This is where it all starts. The reference 6542 is the first cheap fake Rolex GMT-Master ever made, a tool watch to aid in the work of commercial pilots. More than 60 years later, its design is strikingly similar to that of the modern Pepsi-bezeled GMT-Master II. As with so much that AAA replica Rolex UK has done, one can see how the GMT-Master’s design, with its clever bisection of the day into daytime and nighttime and its 24-hour hand, has influenced watchmakers through the years and helped to create a category unto itself. Many will recall that this luxury super clone watch was famously worn by Honor Blackman when she portrayed Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger.

While the Bakelite bezel of the 6542 has come to be known as the reference’s defining feature, it proved problematic for two reasons. First, it was prone to cracking and was therefore replaced with a non-luminous metal insert toward the end of the 6542’s run. Second, the radioactivity of the bezels was the source of controversy in the United States when, in 1961, an American Naval officer and his family sued perfect replica Rolex, claiming that his 6542’s luminous bezel had caused cancer.

AAA quality fake Rolex recalled these bezels and replaced them with anodized metal ones. Owing to these factors, examples of the 6542 with original Bakelite bezels are exceedingly rare.

Over the course of its five years in production, from 1955 through 1959, the 6542 used a 38mm Oyster case and three different automatic high quality replica Rolex GMT-Master movements. First, there was the cal. 1036, then the 1065, and finally the 1066.

The very earliest examples of the ref. 6542 feature the words “GMT-Master” written in pink and are rare, with at least one example known to feature the depth rating of “50m = 165ft” on the dial in red above the pink Swiss made fake Rolex GMT-Master text. Very early examples might also have a long-neck Mercedes hour hand similar to the Submariner reference 6200, which was also from that period.

The steel Rolex 6542 replica for sale UK cases had some variation over the years, with some having narrower chamfered edges/bevels and some having very broad chamfered edges/bevels. There were also variations in the placement of the red and blue on the bezel. For steel high quality copy Rolex 6542s, there are also some examples with fully lumed tips of the GMT hands and others, like the ones featured in this story, that have lume inside a small triangle.