History of the Rolex Explorer 1 dial configuration

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Curious if anyone has any info on a few aspects pertaining to why Rolex chose to develop the Explorer as a black 3-6-9 dial vs a white triangular indices dial, like what was issued for the 1953 climb.

I’m familiar with the explorer history, the notion that Hillary’s watch was not entirely an Oyster Perpetual (was a Rolex-issued tester), the reference number variants early on and the rare variants like the albino and space-dweller, but I’ve not been able to find any resources on why Rolex switched the dial dramatically from the tester prototype. Could entirely just be aesthetics to differentiate from the OP, but in 1953 Rolex was very much function-first design so I imagine there is a reason. Maybe Hillary’s feedback was to improve visibility in the snow? Maybe Rolex had the black dial design all along and they just wanted to test the movement on the climb before unveiling the new design?

Any info would be appreciated!

[Old Expat Beast]

The OP ref 6098 (triangles dial) was renumbered as ref 6298 (3/6/9 dial). The Mercedes hands were added to make it the OP ref 6150, which then became the 6350 "Explorer". All this happened in 1953 as far as I know. Apparently Edmund Hillary didn't wear any of them to the summit of Everest, though.

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Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

The OP ref 6098 (triangles dial) was renumbered as ref 6298 (3/6/9 dial). The Mercedes hands were added to make it the OP ref 6150, which then became the 6350 "Explorer". All this happened in 1953 as far as I know. Apparently Edmund Hillary didn't wear any of them to the summit of Everest, though.

Thanks. Yes, I've read some debate on the matter of whether the watch made it to the summit.

This Hodinkee article has a pretty good overview of the progression through the reference numbers in the early days: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/ro...ference-points

However, I suppose I'm wondering if anyone knows the rationale for why Rolex moved from a white dial during testing to a black dial for production, where it has remained relatively unchanged for 70 years. It seems to be the only model in the entire Rolex lineage that has not deviated it's dial color at all from it's original production as a professional model, but yet it did deviate from what it had during prototyping (white). My guess for a functional reason would be snow visibility/contrast, guess for marketing was that it was to differentiate it from the OP and align it with all the sub as the other professional model, but just wondering if anyone's ever come across any info on it.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by logo

Thanks. Yes, I've read some debate on the matter of whether the watch made it to the summit.

For the record, Rolex Director R. A. Winter admitted that Hillary only summited with a Smiths watch on page 651 of the October ’53 edition of The British Horological Institute Journal. Hopefully someone else can chime in with more thoughts on the dial.

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Well, guess Rolex had the answer all along. Based on feedback from climbers, seems they felt black and the dial configuration offered better legibility. Perhaps obvious, but at least now confirmed.