Reference:1655

The 1655 is the original Explorer II. Produced from 1971 through roughly 1984, it introduced the 24-hour complication to Rolex's explorer line in a single 40mm steel case with a fixed, engraved 24-hour bezel and an orange straight arrow for the GMT hand that gave the watch its lasting nickname: Freccione, from the Italian for "big arrow." Five production dial generations over thirteen years, four bezel variants, two service dials that surfaced later, a caliber 1575 GMT shared with the 1675 but configured differently, and a provenance history that mixes genuine expedition use with a persistent pop-culture myth Rolex itself did not manufacture.

The reference sits at an odd angle in the Rolex family. It is not quite a pilot's watch, not quite a GMT in the conventional sense, and not the watch Steve McQueen wore despite the marketing shorthand that has followed it for forty years. What it actually is: the reference that carried the Explorer II name from launch through the end of the first era, with caliber 1575 doing the time-zone work the way the 1675 already did, and a case and bezel designed for speleologists and polar expeditioners who needed to tell day from night when the sun did not cooperate.

Core facts

detail	value
reference	`1655`
family	Explorer II
production	1971 to approximately 1984; some editorial extends the end to 1985
movement	caliber 1575 GMT (19,800 vph, approximately 48-hour power reserve)
case	40mm steel Oyster, fixed engraved 24-hour bezel
crystal	acrylic, flat
water resistance	100m
bezel	fixed, engraved on the steel bezel ring, four production variants plus a service bezel
dial variants	five Stern-produced production dials (Mk1 through Mk5) plus two Beyeler service dials
bracelet	7206 / 7836 / 78360 Oyster references across the run, with 380 folded or 580 solid end links
hand	orange straight-arrow 24-hour on first-year production; orange lollipop through the rest of the run
predecessor	none; the 1655 is the first Explorer II
successor	`16550`

Where it sits in the line

The 1655 is the first Explorer II. There is no predecessor — the Explorer line before 1971 was the 1016 and its Bubbleback / OCC ancestors, all single-time-zone watches without a 24-hour complication. Rolex built the Explorer II for speleologists, polar expeditioners, and others operating in conditions where ambient light could not be trusted to tell day from night. The fixed 24-hour bezel and matching orange hand do one thing: show the wearer which half of the day is outside, regardless of what the main dial is reading.

The successor is the 16550 (1984–1989), which rebuilt the line on a sapphire crystal, caliber 3085 with a true independent hour hand for time-zone use, and a redesigned 40mm case. The 16570 then ran from 1989 through 2010 on the same architecture before the 42mm 216570 took the Explorer II through the 2010s and into the 226570 currently in production. The 1655 is the only Explorer II with the caliber 1575 movement, the only one with the acrylic crystal and fixed engraved bezel, and the only one with the straight-hand/lollipop split. Everything that came after is a different reference architecture on the same family name.

Production outline

The 1655 runs as a single long production with internal dial and bezel drift that collectors have cataloged into a generation map. The movement stays on caliber 1575 throughout. The case stays on the same 40mm Oyster shell throughout. What changes is the dial printing and, to a lesser extent, the bezel font and the seconds hand. The generation map below follows the Italian Watch Spotter / Revolution consensus; it is not Rolex nomenclature.

dial	rough period	tells
Mk1	1971 to about 1973	large-crown coronet, round-foot R, T SWISS T printing without angle brackets
Mk2	about 1973 to 1977	the "Frog Foot" coronet with thicker feet; closely related to Mk1 but visibly heavier on the logo
Mk3	about 1977 to 1979	the "Rail Dial" — the Cs of `CHRONOMETER` and `CERTIFIED` line up vertically, which no other Mk does
Mk4	about 1979 to 1982	taller narrower crown; T SWISS < 25 T printing in serif font
Mk5	about 1982 to 1984	same T SWISS < 25 T line but in sans-serif; the last production-era dial
Service Mk A	Beyeler-produced	post-production service replacement, identifiable by printing vendor characteristics
Service Mk B	Beyeler-produced	a second service printing era

The Mark boundaries are approximate. No Rolex document defines them. Collector consensus from the Vintage Rolex Forum serial-project corpus places transitions inside three-to-six-month windows rather than on specific serial cutoffs. The Mk2 to Mk3 transition is the fuzziest of the set and has moved across collector writeups as new examples surface. A Mk1 on a 1973 serial and a Mk2 on a 1972 serial both exist in the dealer population, which is the kind of overlap any long-run vintage Rolex reference shows.

