Reference:explorer-ii: Difference between revisions

|title=Rolex Explorer II — Complete Reference Guide — BezelBase

|type=article

== Rolex Explorer II ==

The Explorer II launched in 1971 as the sister reference to the Explorer I. Where the Explorer I was a simple three-hand time-only watch built for mountain expeditions, the Explorer II added a fixed 24-hour bezel and an orange 24-hour hand for speleologists, polar expeditioners, and anyone operating in conditions where ambient light could not be trusted to tell day from night. The 24-hour complication is what separates the line from its Explorer I sibling, and every Explorer II from 1971 to the present has retained it.

The line runs across five references in total. The 1655 Freccione is the original, with a linked-hand caliber 1575 that reads the 24-hour function as a day-night indicator. The 16550 introduced a true independent-hour GMT function on caliber 3085 in 1985. The 16570 took that architecture through a twenty-one-year run from 1989 to 2010. The 42mm 216570 arrived in 2011 and reintroduced the orange 24-hour hand of the 1655 on a modern ceramic-free case. The current 226570 replaced it in 2021.

| [[Reference:1655|1655]] || 1971–1984 || Cal. 1575 GMT || 40mm SS, acrylic || Freccione orange straight/lollipop hand; 5 Mark dials + 2 service dials; linked-hand 24-hour; fixed engraved steel bezel

| [[Reference:16550|16550]] || 1985–1989 || Cal. 3085 || 40mm SS, sapphire || First sapphire; first independent-hour GMT; black or Polar white dial; cream/rail dial paint-defect variant

| [[Reference:16570|16570]] || 1989–2010 || Cal. 3185, then 3186 late || 40mm SS, sapphire || Four internal versions: V1 tritium, V2 Swiss-only, V3 Super-LumiNova, V4 no-holes case plus cal 3186; black or Polar white; SRR military limited edition 2007

The 42mm ceramic-era successors continue the line beyond the vintage and neo-vintage generations.

* '''216570''' (2011–2021) — 42mm case, cal. 3187, reintroduced orange 24-hour hand

* '''226570''' (2021–present) — cal. 3285, current production

| 1575 GMT || 19,800 vph || ~48 hr || linked to hour hand || 1655 || Shared with GMT-Master 1675; 24-hour hand advances with hour hand, functions as day-night indicator

| 3085 || 28,800 vph || 48 hr (disputed: some sources say 42 hr) || independent-hour || 16550 || First Explorer II with true GMT; shared with GMT-Master II 16760 "Fat Lady"; 6.3mm thick

| 3186 || 28,800 vph || ~50 hr || independent-hour || 16570 (late 2006+) || Added blue Parachrom hairspring; fixed the 3185 GMT-hand wobble

The Explorer II has a dense per-reference variant taxonomy that is worth scanning in aggregate:

* '''1655 Mark dials''' — Mk1 (large crown), Mk2 (Frog Foot), Mk3 (Rail Dial), Mk4 (taller crown, T SWISS <25 T serif), Mk5 (sans-serif). Two Beyeler service dials also exist.

* '''16550 cream / rail dial''' — a subset of Polar white dials aged to cream through a factory paint defect Rolex later corrected. Rail-dial sub-variant has the C of CHRONOMETER aligned vertically over the C of CERTIFIED.

* '''16570 Swiss-only''' — approximately 5 percent of production, covering the 1998–1999 window when the dial carried Luminova lume but kept the older SWISS (not SWISS MADE) printing.

The Explorer II is the sibling of the [[Reference:explorer|Explorer I]] line and shares caliber and architectural DNA with the [[Reference:gmt-master|GMT-Master]] line. The caliber 1575 on the 1655 is identical to the caliber 1575 on the GMT-Master 1675, configured differently (linked-hand vs independent-hour). The caliber 3085 on the 16550 is identical to the caliber 3085 on the GMT-Master II 16760.

* The Vintage Rolex Field Manual — Morning Tundra