Reference:6610: Difference between revisions

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<small>[[Reference:explorer|Explorer]] › '''6610'''</small>
<small>[[Reference:explorer|Explorer]] › '''6610'''</small>
<div class="rp-lead">
[[File:Ref 6610 hero.webp|thumb|center|640px|alt=6610 red depth rating dial|6610 red depth rating dial]]
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The 6610 is the second-generation Explorer. Active production runs 1955 to 1959 across major-house lots, with leftover stock cased and dispatched to dealers as late as 1963 (specialist documentation; Monochrome 2024). The 6610 carries caliber 1030 — Rolex's first bidirectional self-winding caliber, with the butterfly rotor that replaces the thicker uni-directional autowind module of the A296 used on the 6150 / 6350 / 6098 — and settles the Explorer dial into the layout that runs forward into the 1016. Among Explorer dials in any reference the 6610 holds the rarest of all sub-branches, the white-dial "Albino." Colin A. White's ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' calls the 6150 and 6610 "the first real Oyster Perpetual Explorers."
The 6610 is the second-generation Explorer. Active production runs 1955 to 1959 across major-house lots, with leftover stock cased and dispatched to dealers as late as 1963 (specialist documentation; Monochrome 2024). The 6610 carries caliber 1030 — Rolex's first bidirectional self-winding caliber, with the butterfly rotor that replaces the thicker uni-directional autowind module of the A296 used on the 6150 / 6350 / 6098 — and settles the Explorer dial into the layout that runs forward into the 1016. Among Explorer dials in any reference the 6610 holds the rarest of all sub-branches, the white-dial "Albino." Colin A. White's ''The Vintage Rolex Field Manual'' calls the 6150 and 6610 "the first real Oyster Perpetual Explorers."
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<span id="core-facts"></span>
<span id="core-facts"></span>


[[File:Ref 6610 hero 2.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Explorer 6610 — black Officially Certified Chronometer dial|Explorer 6610 — black Officially Certified Chronometer dial]]


== Core facts ==
== Core facts ==
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== Dial map ==
== Dial map ==


[[File:Ref 6610 hero.webp|thumb|right|260px|alt=6610 red depth rating dial|6610 red depth rating dial]]


Three named dial generations on the 6610. The auction corpus does not document an underline 6610 — the underline convention belongs to 1963-onwards 1016 production, by which point active 6610 production had ended.
Three named dial generations on the 6610. The auction corpus does not document an underline 6610 — the underline convention belongs to 1963-onwards 1016 production, by which point active 6610 production had ended.
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<span id="gilt-no-depth-mid-late"></span>
<span id="gilt-no-depth-mid-late"></span>
=== Gilt, no depth (mid to late) ===
=== Gilt, no depth (mid to late) ===
[[File:Ref 6610 hero 2.webp|thumb|right|250px|alt=Explorer 6610 — black Officially Certified Chronometer dial|Explorer 6610 — black Officially Certified Chronometer dial]]


The mid- and late-run dial drops the depth-rating print, keeping the OCC line and the standard "Explorer" / 3-6-9 layout. Gilt printing on a glossy black lacquer ground; chapter ring on the perimeter; radium lume on the markers and Mercedes hands. Bonhams 29152 lot 24 and Bonhams 30669 lot 26 anchor the standard-gilt configuration; Sotheby's GE1904 lot 315 documents an unrestored gilt example with full-set provenance.
The mid- and late-run dial drops the depth-rating print, keeping the OCC line and the standard "Explorer" / 3-6-9 layout. Gilt printing on a glossy black lacquer ground; chapter ring on the perimeter; radium lume on the markers and Mercedes hands. Bonhams 29152 lot 24 and Bonhams 30669 lot 26 anchor the standard-gilt configuration; Sotheby's GE1904 lot 315 documents an unrestored gilt example with full-set provenance.