Rolex Yacht-Master 40mm Oyster, 18 ct Everose gold M126655-001

[MartynJC (UK)]

I think a watch I just picked up deserves a mention with its own thread - mainly because of its bonkers MRP and also because I am bonkers enough to buy one at retail. I hope this one will stay with me like the 5146J PP Annual Calendar. I have an affinity to PM (precious metal) watches and now am fortunate enough to own two such timepieces.

I speak of the M126655-001 Rolex Yacht-Master 40 Everose gold.

Before I get on with the pictures of the new watch (feel free to skip this, if you are of a certain age where more than 280 characters leaves you bored, otherwise read on). A bit of history.

On this quest toward this model, it started a few years ago when I picked up a bi-metal YM 40 in autumn 2017

This is a fine 40mm YM and has elements of rose gold including the bezel and PCL. This model comes with the matt black dial that actually looks the same /similar as the 126655 except for the tell tail crown is missing between the "Swiss" and "Made" indicating the difference between the two movements, namely 3135 and 3235. I am sure readers are familiar with the newer movement. But for those not familiar, the 3135 has been around since 1988 and is a well proven workhorse in the Rolex range, I suggest the new movement has yet to prove it is as reliable in the real-world and ease of serviceability also.

I found this comprehensive diff list of them both:

CALIBER 3135

• Debut Year: 1988
• Power Reserve: 48 hours
• Frequency: 28,800bph
• Diameter: 28.50mm
• Hairspring: Blue Parachrom
• Escapement: Swiss Lever Escapement
• Balance Staff: Riveted
• Shock Absorber: KIF
• Perpetual Rotor: Axle; Riveted two-piece
• Barrel: Thicker barrel walls with shorter mainspring
  
  

CALIBER 3235

• Debut Year: 2015
• Power Reserve: 70 hours
• Frequency: 28,800bph
• Diameter: 28.50mm
• Hairspring: Blue Parachrom
• Escapement: Chronergy Escapement with thinner pallet stones and double escape wheel teeth. 15% increased efficiency
• Balance Staff: Friction-fit
• Shock Absorbers: Paraflex
• Perpetual Rotor: Ball-Bearing; Monobloc
• Barrel: Thinner barrel walls with longer mainspring

What I can say is, I see superlative accuracies measured on my timegraph 1000 of this particular 3235 - can't really ask for more:




So - back to the journey! I ended up selling the YM 40 Steel and Rose on the forum - just the way it is (I'm sure you guys know). Then another rose and steel watch showed up on the list of Rolex watches that seemed to be what I was looking for and I bought this from an AD in April 2019, the Rolex CHNR (root beer):




This has the 3235 movement, ceramic inlay GMT dial in brown / black, steel gold bracelet. But... still this did not quite hit the spot. I kept it for over a year, not really wearing it much. It just didn't 'do' it for me, even though it was a beautiful and is one of the 'hot' Rolex on the unobtainium scale. This only just sold on SC and will be off to the new owner very soon - but I am getting ahead of myself.

So where to next? It is toward a watch I have seen a few times in various AD windows and even tried on at the end of last year. Each time I see the 126655 this watch smiles at me (as they do) each time I see it - and says 'Hi'. Last time I went to London this year (which I've only done twice), I popped into an AD on Old Bond St on the off chance to see if they had one. I saw they had a 37mm version in the window. They actually had one 40mm going out a customer and yes (heart leaping time), they said I could put a reserve on another one as they had available. I declined.

However, next morning, after sleeping on it, I rung them to put a refundable holding deposit on the watch.

I then had to plan to tell the wife I was wanting to spend £21,900 on a watch, while avoiding divorce proceedings. I had sold my AP ROO in preparation, so had that money in the 'watch fund' and if I sold the CHNR man maths calculated I had enough to purchase the YM with some spare cash to boot. Was she having it? Was she heck! She wanted a detailed account of all watch spending over the last three years and account for all watches still owned, produced as a P/L account with dates....

So that's what I did - and actually its a very sobering exercise to do. I now have (mostly) accurate accounts for 2018, 2019 and 2020. So she signed off on the purchase, wondering why I want this instead of the CHNR and other searching questions with no rational answer - she is actually my better half and does have my best interests at heart - she knows my habits. Anyway - enough of that..

Today I made my second journey to London in 2020 and purchased the:

Rolex Yacht-Master 40 Oyster, 18 ct Everose gold M126655-001







This has a solid 18 ct rose gold case, with bevelled bezel edge, crown, clasp and case back are all solid 18 ct rose gold too. It is one of the PM range of Rolex and therefore attracted a premium price. The unique bi-directional bezel is formed from black ceramic with polished ceramic numerals and indices.

It still is an Oyster case (hence the 'Professional' status) formed from a single piece of gold with a gold screw down case back, with triple lock crown on the crown. It is waterproof to 100m / 330ft

Couple of features stand out for me - the OysterFlex bracelet which in this edition 12665, compared to the 11665 and it comes on folding Oysterlock folding clasp with Glidelock clasp (instead of Easylink) system so allows for a 15mm range of adjustment with 2.5mm increments (the Easylink had less adjustments and definitely less easy to adjust except for the 5mm Easylink change). The strap / bracelet has 'fins' on the underside to stop the watch head rotating while being worn and generally help comfort.

The 3235 movement is the latest in the Rolex lineup - so future proofs this edition - see specifications above.

I really adore the case shape on the YM and especially on this gold version. This is a stand out difference for me.



Not a sharp edge in site. Quite sensuous to the touch. Putting on this Yacht Master watch is very much like making love to a beautiful woman (I'll let you complete the rest).

And here is that clasp



and crown showing the triple lock symbol



What do you want from a watch?

Something to make you smile, something to tell the time accurately, something to enjoy for a long time. Can some watches be priceless? I think so.

Yes, it comes with 5 year warranty from Rolex, but WoS supplied an additional 5 yr warranty which gives a warm feeling - and anytime I want the wrt tested they said to pop into and they would check it for free. I also got a bottle of Champagne and a possible place on 'the list' - we will see what that turns up in due course.

One happy customer.

A final picture



Thanks for reading if you got this far!! In any case I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

E&O excepted

Martyn