1999 Rolex Explorer II Ref. 16570 Polar 'SWISS only'

Although the Explorer II debuted in the 1970s with the Reference 1655 (1971-1984), it wasn't until the 1980s release of the Reference 16550 that Rolex offered a white-dialed 'Polar' version. The Reference 16550 replaced the Caliber 1575 from the previous model with the newer Caliber 3085 and featured a redesigned handset to match the other Professional Series models. The Caliber 3085 allowed the 24-hour hand to be adjusted independently from the hour hand for the first time, making the Explorer II capable of displaying a second time zone rather than just a day/night indication.

The Reference 16570 was the natural continuation of the 16550 designs, with the same general features: it maintained the 39mm case, elongated GMT hand, 100m water resistance rating, and fixed 24-hour bezel of the previous generation — however, white gold surrounds gave way to black surrounds on 'Polar' variants. Certain later examples of the 16570 did away with lug holes for the bracelet attachment for the first time (a 'no-holes' case), while most of the earlier versions featured the punched case design ('holey' lugs). Punched lugs began to disappear completely from the Rolex catalog around the turn of the 21st century.

The earliest 16570s had tritium lume, but by 1998, Rolex had shifted to non-radioactive Luminova, having a rare transitional period, in 1998 (U and A series) where the tritium dials that read Swiss T<25 changed to luminova dials reading SWISS only, hence the nickname ‘SWISS only’. Lather then, in late 1999, and up to today, all dials now read SWISS MADE.

The example offered for sale here is a luminova ‘SWISS only’ dial Ref. 16570 from 1999.

It features a white ‘Polar’ dial with black hour marker surroundings, black outer track, and matching hands. Along with the popping red GMT hand, the contrast is just lovely.

The 40mm stainless steel case remains thick and, having been previously polished, it shows very few signs of normal wear. The case back remains in the same condition too.

It comes fitted on the original 20mm Oyster 78790 stainless steel bracelet with 501 B end links and date code X8 that shows very little stretch.

The watch is running well and keeping time, although service history is unknown.

Macros of dial and case are available under request.