Another surprisingly strange watch from Rolex’s back catalogue is the UK perfect replica Rolex Datejust Turn-O-Graph: the first-ever Rolex watches to feature a rotating bezel, predating the GMT-Master and Submariner, and therefore the first-ever modern Rolex tool watch.
First introduced in 1953, the Turn-O-Graph took Rolex’s iconic fluted bezel and made it functional by adding 60-second markers – a rather unique look. Cheap super clone Rolex wouldn’t introduce another functional fluted bezel on a watch until 2012 with the Sky-Dweller.
The Turn-O-Graph, aside from being Rolex’s first tool watch, was also the first Rolex pilot’s watch and saw military use by the US Air Force’s ‘Thunderbird’ aerobatic squadron. Best fake Rolex capitalised on the association and began referring to all Turn-O-Graph watches in the American market as ‘Thunderbirds’, even producing a model with the squadron’s insignia.
After a long period of discontinuation, UK high quality copy Rolex reissued the Turn-O-Graph in the 2000s, retiring the model once more in 2011. To this day, not many people know about the Turn-O-Graph, despite its historical significance.