The seconds hand is the other visible production variable. First-year examples ship with a straight seconds hand. The lollipop hand — the round-tipped design most people associate with the reference — arrives early, usually reported on late 1971 or 1972 production, and runs through the rest of the reference's life. Straight-hand examples are the narrowest collector branch on the 1655, and a straight-hand watch paired with a Mk1 dial on a matching early bezel is the most documented early configuration.

Production end is usually placed in 1984, though some editorial rounds to 1985. Leftover inventory delivered through 1985 is real, but active production ran out in 1984 when the 16550 took over.

Movement notes

Caliber 1575 powered the 1655 throughout production. The same 1575 powered the GMT-Master 1675 across a similar period; what differs between the two references is the 24-hour-hand configuration. On the 1675, the hour hand advances independently of the 24-hour hand — set local time on arrival, leave the 24-hour hand on home time. On the 1655, the 24-hour hand is geared to the hour hand through a fixed ratio. Setting the watch advances both hands together. The 24-hour function on the 1655 is therefore a day-night indicator rather than a traveler's second-time-zone tool. That distinction is the single most-misunderstood specification on the reference.

The 1575 runs at 19,800 vph with 26 jewels and approximately 48 hours of power reserve. Hacking seconds arrived on the 1575 family during the early 1970s and are present on most 1655 examples from launch onward. Late Mk4 and Mk5 watches carry the most consistent hacking behavior; earlier examples sometimes show minor hacking inconsistencies that reflect production-era caliber revisions rather than service wear.

Rolex serviced the 1655 through the standard caliber-1575 service network for decades after production ended. Service records rarely survive on a given watch, so the practical identification of a serviced-versus-original movement is done through the movement's service stamp rather than through paperwork. An entirely un-serviced 1655 is rare; a clean service record is a stronger positive signal than an absent one.

Dial map

Mk1

The Mk1 is the first 1655 dial. The coronet uses the large-crown shape — the flared, slightly rounded outline that reads heavier than the tighter coronet the later Mks use. The ROLEX signature uses a round-foot R character. The bottom-line printing reads T SWISS T, without the < 25 notation that arrived later. Mk1 dials most reliably pair with caliber 1575 movements bearing early serial-band stamps.

A Mk1 on a straight-hand configuration is the earliest documented 1655 configuration. Mk1 dials with the lollipop hand also exist and make up the majority of surviving Mk1 examples; the straight-hand sub-variant is a small share of the Mk1 production.

Mk2 (Frog Foot)

Mk2 shares the overall layout with Mk1 but the coronet switches to a thicker-footed shape collectors label Frog Foot. The name refers to the widened feet of the crown that give it a chunkier visual weight than Mk1. The rest of the printing stays similar, and the distinction between Mk1 and Mk2 rests almost entirely on the coronet shape. Some writeups place Mk2 production from 1973 through 1977; others narrow it further depending on which surviving examples they include in the corpus. There is no published serial boundary.

Mk3 (Rail Dial)

Mk3 is the Rail Dial. The identifying feature is the vertical alignment of the C in CHRONOMETER with the C in CERTIFIED — two letters stacked exactly over each other, forming the vertical "rail" the nickname references. On Mk1, Mk2, Mk4, and Mk5, those letters sit at slightly different radial positions and do not align. Mk3 reads as visually cleaner than the other Mks for exactly that reason: the vertical rail brings the printing into a grid that the other dials lack.

