Help with a gen 5500 Explorer (Air King?)

[mgolin]

Couple weeks ago I got myself a nice Rolex 5500 Explorer from a seller on Chrono24. For the price I paid ($2000 without the bracelet), I was expecting it to be a redial and not a rare 5500 Explorer. Anyways, after receiving the watch I took it straight to the Rolex Service Centre for a checkup.

Turns out that Rolex thinks the 5500s never came with the Explorer dial so it should be reverted to the Air King precision dial and hands. Weird! This is not true, the 5500s did come with Explorer dials (from 1958 to 1967 according to Bob'sWatches) so I don't understand why people at Rolex shouldn't know about this.

Other than that, Rolex said the watch is genuine, needs polishing and lubrication so I take it's in pretty good shape. I asked them about the dial and hands and they said "they appear to be gen" but it's impossible to know for sure. WTH?

The serial number of the watch is from 1959. Here are the pictures:







And this is the watch featured at Bob's Watches - the logo, letter spacing, crown, marks, all looks exactly the same, so I am thinking my dial is gen and possibly the hands too.



It's a big decision for me because the dial and hands are aftermarket I am considering returning the watch to the seller. Any thoughts?

Thanks!