1975 Rolex Explorer II "Freccione" 1655 "Albino" MK2
Ref: 1655

Points of Mention

This watch is sold as "Watch Only" and therefore comes with no Rolex box or Rolex paperwork. The watch comes paired with its 20mm Rolex Oyster stainless steel bracelet ref. 78360, 580 end links and a signed folded clasp ref. 62570H, Circa.1976 - the bracelet has 12 links in total. The watch is from Circa. 1975 and is in worn, vintage condition, but overall good as you can see. The dial and bezel are both MK2, the dial and hands are original tritium. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.

The Watch

Here we have a 1975 Rolex Explorer II "Freccione" 1655 "Albino" MK2 so named in Italy where “Freccione” means Arrow in reference to its orange GMT hand. The 40mm polished and brushed stainless steel Oyster case curves over your wrist with thick tapered lugs, a lug-to-lug length of 46mm and a case thickness of 13mm giving the watch an impressive wrist presence. On the right side at 3 o’clock a signed screw-down crown protected by crown guards. The stainless steel MK2 bezel has large 24-hour numerals engraved into it painted black holding a flat plexiglass crystal above a black MK2 dial. Squares of Tritium mark the 24 hours while baton indexes coated in Tritium mark the hours, at 3 o’clock a date window with cyclops magnification on the plexiglass. At 12 o’clock an inverted triangle coated in Tritium, slender sword minute and hour hands are infilled with Tritium, and a large triangular tipped 24-hour GMT hand hits the square marker precisely, over time the orange hand has turned a yellow/white hence “Albino”, complemented by a lollipop counterweighted sweeping second hand. At 12 o’clock we have the Rolex motif with “Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Explorer II” printed underneath, and at 6 o’clock “Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified” completes this rugged travel companion. On the reverse, a screw-down coin-edged case back, inside an automatic Rolex Cal. 1575, 25 jewels, 19,800 beats per hour, this quality movement was introduced in 1965. The watch comes fitted on its 20mm Rolex Oyster stainless steel bracelet ref. 78360, 580 end links and a signed folded clasp ref. 62570H, Circa. 1976 - the bracelet has 12 links in total.

Personal Note

The Brand

In 1905, German-born Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis set up a company in London that imported Swiss movements which are installed in British cases and sold to jewellers who put their names on the dials. Recognising the potential for their brand, Wilsdorf created the brand name Rolex in 1908. In 1910, a Rolex became the first wristwatch to carry the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland. Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to move the business to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf quickly set out to solve the age-old problem of moisture and dust entering a watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex watchmakers came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf named the Oyster, and released to an appreciative audience in 1926. In 1931, Rolex introduced the first automatic winding wristwatch, giving it the legendary name Oyster Perpetual. In 1945, they released Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight. The 1950s saw a whole lot of releases such as the Air-King (1958), the Explorer (1953), the Submariner (1953), the GMT Master (1955), the Day-Date (1956), the electromagnetic field resistant Milgauss (1956), the Lady-Datejust (1957) and the first Deep Sea model (1960). Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, saw ownership of Rolex S.A. (a collection of sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation which was founded by Wilsdorf in 1945, the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely.