I owned a couple of Rolex watches when I was younger (both Oyster Perpetual Dates, one a rather blingy 18kt and the other SS), but it was only after the WIS virus took hold that I realised I specifically wanted a Rolex sports watch as the cornerstone of my collection. I’ve had two Subs, an Explorer II and a Sea Dweller, but the day I bought my first Sub I’d actually set out with a GMT Master II in mind. Bearing in mind I’m a frequent traveller but a lousy swimmer it seemed the sensible choice, but I happened upon a pre-loved but mint 16610 – barely three months old – and couldn’t resist. After a while I “upgraded” it to the LV and I thought my Sub Love was a permanent fixture in my life, and one that would preclude the necessity of a GMT as well.

What can I say, other than “I was wrong”? Unbelievably I now find myself with no Sub, but today the void was more than adequately filled by the arrival of a new, dealer-supplied 116710. I’d been resisting – foolishly, it transpires – the recent changes to case and bracelet/clasp, but I have to say all are a big improvement on what was already a fine range of watches. It’s just a shame that this one arrived the day after I returned from a trip to Ljubljana, as I could have amused myself setting time-zone changes on what was a tedious journey, made more fraught than it needed to be by a fairly tight connection in Zurich.

Anyway, I’m needlessly rambling, so here’s a few thousand words by way of pictures instead.