Unloved, and rather good
By Julien Moreau, Geneva ยท
I will say it plainly: the Yacht-Master II is the least loved modern Rolex I would still happily own.
It launched in 2007 in gold and came out in steel as the 116680 in 2013, with a programmable regatta countdown run by Rolex's Ring Command bezel. The 4161 inside, with 72 hours, is among the cleverest movements Rolex has ever made. But 44 mm by 14 mm is a great deal of steel, the white dial with its blue and red is something of a fairground, and unless you actually race yachts the countdown is a party trick. Now discontinued, it is the right watch for a sailor or a collector of oddities, and nobody else. Nineteen and a half to twenty and a half thousand dollars when it was on sale.