Yacht-Master 42

The Yacht-Master 42 is the big-case, no-steel version of Rolex's nautical line, and it is the one Yacht-Master a serious collector actually has to think about. Rolex launched it in 2019 in solid 18k white gold on a black Oysterflex rubber strap, reference 226659, and for four years that was the only way to get one. Then in 2023 the line grew up: Rolex added the RLX titanium reference 226627, the first titanium watch the company ever put into serial production, and a solid 18k yellow gold reference 226658. Every Yacht-Master 42 shares the same recipe: a 42mm Oyster case, a bidirectional 60-minute rotating bezel with a matte black Cerachrom ceramic insert and raised polished numerals, the caliber 3235 movement, 100m of water resistance, and no date magnification argument to be had because the Cyclops is right there over the date. We buy and sell all three at our counter at 19 W 47th Street, and the spread between what these cost at retail and what they trade for on the secondary market is one of the more interesting stories in the current Rolex catalog. The titanium in particular walks in the door every week.