Rolex Explorer II Ref. 1655 'Steve McQueen' / 'Freccione'

A watch for people underground

Rolex introduced the Explorer II in 1971 as an addition to the Explorer line that began in 1953. The reference 1655 was aimed at speleologists, the people who map and study caves. Underground, Rolex argued, explorers working for days in total darkness would 'soon lose all notion of time: morning, afternoon, day, or night.'

The answer was an extra hand that went around the dial once every 24 hours, read against a fixed steel bezel marked with the 24 hours of the day: even hours in Arabic numerals, odd hours as hash marks. Like the GMT-Master's 24-hour hand, it worked as an AM/PM indicator. Unlike the GMT-Master, the bezel did not turn, so it could not track a second time zone. The watch also had a date and a 100-meter depth rating.

The 1655 was a tool, not a luxury object. It came only in stainless steel and only with a black dial, with no gold or two-tone versions. At the time of its launch, Rolex watches were not yet the status symbols they would become.

The watch nobody wanted

The Explorer II sold poorly. Its intended buyers were a narrow group, and many shoppers found the dial busy, even illegible. One later observer suggested cavers simply lacked the glamour of climbers, pilots and divers. The fixed 24-hour bezel confused anyone expecting a second time zone, and the watches lingered on dealers' shelves.

The dial earned the nickname 'Disco Dial' for its resemblance to a 1970s dance floor: a large triangle at 12, rectangular markers at 6 and 9, and the remaining hour markers sitting in the minute track, with offset 24-hour markers around the edge. Collectors also call it 'Freccione,' Italian for big arrow, after the orange 24-hour hand.

Weak sales left the 1655 relatively rare next to other Rolex sports references, one specialist argues; another cautions that it is not truly rare, just harder to find in outstanding condition than a Submariner or GMT-Master. Either way, the features that were criticized in the 1970s are now the ones collectors pay for.

The Steve McQueen problem

The most famous thing about the 1655 is a name it probably did not earn. Collectors call it the 'Steve McQueen,' but there are no known photographs of McQueen wearing one. The watch he wore in many photos was a Submariner reference 5512.

How the nickname started is told different ways. One account ties it to an advertisement; another to a belief that McQueen often chose to wear the watch; one dealer history says both McQueen and Olympic ski champion Jean-Claude Killy were associated with the 1655 in Rolex advertising. The sources agree on the bottom line: the name stuck even though the evidence for McQueen wearing the watch is thin.

The nickname did not save the watch in its own time. Celebrity associations did little to lift sales during its production run.

Marks, bezels and the straight hand

During its run the 1655 used seven dials: five production dials made by the dial maker Stern, numbered Mark 1 to Mark 5 by collectors, and two later service dials made by Beyeler. The Mark 1 has a wide coronet with a rounded foot on the R of Rolex and 'T SWISS T' at the bottom. The Mark 2 differs in the spacing of 'PERPETUAL.' The Mark 3 is the 'Rail Dial,' on which the C's of 'CHRONOMETER' and 'CERTIFIED' line up vertically. The Mark 4 has a narrower, taller coronet and 'T SWISS < 25 T' in a serif font. The Mark 5 keeps that marking without serifs.

The bezels changed too: four production versions plus a service bezel. The first had thick numerals pressed close to the bezel's inner edge and appears with Mark 1 and Mark 2 dials. The last, found with Mark 5 dials, has thin numerals and a long hook on the 1s.

The rarest detail is the seconds hand. In the first year of production, the 1655 had a plain, needle-like straight seconds hand painted white. Rolex soon replaced it with a hand carrying a luminous dot, the 'lollipop.' For collectors, the ideal early Explorer II has a Mark 1 dial, a Mark 1 bezel and the straight seconds hand.

The movement is usually described as the 26-jewel caliber 1575, a date-equipped version of the 1570 with a 24-hour hand, the same movement used in the GMT-Master 1675, with hacking seconds and a 48-hour power reserve. Some auction catalogs list the movement in individual 1655s as a caliber 1570. Case diameter is given as 39mm in reference guides, while one auction catalog lists 40mm.

From shelf-sitter to cult reference

Rolex replaced the 1655 in 1985 with reference 16550, which added an independently adjustable 24-hour hand and a white dial option.

It came back. A later 42mm Explorer II revived the large orange arrow-shaped 24-hour hand as a nod to the 1655, and in 2021 the Explorer II's 50th anniversary was one of the main talking points of the year's big watch fair.

At auction, the 1655 now draws real competition. In March 2019 an example from about 1980, with box and papers and offered by the original owner's family, sold online in New York for $25,000. The next day, an early 1655 offered in England by its original buyer reached a hammer price of 22,000 pounds, described as a record for a 1655 without a retailer-signed dial.

The numbers

Reference

1655

Caliber

Automatic 1575, 26 jewels, with date and 24-hour hand (some catalogs list 1570)

Case

Stainless steel, about 39mm (one catalog lists 40mm), fixed 24-hour bezel

Water resistance

100 meters

Production

1971 to 1985

Dials

Mark 1 to Mark 5, plus two service dials

Timeline

1. 1953

   The Explorer line begins after the first ascent of Everest.

2. 1971

   Rolex launches the Explorer II reference 1655 for cave explorers.

3. 1971

   First-year watches carry a straight white seconds hand, soon replaced by the 'lollipop' hand.

4. 1972

   Approximate date of an early 1655 with box and papers that later set a 2019 auction record in England.

5. 1980

   Approximate date of a 1655 that sold online in New York in 2019 for $25,000.

6. 1985

   Production ends; reference 16550 replaces it with an independent 24-hour hand and a white dial option.

7. Mar 12, 2019

   A circa 1980 1655 from the original owner's family sells online in New York for $25,000.

8. Mar 13, 2019

   An early 1655 sells in England for a hammer price of 22,000 pounds, a record for a 1655 without a retailer-signed dial.

9. 2021

   The Explorer II marks its 50th anniversary.

The world in 1971

• Feb 5, 1971

  Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.

• Feb 7, 1971

  Switzerland gives women the vote in national elections, though not yet in every canton's own elections.

• Apr 19, 1971

  The Soviet Union launches Salyut 1, the first space station.

• Jul 31, 1971

  Apollo 15 astronauts drive the first Lunar Roving Vehicle on the Moon.

• Aug 15, 1971

  President Nixon ends the convertibility of dollars into gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system.

• Oct 1, 1971

  Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.

• Nov 15, 1971

  Intel releases the 4004, the world's first microprocessor.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Rolex Explorer II Ref. 1655 'Steve McQueen' / 'Freccione' is number 59 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (19 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• There are no known photographs of Steve McQueen wearing a 1655, even though collectors named it after him.
• The fixed 24-hour bezel means the original Explorer II cannot show a second time zone.
• Collectors nicknamed its busy layout the 'Disco Dial' after 1970s dance floors.
• Only the first year of production has the straight, needle-like seconds hand.
• The 1655 came only in steel and only with a black dial.
• Seven different dials were made for the 1655 by two outside dial makers.