1981 – Rolex Explorer II, Freccione

$33,500


BrandRolex
ModelExplorer II
Reference1655
MovementAutomatic
MaterialSteel
DialBlack
Millimeters40 x 47
BraceletSteel

Story

This is a one owner watch and comes with the original warranty papers and box. The watch comes from our “the beauty of time” online collection that includes multiple Rolex Explorer II watches and a historic review of the Explorer II dials.

This particular example is a very rare ROLEX Explorer II ‘Freccione’ Ref. 1655, Second exécution dial / MK2. This is one of the rare original lollipop second hands.

Early versions of the reference, from the first year of production, were fitted with a straight seconds hand. The hands were painted white and were of a fairly minimalist design. The so-called straight seconds hand was a simple long, thin needle-esque centre sweep hand. Rolex introduced a seconds hand with a lollipop, luminous filled bubble quite quickly within the watch’s lifespan.

Collectors look for watches with a MK1 and MK2 dial Explorer II as this example especially with all its original tags, booklets and warranty papers! The watch comes with several service papers from Rolex and communication between the one owner and Rolex indicating that: 1. The watch was not polished and 2. No parts/ aspects of the dial, hands were ever serviced! Therefore the documents verify the original condition of this beautiful vintage explorer II.

The watch comes with the original Rolex base Calibre 1570 movement.

The Calibre 1575 had a date feature and logically the Calibre 1575 GMT had the additional 24-hour hand. The movement was automatic, had the hacking-seconds feature (where the seconds hand stops when the winding crown is full pulled out to adjust the time) and boasted a 48-hour power reserve. This chronometer-rated movement was housed in a 39mm stainless-steel case with crown guards and the watch had a fixed, non-rotating, bezel with 24-hour markings; even numbers in Arabic numerals and odd numbers represented with hash markers. 

Case & Bracelet

Case material Steel
Case diameter 40 x 47 mm
Water resistance 10 ATM
Bezel material Steel
Crystal Plexiglass
Dial Black
Dial numerals No numerals

Bracelet material Steel
Bracelet color Steel
Clasp Fold clasp
Clasp material Steel

Accessories

Full Set

Original Box

Original papers