Rolex rebuilt the Yacht-Master II and threw away the hard part
By Rafael Ortiz, Mexico City · · Rolex
My friend Diego races small boats on Valle de Bravo most weekends. Years ago he borrowed my patience for an afternoon trying to program the countdown on an old Yacht-Master II. We got there. We also missed lunch.
So I laughed out loud when I read how the new one works.
Rolex quietly dropped the Yacht-Master II in 2024, and most people assumed it was gone for good. Now it is back with a new calibre, the 4162, and the important change is the countdown. The old watch used the Ring Command bezel, the crown and the pushers in a sequence that felt like an aircraft checklist. The new one ignores the bezel for programming. You press the lower pusher to set the countdown, one minute per press, and it remembers your setting. The upper pusher starts it. If the race committee resets the start, one press puts you back to your programmed time. That is how a timer should work. My first officer brain approves.
Another detail I like: the countdown hands run counterclockwise. A first for Rolex, apparently. When you are counting down to something, a hand that moves toward zero instead of away from it is simply easier to read under stress. Ask anyone who has watched a fuel timer.
The case is still 44 mm and 13.9 mm thick, in Oystersteel or yellow gold, with a blue Cerachrom bezel graduated to sixty minutes and the countdown scale moved onto the flange. Water resistance is 100 m. In the US the steel one is $20,300.
The gripes
It is big. On my wrist, 44 mm of steel with a big bracelet is a lot of watch, and I already wear a 42 at work. If you do not race, this is not your chronograph, and I would point you to a Daytona or something far cheaper.
And Rolex decorated the 4162 with Côtes de Genève and a cut-out rotor, then put it behind a solid caseback. I understand Rolex and its solid backs. But if you are going to finish a movement, let me see it on a long night over the Pacific.
Still, the old one was famous for being clever and frustrating at the same time. This one is clever and obvious. Diego wants one. His wife does not know yet.
Rafael Ortiz is a pen name of The Watch Quest editorial team. Opinions are based on the published specs, the brand's own information and the watch's reputation, not a long-term test.