Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Rolex Explorer II Reference 1655

Rolex kept the Explorer II reference 1655 in production until around 1984/1985. In 1984, Rolex introduced its successor, the reference 16550. In this production period of roughly 13/14 years, Rolex only amended small changes. Collectors categorized each of them in different ‘Mark’ series. There are about 7 different dials and a handful of different bezels. Italian collector Stefano Mazzariol did a nice comparison article, so go knock yourself out. More replica Rolex Explorer II.

The Explorer II had the same movement as the GMT-Master reference 1675 at that time, caliber 1575. This movement featured the 24-hour hand that indicates AM/PM. Whereas the GMT-Master had a rotating bezel, the Explorer II reference 1655 used a fixed 24 hour scale indicator. Cave explorers only need to know, for example, whether it is 7:00 or 19:00 and the large orange hand indicates this for them.

Rolex Explorer reference 1655 has an interesting case. Where I find my own Rolex GMT-Master 1675 to wear quite ‘thin’, this Explorer II wears differently. It’s even unique versus the Sea-Dweller and Submariner watches I previously owned. Also, the watch measures 39mm in diameter, which is a tad bit smaller than the others I mentioned. It’s quite thick, so the dimensions sum up to what feels like wearing a very compact and solid stainless steel watch, which it is of course. Just like the funky dial, this needed some time to get used to.

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