Rolex Explorer Watches

Featured Rolex Explorer

• Circa 1980
• Very Rare and Highly Sought After
• Black Dial with Date
• Orange 2nd Timezone Hand
• Stainless Steel Case
• Stainless Steel Oyster Bracelet
• Purchased off original owner
• The Most Beautiful patina dial we Have seen
• The Watch has never been Serviced before until now, as it was hardly worn
• Additional Steel Jubilee Bracelet Included
• Automatic Movement
• Chronometer
• The watch has been graded 9/10 due to the absence of the original Rolex certificate. The watch is in 10/10 condition for its age
• (J)

Hi Dee My client received the Rolex Explorer on time and he is delighted with the watch. It is a retirement gift for his father-in-law so someone is going to be a lucky man! Thanks for your excellent service. Regards John

John Reeves

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The Rolex Explorer

The watch that was witness to the first ascent of the world's highest peak, Mt. Everest by Sir John Hunt’s expedition, is the Rolex Explorer consigning it to the annals of history. Even to this day, this watch is one of the most widely sought after Rolex models. In addition, its successor the Rolex Explorer II was released in 1971 as a more modern variant to its predecessor.

Over the years there have been quite a few different models of the Explorer and the Explorer II from the early prototype white dial bubble back, which didn’t display its name on the dial, to the more common black dial which had a number of dial and hand executions over the years, from a military style quarter Arabic dial leading to the more retro 1970’s style block baton dial with its GMT red hand that faded to orange and its numbered fixed bezel that was affectionately referred to as the Steve McQueen, leading to the more current mid 1980’s model with white or black dials with round hour markers and sapphire glass.

Some of the mid 1980’s Explorer II models have become very sought after due to the white dial versions in fact having a pale ivory colour used by Rolex which then faded to a distinctive cream colour which has been found by collectors as very attractive.

History of Rolex Explorer

The Rolex Explorer was designed to suit the extreme conditions of a variety of different expeditions. It is evident from the fact that the two prototypes of the Explorer, numbered ref 6098 which was a white dial and ref 6150, were given to the members of the British Himalayas expedition team on May 29 in 1953, when they set out to conquer Mt. Everest's 29,035 ft.

The soon to be released the Explorer, model 6098. The name Explorer was adopted for the model after the widely publicized success of the expedition and the rest as they say, is history.

Rolex Explorer Model numbers

6098, 6298, 6150, 6350, 6610, 1016, 5500, 5504, 1655, 16550, 114270, 16570.

Explorer / Explorer Air-King / Explorer II

1016, 1038, 5500, 5501, 5504, 5701, 6098, 6150, 6298, 6305, 6350, 6610, 14270, 114270s, 1655, 16550, 16570