Bakelite was an early plastic that was popularly used in radios, telephones, and jewelry in the first half of the 20th century.It was easily moldable, but also very A Lange & Sohne Watch brittle.The Bakelite bezels faded easily and broke even easier.There was also a fear that they may have been radioactive.Needless to say Rolex began swapping out Bakelite bezels with steel ones relatively quickly after the launch of the GMT.Not many Bakelite GMT's have survived through the years, and those that have fetch a pretty penny, so the watch we've got for you today is really something special.This early GMT (reference 6542) is in pristine condition, and even the bakelite bezel is "like new".
We thought that was pretty great, but the two replica Breitling A2536 Men's watch we've found today are a bit more up our alley.The reason being they are fantastic, original sport chronographs from the late 1960s, the hey-day of racing, at least in our eyes.The first watch is the Heuer Carrera to the left.The emblem above 6 o'clock belongs to Sunray DX, which later became Sunoco Oil.Only 12 of these branded watches were created, and all were given to the winning team in the GT Class at Sebring 1967.The car that won this honor was an L88 Corvette driven by Dave Morgan and Don Yenko.
It has a gilt "Swiss" dial, matching hands, and black date A Lange & Sohne Grand Saxonia Automatik Men's wheel.As the seller describes, "we see many marginal examples of the 6542 pop up, this is truly a museum piece."Now how much would you expect to pay for a first generation GMT Master with original bakelite bezel? Well, a bakelite bezel alone, in worse condition than the one attached to this watch, sold for $11,400 just last week at auction.So, if you add a Rolex watch to this Rolex bezel.well you can do that math.
