Rolex

Explorer II (Polar)

Name: Rolex Explorer II (Polar)
Brand: Rolex
SKU: 226570
Availability: InStock

Ref. 226570

On request

Message on WhatsApp

Case42mm steel

DialWhite

MovementCalibre 3285

BraceletStainless Steel Oyster

Year2024

PapersBox and Papers

The Explorer earned its name on Everest in 1953 and has kept the same legible 3-6-9 dial ever since. It is the purest tool watch Rolex makes.

An Explorer II in 42mm steel from 2024, white on the wrist. Calibre 3285 keeps it running.

Fun fact: The Explorer II's orange 24 hour hand was drawn for cavers who lose track of whether it is day or night underground. The 226570 finally made the hand orange again after a decade of white.

Polar dial, orange hand, 42mm steel

Reference226570

Case42mm Oystersteel, fixed 24-hour bezel

MovementRolex calibre 3285, automatic, about 70 hours

Introduced2021

Why this one matters

The Explorer II began in 1971 as reference 1655, with a fixed 24-hour bezel and an orange hand for people working underground who could lose track of day and night. The white dial arrived in 1985 with 16550, and 16570 carried the design at 40mm from 1989 until 2011.

Reference 216570 then took the case to 42mm with calibre 3187 and a larger orange hand. In 2021 Rolex replaced it with 226570: the same 42mm width, but slimmer lugs shaved on their inner faces, a slightly wider bracelet, and calibre 3285 inside. The white dial is the one collectors call Polar, a name that goes back to the 16550.

The movement

Calibre 3285, shared with the GMT-Master II. Chronergy escapement, Parachrom hairspring, Paraflex shock settings, roughly 70 hours of reserve and a rating of within 2 seconds a day after casing. The local hour hand sets independently in one hour steps, which is what makes the Explorer II a second time zone watch rather than only a day and night indicator.

On the wrist

At 42mm it sounds large, and the 2021 revision softens that: the lugs are slimmer and the crown guards more angular, so it reads smaller on the wrist than the 216570 did. Steel throughout, no turning bezel to catch on a cuff, and the white dial with black-surround markers gives high contrast in bright light.

Questions we are asked about this reference

What actually changed from 216570 to 226570?

Calibre 3285 in place of 3187, slimmer lugs and crown guards, a wider 22mm bracelet, and small dial and hand refinements. Diameter stayed at 42mm and the layout is unchanged.

Do modern Polar dials turn cream?

No. That belongs to a small number of 16550 dials from the mid 1980s where the paint aged. Dials of this generation are stable and stay white.

Is a fixed bezel any use?

Read together with the 24-hour hand it tells you home time, or simply day from night, at a glance. You move the local hour hand when you land and leave the rest alone.

Explorer

The 1953 mountaineering watch and the 24 hour Explorer II that followed in 1971

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.

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.

See every Explorer we have