an interview with the WSJ lifestyle/fashion editor Christina Binkley, Paul opened his vault to display his extensive collection of vintage Rolex Submariners and Daytonas. Paul Altieri is a trusted and recognized authority in the watch industry with a proven track record of expertise, professionalism, and commitment to excellence.

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The Golden Age of Rolex Movements Part III: Branding vs. Breakthroughs in Recent Years

by  Tim Mosso

The last two decades have witnessed regular Rolex engineering advances, often in plain sight and in rapid succession. Despite these developments, Rolex remains a brand defined not by movements but by continuity, model families, and the Rolex image itself.

The root of Rolex’s soft-pedaled reputation for movement virtuosity lies in the company’s own branding strategy.

Rolex Sky-Dweller in white gold and stainless steel

Why Rolex movement innovation is overlooked

On movement engineering alone, Rolex should be mentioned in the same breath as Patek Philippe, Jaeger-LeCoultre, and Audemars Piguet. It is worthwhile to discuss the disparity between manifold Rolex watchmaking innovations and the brand’s lagging public image as an engineering vanguard.

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Recent developments in Rolex complications proved the company to be adept at harnessing the romantic potential of complication engineering. The Cellini Moonphase from 2017 marked the first new Rolex moon phase watch since the 1950s.

With a moon display crafted of meteorite and enamel, the Cellini Moonphase likely caught even Rolex off guard as the most discussed Cellini debut in a generation.

Rolex Cellini Moonphase

Moreover, the Cellini’s use of a date hand, enamel cosmos, and meteorite moon disk speak to an ambition and lyrical grandeur absent even in the fearsomely complex Sky-Dweller and Yacht-Master II.

From the perspective of 1999, the origin point of this multipart overview, a watch like the Cellini Moonphase would have been a fanciful dream and an unthinkable production prospect.

Why, given all the foregoing, is the Rolex mechanical renaissance rarely acknowledged?

Designing movements; branding by design

The first reason is attributable solely to Rolex’s own choice: brand’s reign.

While the company’s PR office rarely fails to note the mechanical pedigree of its new movements and technologies, this emphasis never persists long after the launch phase of a new product.

In order to maintain the timeless appeal of watches like the Submariner, Daytona, and Datejust, Rolex logically stresses appearance, name, and heritage. Positioning a watch as a technological milestone invites obsolescence as soon as a competitor or Rolex itself surpasses the once-heralded product.

Omega might build a movement to shame the Rolex 3135, but Omega cannot build a “Submariner.” Keeping the emphasis on watch models – and the Rolex brand above all – keeps Rolex above the fray.

Rolex Submariner Reference 116610 (photo courtesy WatchBox)

Rolex encourages all discussions of its brand to emphasize continuity, not change. The firm revels in the fact that a 1963 Daytona and a 2019 Daytona are recognizably from the same lineage. The movements have little in common, but overt design language captures the public imagination and bridges the half-century gap.

Whether by design or default, Rolex has not revisited display case backs since the Cellini Prince experiment of 2005, so even the most redoubtable Rolex movements remain faceless black boxes for the time being.

Rolex Cellini Prince Caliber 7040 (photo courtesy WatchBox)

Furthermore, Rolex has kept its “experiments” and its core models safely separate.

The Submariner and GMT remain conservative offerings. While the current Daytona was revolutionary in 2000, it remains fundamentally the same watch nearly two decades later.

The Cellini Moonphase , Sky-Dweller , and Yacht-Master II limit Rolex’s exposure to failure by keeping legendary model lines segregated from technological leaps of faith. In other words, the wait for an annual calendar Rolex dive watch may be a long one.

Second, the modern era of watchmaking has been one of mechanical miracles. And miracles cease to be when they become routine.

Modern-day complication fatigue

Since 1999, every significant complication aside from the minute repeater has been democratized to the point of debasement.

There exist $15,000 TAG Heuer tourbillon chronographs, while certain perpetual calendars and rattrapante chronographs retail for less than $10,000. The apex of the market has witnessed Greubel Forsey pack one, two, or even four tourbillon regulators into a single watch; Patek Philippe’s Grandmaster Chime offers 20 functions; and Vacheron Constantin crammed 57 complications into a pocket watch .

Philippe Philippe’s Grandmaster Chime

Moreover, complicated watchmaking has lost much of its human element. The days of Dominique Loiseau and Kurt Klaus drafting grand complications on paper are fading memories.

The twenty-first century’s avalanche of semi-autonomous CNC devices, CAD/CAM design techniques, and specialized movement contractors like Complitime, Renaud & Papi, Chronode, Agenhor , Christophe Claret, Le Cercle des Horlogers, and Concepto have assigned a rote element to each model year’s rollout of complexity.

Harry Winston Opus 10 by Jean-François Mojon/Chronode

Against that backdrop of excess, Rolex annual calendars, regatta timers, and synthetic hairsprings seem both unremarkable and uninspiring. This fact isn’t down to Rolex as much as it is a reflection of an industry struggling to find its soul and purpose.

Burying the lead: soft on silicon

The 2014 rollout of Rolex’s Syloxi hairspring in Caliber 2236 is emblematic of the company’s conservative public-facing engineering strategy. Rather than launch this major revision in a flagship like 2014’s first ceramic-bezel “Pepsi” GMT-Master II or that year’s Sea-Dweller 4000, Rolex soft-launched Syloxi in the ladies’ Pearlmaster 34 .

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust Pearlmaster 34

The company carefully chose an extravagant and expensive ladies’ watch in order to ensure low initial volumes. Moreover, this move ensured a safe firewall between the reputational risk of a new technology and brand-defining men’s steel sports watches from the Submariner, Daytona, and GMT families.

