Rolex · Family: Yacht-Master
The Rolex Yacht-Master 42 ref. 226659 is a 42mm nautical watch in 18k white gold, the inaugural reference with which Rolex introduced the 42mm size within the Yacht-Master family at Baselworld 2019. It runs the automatic Caliber 3235 with 70 hours of power reserve and rides on an Oysterflex bracelet with a flexible metal core. Cazador has no verified price observations yet for this reference. Its stand-out detail: it's the first Yacht-Master to carry the Oysterflex bracelet, which Rolex had previously reserved for the Daytona.
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The Yacht-Master was born in 1992 as Rolex's proposition for recreational sailing, distinct in purpose from the Submariner or Sea-Dweller: a watch built for racing sailors and yachting enthusiasts, with a bidirectional graduated bezel instead of the unidirectional scale found on dive watches. For over two decades, the family moved between 35mm, 37mm, 40mm and 44mm cases (the latter in the chronograph-equipped Yacht-Master II), with no intermediate 42mm format.
Rolex filled that gap at Baselworld 2019 with reference 226659, in 18k white gold, which also introduced a technical novelty for the family: the Oysterflex bracelet, a flexible metal core overmoulded with high-performance elastomer that Rolex had until then reserved exclusively for certain Cosmograph Daytona executions. The bidirectional bezel, with a matte black Cerachrom ceramic insert and 60-minute graduation, and the black dial round out a design that prioritizes nautical legibility over the dressier aesthetic of other gold Yacht-Master executions.
Under the dial beats Caliber 3235, an automatic manufacture movement delivering 70 hours of power reserve, a substantial improvement over the 48 hours offered by the caliber fitted to earlier Yacht-Master generations, with Superlative Chronometer certification requiring -2/+2 seconds per day of accuracy after casing, twice as strict as the standard COSC requirement.
This is the thirty-first Rolex reference Cazador adds, extending coverage of the Yacht-Master family alongside the rest of the brand's sport catalog already in the encyclopedia.
Cazador has 0 verified price observations recorded for this reference as of today, so we don't publish a range or estimate. Once we have our own verified market data, we'll update this page.
At Baselworld 2019, with reference 226659 in 18k white gold as the first of the new intermediate 42mm size within the Yacht-Master family, which until then moved between 35mm, 37mm, 40mm and 44mm.
A bracelet with a flexible metal core overmoulded with high-performance elastomer, which Rolex reserved until 2019 for certain Cosmograph Daytona executions. The 226659 was the first Yacht-Master to feature it.
70 hours, with Superlative Chronometer certification requiring -2/+2 seconds per day of accuracy after the movement is cased, stricter than the standard COSC requirement.
The Yacht-Master carries a bidirectional bezel graduated to 60 minutes, built for racing sailors, versus the unidirectional 60-minute bezel on dive watches like the Submariner, meant for tracking dive times.
It reaches 100 meters of water resistance, enough for sailing and water sports, though well below the 300 meters or more of Rolex's dedicated dive watches.
Matte black Cerachrom ceramic, a material resistant to scratches and fading from sun exposure, engraved with the 60-minute scale.