Did we expect more? Progress at Rolex comes in either giant leaps or in barely perceptible steps – and usually the latter. And so it is this year. Today’s news from the giant of Swiss watchmaking, delivered at the Watches And Wonders online fair, is another case of slow and steady wins the race: the new Explorer and Explorer II models barely move the needle, but there’s no question they make sense and no question they’ll prove hugely popular.
A bit of background. The Explorer is one of Rolex’s more established models. It was introduced in 1953 and designed with input from the expedition that took Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of Mount Everest. Its function and aesthetic were all about utility, as were those of the Explorer II, which was designed for speleologists and polar explorers and followed in 1971. These were hardy, legible, reassuring watches.
In the intervening years, the form of the original Explorer has been largely consistent, right up to this latest expression, which is 36mm in diameter, just like the watch of almost seven decades ago.
What isn’t the same is the new yellow Rolesor model, which merges steel and yellow gold elements to create a watch with a bigger personality than the modest case proportions would suggest. The dial is a modern confection too, black lacquered and finished with what Rolex calls a “Chromalight display”: lume-filled details that glow bright and blue in the dark. The sister model in all-steel, also 36mm (the current 39mm model is being discontinued), is the quieter of the two. Both are powered by Rolex’s class-leading Calibre 3230 automatic.
If a Rolesor Explorer wasn’t expected, an update to the Explorer II was. This is the 50th anniversary year of Rolex’s professional explorer’s watch, which until now had yet to get the new-generation movement upgrade most of Rolex’s collection has already had. So into its 42mm steel case goes the Calibre 3285, which builds on the 3230 with a second time zone function, indicated by that familiar orange central hand and that equally familiar 24-hour scale around the bezel.
Familiar, it has to be said, is the word. Rolex says the case and bracelet of the new Explorer II are new. The case will probably have been updated to accommodate the new movement, but the company has not given specifics, while the bracelet is said to be slightly broader and chunkier than the outgoing one. All we can say is that when you line up images of new and old together (we’ve not seen any of the new models in the flesh, yet), it’s clear Rolex has applied only the mildest of pen flicks.
Case of “if it ain’t broke”? Perhaps. Technical updates were due and although some would have seen elements of the 1971 original Explorer II’s aesthetic return for the semi-centenary, the revision will of course slip seamlessly into Rolex’s range.
But there’s no doubt introducing a new watch that looks exactly like the old one is a bold move. It suggests supreme confidence. It could also be that in a year when global retail – on which Rolex is entirely dependent as it has no direct-to-consumer or ecomm business – has been hamstrung by a pandemic, discretion simply won out. Hard to argue with that.
Explorer, from £5,150. Explorer II, £6,800. rolex.com
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