Rolex, the king of tool watches. Well, at least back then. Today they are more known for luxury and prestige, but not too long ago back in the 20th century, people bought Rolexes as tools for their various sports activities and expeditions.
You had the Submariner, perhaps the most famous, made for the sea, the GMT-Master, made for pilots and the air, Daytonas for racing and everything else, and the Explorer. While the Explorer was made as a rugged time-only tool watch, targeted for anybody with an active lifestyle, in 1971, Rolex released a more specialised Explorer, the Explorer II Ref. 1655. This release was targeted very specifically at explorers on scientific expeditions, into caves, volcanoes etc.
The new Explorer II featured a bright orange hand, which got the ‘Freccione’ nickname from Italian collectors over time, and it was powered by the Cal. 1575 found on the GMT-Masters. It may look like the Ref. 1655 was just another GMT watch, but with its fixed bezel, the orange hand acts only as a 24-hour indicator. Seemingly not a very informative complication, it starts to make more sense when you remember that it was targeted towards explorers and scientists who spent prolonged periods in darkness, perhaps underground or in caves. After a while, it becomes hard to tell if it is night or day, and the bright orange hand suddenly seems like a very useful tool.
The Ref. 1655 was produced between 1971 and 1984 and as it was so specifically aimed at a certain group of people that it was not very popular. Not to mention, this was a very unusual Rolex in its overall styling, featuring alternating luminous markers and a bright orange hand. Well, as collectors of today know, the Rolexes that were unpopular back then have become some of the most coveted pieces now, due to rarity from low production numbers. This Explorer II Ref. 1655 is no exception.
This specific example is a later generation of the Ref. 1655 which features a crisp Mk 4 dial with the “T Swiss < 25 T” text just beneath the 6:00 marker, a Mk 2 bezel, as well as a lollipop seconds hand.
This is a fantastic watch to wear and I always get surprised looks from non-watch friends (yes, I classify my friends in a binary manner) when I tell them, “Yes, it is a Rolex”. It is just such an unusual Rolex, far from the standard Submariner or GMT. With its highly legible orange ‘Freccione’ hand and a deep matching patina on this example, this watch really stands out in all the right ways.
