Rolex Yacht-Master 126622: specifications and what to check

Rolesium is a specific thing

Rolex gives the case material as Rolesium — a combination of Oystersteel and platinum, with the bezel specified in platinum.

That is a named combination and it deserves the name in your listing. "Steel and white metal" is vague; "steel and white gold" is wrong. Platinum is a different metal with a different value, a different weight and different wear behaviour, and buyers at this level know the difference.

The bracelet, meanwhile, is listed separately as Oystersteel. So the platinum is in the bezel, not in the band — worth stating before a buyer forms their own impression from the photographs.

Raised numerals in a soft metal

The bezel specification is unusual and it drives the whole inspection: platinum bidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated with raised numerals.

Raised. The numerals stand proud of the bezel surface rather than being engraved into it. That is the design's signature and its vulnerability: anything the watch brushes against meets the numerals first.

Platinum. A soft metal. It does not scratch the way hardened steel does; it displaces, taking a matte, smeared scuffing that looks more like wear on a gold surface than damage on a steel one.

Together those mean the bezel is the single most revealing component on the watch. Go over each numeral individually under a loupe, looking for flattened tops and rounded corners. Then look at the field between them for the soft haze platinum accumulates.

None of it can be polished out the way steel can. Material removed from a platinum bezel is material gone.

Bidirectional is correct here

Rolex specifies the bezel as bidirectional rotatable.

That is deliberate. A dive bezel turns one way only, so a knock can never understate elapsed time. A Yacht-Master's bezel is a regatta and general timing device rather than a safety instrument, and free movement in both directions is the specification.

So test it the other way round from a diver: turn it clockwise, turn it anticlockwise, and confirm both are smooth and positive. A bezel here that refuses one direction has a fault, not a feature.

The date and the movement

The calibre 3235 drives an instantaneous date with rapid setting, read through a Cyclops lens in the sapphire.

Hold the watch across midnight if you can. The date should change in a single motion rather than crawling into place over half an hour either side. A sluggish change on a 3235 is telling you the mechanism is tired.

While you are there, look straight down through the Cyclops: the date should sit centred in the lens, not offset. An off-centre date under the magnifier means the crystal has been replaced or fitted badly, which is a small fault that opens a larger question about who has had the watch apart.

Reserve is approximately 70 hours at −2/+2 seconds a day after casing, Superlative Chronometer certified.

Crown, clasp and rating

Triplock crown — three sealing zones — on a case rated 100 metres / 330 feet. Thread it down a few times and feel for a clean catch.

The clasp is a folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Easylink 5 mm comfort extension link: the safety catch should snap shut rather than rest closed, and the Easylink should unfold and refold flat.