Original vintage mid-1980s Rolex advertisement for the Rolex 1675 GMT-Master watch model, featuring legendary pilot and ballonist Julian Nott - "From 0 to 55,134 feet in exactly 1 hour 9 minutes and 42 seconds."
 
Dimensions: Roughly 7.50 inches wide by 10.50 inches high.
 
Balloonist and Pilot Julian Nott
Julian Richard Nott (22 June 1944 – 26 March 2019) was a British balloonist who later lived in Santa Barbara, California, known for his record-setting achievements. Nott set 79 world ballooning records and 96 British aviation records for distance, altitude, and time aloft with hot air, gas, super pressure, and combination balloons. He also developed balloons for flights to Solar System destinations, particularly Titan, and flew a working prototype Titan balloon at −175 °C (−283.0 °F), approximately the temperature of Titan's atmosphere.
 
One of the founders of the modern sport ballooning movement and an innovator in the field, the world of sport aviation suffered a tragic loss in March 2019, with the death of Nott after an accident on the ground following a successful landing of an experimental balloon.
 
Julian Nott was born on June 22, 1944, and grew up in Bristol, England. He was educated at Epsom College and held a graduate degree in Physical Chemistry from St. Johns College, Oxford University. He made his first balloon flight in June 1969, an effort, he later explained to friends, to impress a young lady. Julian, however, was the one who was impressed. He earned his balloon pilot’s license in May 1970.
 
Those records rested on a foundation of brilliant technical innovation. “Most of all I hope to use science to advance and innovate,” Julian once remarked. “But setting a world record is indisputable proof of the success of a new design.” He designed and built the first pressurized cabin for use with hot air balloons and set a series of records using an evolving series of cabins based on the original design.
 
His achievements include the first balloon crossing of the Sahara Desert, the first crossing of Australia, piloting the world’s first solar balloon across the English Channel, and piloting the first crewed “pumpkin” superpressure balloon. At the time of his death he was experimenting with his patented design for a balloon using cryogenic helium. He spent many years working with NASA engineers to develop balloons designed to operate in planetary atmospheres.
 
In addition to his own engineering projects, Julian played an important role assisting other record-setting balloonists. His efforts in support of Alan Eustace’s record-setting balloon flight to and parachute jump from an altitude of 138,908 feet on October 24, 2014, is a case in point.
 
Balloon cabins and other pieces of equipment designed, built, and flown by Julian Nott have been exhibited in museums in Europe and America. Visitors to the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center can see a composite plastic pressurized hot air balloon cabin that Julian flew to an altitude of some 55,130 feet (16,800 meters) over Longmont, Colorado, on October 31, 1980, setting an international record that stood for eight years.
 
Julian was the first balloonist to receive the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals of the Royal Aero Club. His other honors ranged from the prestigious Montgolfier diploma to the Rolex Award for Excellence. He was a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Navigation, and a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Explorers Club.
 
The Rolex 1675 GMT-Master
As told masterfully by Charlie Dunne, "There’s no other watch like the Rolex GMT-Master reference 1675. 1675s are incomparable to any other watch as the variety of dials and beautiful bezels can be profoundly different across years of production and manner in which they have aged over time. No other Rolex has the distinguishable bezel like a “Pepsi”, and the 1675 has the longest production duration for any Rolex GMT-Master."
 
"Rolex introduced the GMT-Master in circa 1959 and the reference remained in production until circa 1980. This two-decade period represents a significant portion of the Rolex’s history and is recognized by most watch collectors as the golden era of vintage-sports watches from any manufacturer."
 
"The story for the GMT-Master begins when Pan American Airways (Pan Am) and another world-renowned aviation company purportedly commissioned Rolex to create a wristwatch suitable for their pilots: one that allowed them to efficiently tell two time zones simultaneously. Pan Am cites their President Juan Trippe had approached Rolex to create a watch for the airline pilots which resulted in the reference 6542."
 
"Throughout the 1950s to 1970s, Pan Am was regarded as a preeminent airline and became one of the largest international air carriers. T he company took pride in equipping their pilots with the best amenities - the GMT-Master being one of them! Rolex was thrilled to highlight this relationship with Pan Am in marketing materials. It is akin to the way Rolex highlights their relationships with events such as the PGA Championship, Wimbledon, and the Academy Awards. As you can see later in the article, the manufacturer showcased this relationship within advertisements and catalogs for many years."