No longer manufactured: Rolex Explorer II 16570 watch

When discussing Rolex watches, a few words have lost all meaning. At this point, "underestimated", "sleeping" and "underestimated" may not be completely meaningless, but we are rapidly reaching this goal. Social media and frankly speaking, articles like this are not helpful to the enthusiast hunters there, but you will be surprised how many people I have met who don't know anything about Explorer II. In this article, I will introduce Explorer II reference. 16570 is a 40mm version that was produced for 22 years from 1989 to 2011. ExplorerII 16570 low-key design, dual time zone function, almost indestructible appearance and tenacious non-luxurious posture, may be the best choice for modern Rolex sports watches out there.

Of course, I am a bit biased against Explorer II. I have always been my favorite Rolex sports watch. In fact, the first Rolex I bought was a 216570 black dial (for this reason, I made a head-on comparison with Submariner here). Submariner, GMT-Master II and Daytona have attracted much attention, while Explorer II has always been Rolex's low-key utility watch, and has been a true travel watch for decades. Explorer II is the scum of the Rolex sports watch family. It is Prince Harry of the GMT-Master II's Prince Prince (this is interesting because I think Harry is wearing the Polar Dial Explorer II).

Introduced as a cave explorer's watch, Explorer II is designed to have function rather than form. The darkness in these caves makes it impossible to tell whether it is day or night, which is the reason for the 24-hour hands and fixed bezel. And the original Explorer II reference. 1655 is not meant to be a travel watch at all, and 16570 has introduced an independent hour hand, functionally making the watch a dual time zone travel watch.

The fully refurbished Rolex Explorer II Ref. The 16550 was produced between 1985 and 1989 and is considered a "transition" model between the original 1655 uk replica watches and 16570 seen in this article. Compared with the 16570, they are hard to find and more expensive. For better or worse, the 16550 brings Explorer II into the Rolex sports watch series. The sapphire crystal, the new Mercedes hands, the hour markers and the 24-hour hand all recall the GMT Master of the time. It is also equipped with Calibre 3085, which adds the aforementioned independent hour hand function.

The 16550 also uses a black or white (also known as Polar) dial, introducing two dial options that are still retained today. The Polar dial model has a paint defect, which causes the dial to slowly turn milky white, making it highly sought after by collectors. In fact, these products are usually more expensive than the old Ref. The price is high. Also known as "Steve McQueen" in 1655. I was shocked when I saw that the cream dial 16550 sold for more than 1655, but it was not uncommon.

Fast forward to 1989, and Rolex released the Explorer II Ref. The 16570 had been in operation for nearly 22 years before the 216570 was released in 2011. The 16570 is iterated on the 16550, using a brand-new 3185 movement, with minor but substantial changes to the extreme dial model. By replacing the silver-replica Rolex Lady-Datejust watches  outlined hands and graduations with black, the readability is greatly improved by truly emphasizing the white dial. Similarly, the font used on the border numbers has changed between 16550 and 16570, this is just a problem.

Explorer II 16570 is waterproof to 100M, 40mm wide, 12.2mm thick, and 47mm ear-to-ear. It is an ideal size for smaller or larger wrists. Wearing it on a 7.5-inch wrist, I had zero complaints and found that the size was just right. Personally, I do prefer a bit bigger, so I prefer my 216570, which has a width of 42mm, a thickness of 12.5mm, and a lug of 50.1mm. Compared with Submariner or GMT-Master, an advantage of Explorer II is that the 24-hour bezel slopes downward, making the case look slimmer.

The 16570 movement is equipped with a 3185 movement (models after 2006 have slightly updated the 3186 movement), which was launched in 1988 for Explorer II and GMT-Master II. This is the first time that Rolex has adopted an independent hour hand movement, and it also has a hack-second function. 3185 has 31 jewels, runs at 28,800 vph, and has a power reserve of 50 hours. Of course, considering how many Explorer II watches containing this movement have been produced in 22 years, the need for maintenance depends on the specific circumstances.

Although they are actually the same watch, the Explorer II 16570 watch has a variety of serial numbers over the years, and there are subtle differences between these serial numbers. The pole plate model you see in this article is the Y serial number, while the black dial is the F serial number. Although these two have strong end links, the lugs of the polar dial Y series have been drilled to facilitate the replacement of the bracelet or belt, while the black dial F series does not.