Mk3 production is usually placed in the 1977–1979 window. Rail Dial examples are widely documented at auction and through specialist dealer inventories. The rail alignment is consistent across surviving Mk3 examples; minor printing weight differences appear but none breaks the rail definition.

Mk4

Mk4 moves the crown to a taller, narrower shape than either Mk1 / Mk2 or Mk3. The bottom-line printing updates to T SWISS < 25 T — the tritium-radiation notation arrived across the Rolex sport lines in the late 1970s and appears on the 1655 from Mk4 onward. The printing is in a serif font, which distinguishes Mk4 from the later Mk5.

Mk5

Mk5 carries the same T SWISS < 25 T printing as Mk4 but in a sans-serif font. The two dials are otherwise very similar; the font change is the primary Mk5 identifier. Mk5 is the last production-era dial before the 1655 was discontinued.

Service dials (Beyeler)

Two service dials, both produced by Beyeler rather than Stern, exist in the surviving population. Beyeler took over Rolex dial production for several references after Stern consolidated its work, and the 1655 picked up service dials from that era. Beyeler-produced dials carry printing characteristics that distinguish them from the Stern production runs: slightly different pad-printing geometry, marginally different T-to-plot alignment, and occasional small variations in the coronet. A service dial on a 1655 is not a disqualifier — service dials are Rolex-original parts — but it is a value and originality signal that collectors weigh against an original production-era dial. The two service-dial variants within Beyeler production are sometimes referred to as Service Mk A and Service Mk B; the taxonomy here is informal.

Tropical examples

A small share of Mk1 through Mk3 1655 dials show even-brown discoloration across the black dial, driven by photochemical and environmental aging of the early dial lacquer. Even-brown, warm examples with intact lume plots are the target definition of a tropical 1655. Patchy brown spotting, damaged lacquer, or mismatched lume plots are aging damage rather than tropical patina, and dealers distinguish the two categories explicitly. A genuine tropical Mk1 or Mk2 1655 is one of the strongest collector targets in the reference and commands a premium over black-dial examples of the same generation.

Bezels

Four production-era bezel variants and one service bezel cover the run. The bezel itself is part of the steel case top, machined and engraved with the 24-hour hour markers. Unlike a GMT-Master bezel, there is no insert — the numerals and indices are cut into the steel directly and filled with black paint. That construction gives the 1655 bezel a durability advantage over the aluminum-insert GMT-Master references, at the cost of the fade-and-patina aging that makes vintage GMT bezels collector objects on their own.

The four production bezel variants differ in numeral font weight and in the spacing of the indices around the bezel. No collector system labels them cleanly as Mk1 through Mk4 bezels. The service bezel is identified by different numeral proportions on one or two indices, reflecting the service-era tooling. Bezel and dial generations do not lock to each other — a Mk3 dial can appear on a Mk2 bezel and still be period-correct if the watch was delivered during the transition window.

Case, crystal, crown notes

Case

40mm Oyster steel, brushed top surface, polished case-flank treatment. The case is thicker than later Explorer II generations and retains the slightly heavier lug shape of early 1970s Rolex sport references. Lug-to-lug runs approximately 47mm. Case diameter is cited as 39mm in some older editorial and 40mm in most dealer catalogs; caliper measurement on surviving examples places the number at 40mm, with the 39mm claim likely referring to the visible bezel-to-lug width rather than the full case.

Drilled lug holes are standard across the run. The 1655 never got the no-holes case treatment that arrived on the 16710 in 2003.

Crystal

Plexiglass (acrylic), flat. The 1655 is the only Explorer II reference with acrylic. The 16550 moved to sapphire in 1984. Acrylic collects the small scratches and micro-mars that aging collectors read as character; a polished acrylic is standard service work and does not affect originality.

Crown

Twinlock screw-down with guards. Standard early-1970s Rolex Oyster crown. The crown tube is 6mm.

