In the past, I was not really attracted to the Rolex GMT root beer brown dial until I saw the gold ref 16758. Following my acquisition of the Rolex GMT Root beer ref 16758 in 18k gold, I have decided to form a small collection of the Rolex GMT Root beer series limiting to the early nipple dial. This is the half gold (Gold & Steel) version with the early brown nipple dial. While most GMT-Master watches feature bezels in black, blue, and red tones, ref. 16753 opts for shades of brown and cream.
The Rolex GMT-Master 16753 is a special two-toned variant of the Rolex GMT-Master 16750. Ref 16753 offers a mix of stainless steel and yellow gold. However, the watch’s brown sunburst lacquered dial and two tone bezel are what really draw the eye.
Hollywood’s icon Clint Eastwood was known to wear the Root Beer Rolex GMT-Master ref. 16753 both on and off the big screen, also earning it the nickname “Clint Eastwood Rolex.”
His two-tone GMT-Master appeared on Eastwood’s wrist in 1982’s Firefox, 1984’s Tightrope, and 1993’s In The Line Of Fire. While Clint Eastwood has been in roughly 60 films, his Rolex is almost as famous as him in many watch-collecting circles, making the watch even more collectible. The Rolex GMT-Master 16753 was produced from 1979 to 1988. It is generally considered a desirable and collectible model, especially with the "Root Beer" color scheme and the early nipple dial.
The Rolex GMT-Master 16753 "Root Beer" started with the brown dial featuring “nipple hour markers” in the early 1980s. Around the mid to late 1980s, Rolex shifted the dial style to the non-nipple (flat luminous markers) design before discontinuing the 16753 in the late 1980s to make way for the 16713. So, the nipple dial changed to the non-nipple dial roughly between 1985 and 1987.
Below are some phots found fro the net
From the techinical point of view, the 16753, 5-digit series was the first generation of Rolex GMT watches to use a 3000 series movement – the caliber 3075. It replaced the caliber 1575 used in the 4-digit series featuring a higher frequency of 28,800 bph, up from 19,800 bph and it also includes a Quickset date, which allows the wearer to set the calendar complication while the crown is in the second position instead of winding the crown a full 24 hours plus a sapphire crystal.
The Rolex 16753 is available with either a black dial or brown dial, the watch could be chosen with either a Jubilee or Oyster bracelet. Today, it’s the brown dial model that holds our interest. The dial contains a printed crown logo versus the earlier version’s applied logo. and the brown dial is metallic and it tended to change colours. Many early Root Beers bezel were all brown, but the Rolex 16753 has a nice contrasting tan and brown bezel that’s bisected.
I have been collecting vintage watches for several decades and given my need to reduce the total quantities of watches in my collections, I have decided to trade some of my other non core or spare watches plus cash top up for this watch.
In addition, I love the journey of restoring watches and therefore is able to get very good deal in watches. After acquring the watch, I have decided to restore the watch to its glory by doing a complete servicing the watch plus replacing the dial with an original spare dial and get a new old stock bezel as well.
Found the watch on 14th August 2025
The dial will need to be changed & movement to have a complete service plus a thorough cleaning of case and bracelet
Luckily, I was able to find a nice original dial for replacement
Received the dial on 15 August
Total dismantling and servicing of the watch movement and replacement of the dial. Luckily the watch movement is fine with no corrosions. The main damage is in the dial.
After a complete service and change of dial. Next is to hunt for a new bezel insert.
Received the new old stock bezel on 20 August
This is an new old stock bezel wrapped in its vaccum package
Finally
Before & After restoration
After getting the Bezel, the watch is good to got for another 50 years and beyond! It has been an exciting journey from hunting the watch, finding the new old stocks spareparts and getting it restored.
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