Finally, after those internal battles and considerations

[thehighwayjazz]

Hi there.
This is going to be a little bit long. Please bear with me.
I just wanna share with all of you my personal journey in choosing my (hopefully) first ever Rolex.
For years, i fall in love with the Explorer II 216570, both the black and polar. There are two issues standing between me and the Exp II: its price (although it applies to all Rolex, not only the Exp), and its 42mm size.

I have relatively small wrist, around 6,25. I personally tried the Exp II in several ADs and boutiques, and arrived at the conclusion that it is too big for my wrist. That was the time i tried to persuade myself to go for anything with 40mm, most probably Submariner ND, GMT II LN, Milgauss and possible the Tudor Black Bay. O, yeah, almost forgot to mention that it might be my one and only Rolex, therefore I need to choose it very carefully.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a couple of days off from the office and decided to have an unplanned trip from Geneva to Venice (only because I suddenly got a good airplane ticket offer from the Easyjet).
Since it was more or less a sudden trip, i didn't have specific plan to do at Venice. The only thing that i have in mind: trying to find any AD Rolex in Venice to try some models.

Then came the big moment. I visited Salvadori in the middle of St Mark Square, looking for the Sub ND and/or GMT II. They didn't have them in stock. So, i decided that i need to try once again 216570 on both color. All sales persons in Salvadori are very helpful (and persuasive of course). They offered me a good deal for in-store discount that very appealing for me, aside from the 15 percent tax refund from the Global Tax Free Service.
I admit that i was excessively using my iPhone calculator to count and re-count the final price, and checked the rates to compare the Euro and Swiss Franc.

Finally, i decided to choose the black dial Exp II. At that time, i was still thinking that it might be still a little bit big for my wrist. But i think it is my favourite model anyway. And i am not sure that choosing Sub ND or GMT II will scratch the itch.
After finalizing the payment (divided into several credit cards), I have it sized. To my surprise, it is not as big as I usually feel when i tried it without having it sized. I know it might only be my emotion and ego plays here since it is now mine. But as you can see in some pictures below, i think my 6.25" wrist still can handle the 42mm.

Lastly, I just wanna say thanks to Mr. Simone from Salvadori for patiently assisting me throughout the process. He even gave me a Murano Glass paper weight as a souvenir as well as granting my request for the green Rolex service/traveling pouch.
Attached some pics that I took in Venice, Annecy and Geneva. I hope this is going to be a great start for me and my Exp II to explore many parts of the world.
Thanks for reading, and also thanks for always sharing in this forum that was very useful for me during my decision making process.

PS: sorry, i don't know why the pics are not appear correctly. Mods please help. thanks

[Psmith]

Congrats - looks great

[WS9D]

Looks great!

[KBM]

Congrats for the choice! Enjoy!

[Ravager135]

Looks fantastic. You cannot go wrong with either dial on the 216570. I have white but only because I own two other black dial Rolex watches. Looks great on you.

[GordonC]

Congrats on your purchase! It looks great on your wrist, and you have a great trip to always remember and associate with the watch!

[sickened1]

Originally Posted by thehighwayjazz

I have relatively small wrist, around 6,25.

Thanks for the pics, I have the same size wrist and your pics gave me hope (been comtemplating about getting the same 42mm Explorer). Congrats.

[FTX I]

Congrats!

[eugeinus]

gorgeous! Good choice

[TheRolexKingofLV]

Happy Exploring

[doc.kool]

Congrats. It's a great watch

[Sublovin]

Good choice...enjoy

[Boothroyd]

That's a great watch. Have been severely tempted by that Explorer II on multiple occasions when visiting AD's. Congrats! (You caught the matte black perfectly in your last shot).

[samshah]

Congrats!

[fskywalker]

Great choice, congrats!! 👍🏻


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[watchwatcher]

Looks great. With today's watch sizes, 42mm is nothing...heck, I'm wearing a 44mm right now. Congrats!

[T01]

Congrats!

[G.Costanza]

Congrats!

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[Tvall13]

I think it looks great on you

[SemperFi]

Beautiful watch. Congratulations!

[sea-dweller]

Nice photos!

[randomguy]

Looks great..

Congrats.

J.

[AK797]

Congrats and God bless Easyjet, it's flown me to some bargains.

[m1911a1]

Congrats....
So you live in Geneva, and bought the watch in Italy? Interesting....

Anyway....I bought a black-dial version today to match the white one....
GREAT WATCH!

[pd999]

Welcome to the club!

[RichM]

Congrats. Great watch.

[namussuz bilo]

Congrats

[WatchinMD]

Very nice! Congrats

[thehighwayjazz]

Thanks for checking my post and for all nice comments. All credit goes to all of you since i learned many things from the forum before finally pulling the trigger.
One lesson that i experienced myself was the Rolex price in Switzerland (in particular Geneva) are relatively higher compare to those in Euro Zone countries. Not to mention that the tax refund in Swiss is only 8%. Some Swiss AD can offer some discount up to 5 % but needs to be with cash only.

[tkerrmd]

Nice!