Rolex created the Explorer in 1953, in the wake of the Everest expedition it had equipped with Oyster Perpetual watches, and the dial has read the same way since: black, luminous baton markers, and Arabic numerals at 3, 6 and 9. Explorer II came in 1971 for work where the boundary between day and night is blurred, adding a date, a 24 hour hand and a fixed 24 hour graduated bezel, so a wearer with no daylight can tell morning from evening. It now runs calibre 3285, which pairs that 24 hour display with a second time zone set through the hour hand. The plain Explorer is made at 36 mm in Oystersteel and in Yellow Rolesor and at 40 mm in Oystersteel, and the Explorer II at 42 mm in Oystersteel with a black or a white dial.
How you know it
- Arabic numerals at 3, 6 and 9
- fixed 24 hour bezel on the Explorer II
- orange 24 hour hand
- Mercedes hands, Chromalight display
Sizes in the family
Explorer at 36 mm and 40 mm, Explorer II at 42 mm
Who it suits
For the buyer who wants a plain Explorer with nothing but the time to set, or the Explorer II if a date and a second reading of the day are worth the extra size.
Explorer in stock
1
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