Bracelets, end links, clasps

The 1655 ran on three consecutive Oyster bracelet references across its thirteen-year life. The 7206 is the earliest, an older-style Oyster with narrower-link folded construction and hollow 380 end links. The 7836 replaced the 7206 in the mid-1970s with a similar layout and slightly updated link geometry, still on 380 hollow end links. The 78360 took over late in production with a more modern link construction and introduced 580 solid end links on the latest examples. Bracelet and end-link progressions on the 1655 are well-documented across surviving watches and inspection points, and the combination of bracelet reference, end-link code, and clasp-stamp date is the standard authentication matrix collectors apply.

Clasp codes across the run carry I-series stamps from Rolex's internal clasp-date system. A clasp stamped with a Q4 1972 code, for example, dates the bracelet to that quarter. Clasp dates date the bracelet, not the watch head. A 1973-case 1655 with a Q4 1975 clasp stamp is not inconsistent — it simply indicates a later bracelet on an earlier watch head, which happens regularly across the dealer population.

Special branches and provenance

Reinhold Messner

The mountaineer Reinhold Messner wore a 1655 during the expedition-era years that overlap with the reference's production run. Philipp Stahl (Rolex Passion Report) has handled Messner's specific watch and published its identification. Messner's 1655 is the most-documented individual example of the reference being used for the conditions the watch was engineered to handle — light-deprived environments where the 24-hour complication was mechanically useful rather than decorative.

Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, the first person to summit Everest, also wore a 1655. Stahl has documented the watch. Hillary's Explorer II provenance sits alongside the earlier 6610 / 1016 Explorer lineage on the broader Rolex-expedition line.

Don McCullin

A 1978 Rolex advertisement photographed by Don McCullin features the 1655 prominently. The ad is widely reproduced in archival collections and period-correct editorial writeups. McCullin himself is a photographer rather than a watch celebrity; the ad is a piece of period marketing rather than a celebrity-association story.

The Steve McQueen myth

The 1655 is frequently called the "Steve McQueen" in dealer listings and general-press coverage. Steve McQueen did not wear a 1655. He wore Submariner references — a 5512 documented at the 1970 Sebring endurance race, and a 5513 that he gave to his stuntman Loren Janes around 1964–1964 which Janes wore through the late 1970s. The 1655-McQueen association arose from Italian distributor marketing in the 1970s and 1980s and has been corrected multiple times in editorial research, most thoroughly in Jake Ehrlich's Rolex Magazine series and Quill & Pad's Loren Janes saga. The nickname persists because it is commercially useful; the provenance behind it does not hold. Collectors who handle 1655 watches professionally usually call the reference the Freccione rather than the "Steve McQueen" precisely because the nickname carries a factual error.

Market and collector context

The 1655 sits in the middle tier of vintage Rolex sport-reference collecting. Above it in market terms: Daytona references, early Submariner references like the 5508 and 6538, and specific pinnacle Explorer I configurations. Below it: the later Explorer II references (16550, 16570) that trade primarily on modern-market dynamics rather than vintage scarcity. Current market reads 1655 examples as strongly condition-and-variant dependent: a clean Mk1 with a matching early bezel and original bracelet trades at a substantial premium over a polished Mk5 on mismatched parts; tropical dials add further premium; straight-hand Mk1 examples anchor the upper end of the reference's market.

Auction record through the 2020s places 1655 hammers in the £15,000–£25,000 range for regular-production examples, with exceptional Mk1 or tropical lots reaching £30,000 or more. A UK record of £22,000 at Dreweatts on a non-retailer-signed 1655 is the commonly-cited upper market benchmark for standard production. Record-scale provenance examples — the Messner or Hillary watches — sit in a separate market entirely when they surface.

Secondary-market pricing has moved meaningfully with the broader vintage-Rolex cycle. The 2020–2022 peak carried 1655 pricing to levels that compressed somewhat by 2024, in line with the vintage-market correction. The reference retains a solid floor because the Explorer II scarcity story is real — production numbers were modest compared to the Submariner or GMT-Master lines — and because the historical provenance behind the reference, the genuine expedition use rather than the imagined celebrity link, gives collectors a narrative that holds up under scrutiny.

Sources