Rolex

In 1959, eight men of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment – 12th/13th Battalion, Territorial Army – embarked on a year-long journey around the world known as the Pegasus Overland Expedition. Travelling in two Land Rovers, the team crossed some thirty-four countries over fifty-one weeks, from Europe through Asia and Oceania to Africa, before returning to Britain. Rolex supported the venture by supplying each participant with a GMT-Master reference 6542 – a model introduced only a few years earlier to assist international travellers in keeping track of two time zones simultaneously. The present watch was issued to one of the expedition’s members and has remained in his possession ever since.

This example, preserved by the original expedition owner, therefore represents a particularly rare opportunity to encounter a watch directly connected to Rolex’s early association with exploration and long-distance travel, epitomizing the post-war spirit of adventure, endurance and technical ingenuity. The expedition was filmed and broadcast by Television Wales and the West (TWW), in which the owner is captured multiple times wearing the watch during their adventure, highlighting the tangible link between a landmark chapter in British exploration and the early history of the GMT-Master, which went on to become one of Rolex’s most recognisable and enduring models. Notably, Rolex themselves hold another example of these watches in their collection underscoring the significance of this model and the Pegasus Overland expedition in the brand’s heritage.