Rolex is famed for its tool watches, watches that are purposely designed to serve a purpose. However, a tool watch intended for cave explorers is somewhat unusual. That's what Rolex did with the Explorer II, reference 1665 which was made between 1971 and 1985. To aid the exploration of caves the watch featured a date function, a fixed 24-hour bezel, a 100-metre depth rating, and a large bright orange 24-hour hand. This made the watch so different from other Rolex tools at that time. These features were vital to cave explorers or speleologists to give them their correct title, as they could spend so long exploring caves they don't know if it's day or night, let alone what time it is.
Rolex Explorer II Nicknames
Thanks to the large orange 24-hour hand it has gained the nickname 'Freccione' amongst collectors. However, this is not the only nickname the watch has. Due to poor sales, a watch targeting speleologists would never be the biggest seller, they advertised the watch using the famed Hollywood actor Steve McQueen. Due to this, the watch gained another nickname 'Steve McQueen', despite him never wearing it. His daily watch was the Rolex Submariner!
Sales Flop
The Rolex Explorer II 1665 follows the line of watches that were sales flops in their time. Now, they are highly sought after amongst collectors, such as the Daytona 'Paul Newman' and the first Milgauss, reference 6451. However, Rolex's distribution of the watch at the time may not have helped. There is a handful of these Rolex watches, now hugely valuable and sort after watches, featuring Tiffany dials. I can't imagine many cave explorers popping into Tiffany to pick up their tool watch!
To illustrate what a sales flop it was at the time, here at Fellows many years ago we had a client who consigned a Rolex Explorer II 1665 approximately 10 years ago (they don't come in very often!) who stated that when he popped into he's local authorised dealer back in 1977 they discounted his Explorer II 1665 so much it was only £15 more than the Explorer!! Those were the days, with no waiting lists and Rolex offering discounts. How times have changed...
Rolex Explorer II at Auction
Watches | Thursday 3rd October
Viewing times (ID required):
London
Wednesday 26th September 10:00-19:00
Birmingham
Wednesday 2nd October 10:00-16:00
Thursday 3rd October 8:30-10:00
Virtual viewings are available by request. Virtual viewings are the ultimate personal shopping experience. Using Zoom, you can ask us whatever you need to know to buy with confidence. Find out more here.
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