The Real McCoy is a Japanese company reproducing WWII American flight jackets. In 1997, they customized 200 Rolex GMT Master’s to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier. The watches sold out almost immediately and have become mythical.

Chuck Yeager is a retired Brigadier General  in the United States Air Force  and a noted test pilot  . In 1947  , he became the first pilot (at age 24) to travel faster than sound  in level flight and ascent. He is also a famous Rolex wearer.

His  career began in World War II  as a private in the U.S. Army Air Force  . After serving as an aircraft mechanic, in September, 1942 he entered enlisted pilot training and upon graduation was promoted to the rank of Flight Officer  (WW 2 U.S. Army Air Force  rank equivalent to Warrant Officer  ) and became a P-51  fighter pilot  . After the war he became a test pilot  of many kinds of aircraft and rocket planes. Yeager was the first man to break the sound barrier on October 14, 1947, flying the experimental X-1 at Mach 1 at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 m). AlthoughScott Crossfield  was the first man to fly faster than Mach 2 in 1953, Yeager shortly thereafter exceeded Mach 2.4. He later commanded fighter squadrons and wings in Germany and in Southeast Asia  during the Vietnam War, and in recognition of the outstanding performance ratings of those units he then was promoted to Brigadier General  . Yeager's flying career spans more than sixty years and has taken him to every corner of the globe, even into the Soviet Union  during the height of the Cold War  . (Source Wikipedia)

Concerning the "hommage" watches, there were apparently a hundred GMT ref. 16700 with a red writing on the dial and two types of engraved case-backs:

  
- the first one Glamorous Glennis (the nickname of Yeager’s P51)

- the second one  X-1

There were also 100 GMT ref. 16700 with only the second type of case-back.

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link to Jeff's original post in Rolex forum:  CLICK HERE