As if to keep the lid on volumes and expectations, Rolex chose the mid-size 2015 Yacht-Master 37 mm as the second Syloxi roll-out platform.

Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master Reference 268655

Silicon hairspring manufacture is a significant feat of technology that Rolex customers never will see. As with its innovations in LIGA fabrication, Rolex mostly has subsumed its silicon tech to the primacy of its models and brand.

Rolex movements: fast forward

The final installment of this series will look toward the future of Rolex watchmaking. Precedent-setting Rolex patents for existing watches will be discussed in order to illustrate the journey of a Rolex watch from engineering brief to the collector’s wrist.

Finally, recently patented Rolex technologies including atomic wrist timekeepers, programmable travel time displays, split-time chronographs, and exotic escapements will be examined in detail.

Quick Facts Rolex Cellini Moonphase Reference 50535 Case: 39 x 13.4 mm, pink gold Movement: automatic Caliber 3195, 48-hour power reserve, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, officially certified C.O.S.C. chronometer Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; date, moon phase Production: discontinued in 2023 Price: $26,750

Quick Facts Rolex Oyster Perpetual Pearlmaster 34 Case: 34 mm, Everose pink gold, diamond-set bezel, diamond set bracelet links Dial: diamond-paved mother of pearl dial Movement: automatic Caliber 2236 with Syloxi hairspring, 55-hour power reserve, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, officially certified C.O.S.C. chronometer Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; date Production: discontinued in 2022 Price: $105,350; additional precious metals, dial options, and gem setting at varying prices

Quick Facts Rolex Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master Reference 268655 Case: 37 mm, stainless steel with platinum bezel Movement: automatic Caliber 2236 with Syloxi hairspring, 55-hour power reserve, 4 Hz/28,800 vph frequency, officially certified C.O.S.C. chronometer Functions: hours, minutes, hacking seconds; date Price: $11,650; steel/gold and full precious metal options at varying prices

You may also enjoy:

The Golden Age Of Rolex Movements Part I: Sowing The Seeds Of Greatness

Rolex Milgauss Review – The Most Underrated Rolex?

Exceptional Movements In History: Rolex Caliber 1575, The Watchmaker’s Watch

Rolex Case Study: How Many Watches and How Much Money Does Rolex Make?

Rolex Submariner vs. GMT Master II: Small Differences, Difficult Decision

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.css-1c7en8u{font-size:clamp(1.375rem, 1.25rem + 0.3125vw, 3.125rem);line-height:1.1;margin-bottom:1rem;} Yacht-Master 42 .css-1g7r01k{font-weight:300;font-size:clamp(0.875rem, 0.9375rem + 0.1563vw, 1.25rem);line-height:1.2;text-wrap:balance;}.css-1g7r01k span{display:block;} Oyster, 42 mm, yellow gold Reference 226658

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Staying on course

The Oyster Perpetual Yacht-Master 42 in 18 ct yellow gold with a black dial and an Oysterflex bracelet.

The oysterflex bracelet, highly resistant and durable.

The Yacht-Master’s new Oysterflex bracelet, developed by Rolex and patented, offers a sporty alternative to metal bracelets. The bracelet attaches to the watch case and the Oysterlock safety clasp by a flexible titanium and nickel alloy metal blade.

The blade is overmoulded with high-performance black elastomer which is particularly resistant to environmental effects, very durable and perfectly inert for the wearer of the watch. For enhanced comfort, the inside of the Oysterflex bracelet is equipped with a patented longitudinal cushion system that stabilizes the watch on the wrist and fitted with an 18 ct yellow gold Oysterlock safety clasp. It also features the Rolex Glidelock extension system, designed by the brand and patented. This inventive toothed mechanism, integrated beneath the clasp, allows fine adjustment of the bracelet length by some 15 mm in increments of approximately 2.5 mm, without the use of tools.

18 ct yellow gold

Commitment to excellence

By operating its own exclusive foundry, Rolex 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.

Bidirectional Rotatable Bezel

Timing the distance.

The Yacht-Master’s bidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated bezel is made entirely from precious metals or fitted with a Cerachrom insert in high-tech ceramic. 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.

Exceptional legibility

Like all Rolex Professional watches, the Yacht-Master 42 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.

More Yacht-Master technical details

Reference   226658

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Oyster, 42 mm, yellow gold

Oyster architecture

Monobloc middle case, screw-down case back and winding crown

Bidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated bezel with matt black Cerachrom insert in ceramic, polished raised numerals and graduations

Winding crown

Screw-down, Triplock triple waterproofness system

Scratch-resistant sapphire, Cyclops lens over the date

Water resistance

Waterproof to 100 metres / 330 feet

Perpetual, mechanical, self-winding

3235, Manufacture Rolex

-2/+2 sec/day, after casing

Centre hour, minute and seconds hands. Instantaneous date with rapid setting. Stop-seconds for precise time setting

Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring. High-performance Paraflex shock absorbers

Bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor

Power reserve

Approximately 70 hours

Flexible metal blades overmoulded with high-performance elastomer

Folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Rolex Glidelock extension system

Highly legible Chromalight display with long-lasting blue luminescence

Certification

Superlative Chronometer (COSC + Rolex certification after casing)

Learn how to set the time and other functions of your Rolex watch by consulting our user guides.

Yacht-Master 42

Contact an Official Rolex Retailer

Only official Rolex retailers are allowed to sell and maintain a Rolex watch. With the necessary skills, technical know-how and special equipment, they guarantee the authenticity of each and every part of your Rolex and help you make the choice that will last a lifetime.

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