design history - actual Explorer II

[pegase747]

Hi to all,

Do you know where is the actual style EXP-II come from ??

Well after lurking around on the internet, I found that it comes from an actual request from some adventurers.

from 1979 to 1982, 3 adventurers, Ran Fiennes, Charlie Burton and Oliver Shepard, together with a team of more than 30 people, from arctic pilot to aircraft engineer and to meteorologists and other scientists, engaged into the Transglobe expedition, departing Greenwich-UK in september 1979, and coming back to same place in august 1982, after having crossed the Sahara, the south pole and north pole.





Rolex officialy sponsored the expedition, and provided the 3 above-mentioned land men with 3 Rolex Explorer II 1655, but modified to the whish of the 3 men, with a dial and handset from a GMT-Master.

Here is the watch belonging to oliver Shepard, supposedly originator for the modification request :




It makes a watch very similar to the later-to-come 16550 & 16570 Exp-II, except only for the writing on the dial and the plastic crystal.

I guess this is the origin from the actual Exp-II.

Why didn't they like the 1655 orange hands, nobody knows ???
Maybe the readeability was better with the GMT hand set, as the 1655 orange hand is huge and its dial is a bit busy to read, especially the minute chapter.

I find this Explorer-II/GMT-Master quite attractive myself !
And it's another story about the capabilities and ruggeness of the Rolex sports model.

You can read intresting information about this expedition and its team on : http://www.transglobe-expedition.org/





Now I really need an Explorer-II !!!

Cheers / Pierre