Explorer II 16550 cream dial

[peterdavid911]

Hi, I would really appreciate some help from the experts here:) I have just purchased a cream dial 16550, serial R from 1987. It is NON rail dial. The hands and hour markers have the black surrounds rather than the earlier white gold surrounds. Is this correct? I understand that the later 16570 had the black surrounds but with a brighter white dial. Was there a transition period in 1987 where the 16550 had the black surrounds with NON rail cream dial?

Many thanks.

[Spark]

Hi and welcome to TRF.
Congratulations on a great reference in the 16550.
I am no expert, but as the 16550 Cream is on my hit list I have researched it a bit.
A lot of collectors seem to only acknowledge the white gold surround Rail dial as genuine creams.
There are a few like yours and some later 16570's that are coming to light with cream dials, but many are dismissed as either dials that have been tampered with/faked or made up from parts.
I have not got enough knowledge to say either way, but Rolex have a history of using what is available and not wasting anything, so if some non rail dials did get the faulty paint and were left lying around in stock they could quite easily have been found and used later IMO.
Whatever the truth I would imagine your watch looks beautiful and if Rolex at Bexley service it without a problem and you get a service guarantee from them I'd personally be very happy with it.
So I hope you enjoy your watch and in time if there are more watches like yours that come to the market with one owner from new then they will be universally accepted.

[marke]

welcome to the forum and totally support what (spark) Mark is saying to you.

Rolex Bexley will do a great job for you and the watch will look a million dollars, but you must post some pictures.

[G.J]

Welcme here on the Rolex Forums...

[peterdavid911]

Thanks for your replies. I actually have an original Rolex catalogue from 1988 that shows a NON rail dial version with white gold surrounds which certainly proves they do exist. I hear that NON rail are rarer than rail dials.
However my real question here is whether a 16550 was also manufactured with black surrounds as in my 1987 R serial? Was there a transition between the 2 references as they were changing over to the 16570. I have attached a picture of my watch?

Thanks everyone

[acce1999]

That's a nice looking Explorer!

I do not have much facts to add other than the fact that I have also seen 16550s like yours. Initially I was under the impression that Rolex replaced the faulty cream dial with the newer (black indicies) face. I've been told by an AD (so this is hearsay, not fact) that once they replaced dials on ExIIs (white) routinely as per orders from Geneva.

Also, I have an observation. It seems that your watch has the 16570 bezel. Look at the font. Could it be that yours have a replacement dail/hands and bezel?

Best,

A

[Spark]

Originally Posted by peterdavid911

Thanks for your replies. I actually have an original Rolex catalogue from 1988 that shows a NON rail dial version with white gold surrounds which certainly proves they do exist. I hear that NON rail are rarer than rail dials.
However my real question here is whether a 16550 was also manufactured with black surrounds as in my 1987 R serial? Was there a transition between the 2 references as they were changing over to the 16570. I have attached a picture of my watch?

Thanks everyone

Sorry you obviously didn't understand my reply.
I wasn't saying non rail black surround Explorer II's with white dials and White gold surround non rail dial white Explorer II's don't exist, they certainly do.
I was just saying a lot of collectors only accept the Rail dial as CREAM Explorer II's not all white 16550's turn Cream in fact the White ones appear more rare than Cream ones these days.
Many dials seem to have been artificially aged and this has led to collectors being wary of non rail Cream Dials.
The other thing that may have happened in the past is during a service a replacement dial and hands could quite easily have been fitted with with the Black surrounds and Black hands.
Unless you personally know the original owner it is all guess work.

P.s. Nice Explorer!!

[peterdavid911]

Thanks A. I can confirm that the bezel is original to the later 16550. (Again a transitional move). The earlier ones were the thicker font with squarer ’0’ as you mentioned. Attached below is a picture I have taken from the original 1988 Rolex catalogue I have that shows the same bezel as mine on a 16550.
So the question remains whether Rolex did indeed make the 16550 with cream dial and black surounds?

[acce1999]

Originally Posted by peterdavid911

Thanks A. I can confirm that the bezel is original to the later 16550. (Again a transitional move). The earlier ones were the thicker font with squarer ’0’ as you mentioned. Attached below is a picture I have taken from the original 1988 Rolex catalogue I have that shows the same bezel as mine on a 16550.
So the question remains whether Rolex did indeed make the 16550 with cream dial and black surounds?

Thanks. Didn't know that the bezel was delivered on the 16550. Also when looking at the scan of the catalogue it is obvious that the 16550 has WG (non black) indicies and and hands.

Are you sure your hands and dial has been there since delivery?

I wouldn't be surprised, but all the white 16550 I've seen with black hands and indicies have had them changed during service.

Regardless of this, you have a nice watch.

Best,

A

[onefive15]

Look at this link: http://bjsonline.com/watches/articles/0016.shtml