The 'Modern Miracle' Material that made the Bezel that Made the '42

[freddy333]

Many mistakenly refer to the original Rolex GMT's bezel material as being Bakelite, which is incorrect. Here is a bit of that forgotten history.

[JoeyB]

As was said back then, 'Perspex' is a brand name for their material made from  Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA), an acrylic. This acrylic material is also referred to as acrylic glass, plexiglass and various other trade names. Initially I made my insert from this material, but it was too fragile. One I had carefully wrapped and shipped to freddy333 broke during shipping via USPS. I then switched to using lexan, the  the material used on fighter jets being bullet resistant.  

[freddy333]

2 hours ago, JoeyB said:

One I had carefully wrapped and shipped to freddy333 broke during shipping via USPS. I then switched to using lexan, the  the material used on fighter jets being bullet resistant.  

My GMT with JoeyB's NON-lexan insert -- if you look carefully, you may be able to see 2 of the 3 broken segments (at 7 & 10 on the bezel's 24-hour scale).

Sometimes, lemons make their own lemonade --