Rolex had been producing solid gold versions of the GMT-Master fitted with brown dials with brown inserts since the very beginning of the collection and these all-brown bezels are often referred to as “Root Beer bezels” by some collectors, but it was actually the ref. 1675/3 that marked the first use of the bicolored, brown, and gold bezel, and marks the true start of the Root Beer GMT. Other distinctive features of this watch include a matching brown dial, and gold hour markers with a shape that ultimately resulted in their ‘nipple dial’ nickname. Lastly, the Rolesor Root Beer GMT-Master was available with the option of either an Oyster or Jubilee bracelet.
You can’t blame fake Rolex customers of the 1970s for falling in love with this watch, as it was the color mood of the decade. It was lovingly called the “Root Beer” bezel for its slight resemblance to a frothy mug of the famous soda drink of the same name. However, all of a sudden we saw it gaining new nicknames like “Tiger Eye” or “Tiger Augen” due to its resemblance to the precious stone by the same name – an effort to make the replica watch sound more elevated rather than trendy. Then Clint Eastwood got his hands on one and it was officially the “Clint Eastwood”. 
Today, these first iterations of the Root Beer GMT-Master are relatively hard to find. While the GMT-Master ref. 1675 had quite a long production period, the ref. 1675/3 had a shorter run and was always more limited in numbers. Additionally, it has been decades since these watches have been in production, and some examples have simply been lost to history. Prices for Root Beer GMT’s have also significantly increased in recent years and although they still haven’t reached the point of certain other cheap Rolex models, it is highly likely that they are only going to get more expensive and harder to find in the coming years.
Within GMT-Master history, it’s important to note that in the mid-1980s Rolex launched its first-ever Rolex GMT-Master II. This upgraded GMT watch featured improvements like a new type of GMT movement where the 12-hour and 24-hour hands are independently adjustable, launching the brand’s iconic pilots’ watch into an entirely new era. During the first generation of the GMT-Master II, fake Rolex watch also introduced a new bi-colored bezel insert, the black and red ‘Coke’ bezel. 
It wasn’t until the late 1980s that the second generation of the GMT-Master II came about, leading Rolex to reintroduce the famous Root Beer bezel into the collection. Unlike the Pepsi and Coke bezels which were only available on the stainless steel models from this generation, the brown and gold Root Beer bezel was fitted to the two-tone mode, while the all-brown bezel insert was reserved for solid 18k yellow gold versions with matching brown dials.
