Explorer-II review!!

[JJ Irani]

Hi guys,

Thought I'd try and throw in a brief review of my new WHITE dial Exp-II.

I'll start with the....

DIAL - Having had a bad experience with my previous white dial one about 3 years ago, I spent like 5 long minutes at my AD scrutinizing the watch very carefully under a powerful watchmaker's loupe.

PERFECT!! As WHITE as the driven snow with perfect printing and markers symmetrically spaced. Excellent and very easy to read dial printing of the usual words.

Hands nicely painted over in black to contrast clearly against the white background. RED 24-hour hand has the RED paint going all the way down to the arrowhead. RED hand to be always read off the BEZEL - never the dial!! All hands perfectly synchronised to my satisfaction!!

CASE - Solid Oyster case with crown guards just high enough to engulf the TWINLOCK crown....which more than adequately serves its purpose for what this watch was intended.

BRACELET - OYSTERLOCK with 13 original links. I can never figure out why Rolex supplies the watch with a 7+6 configuration of the watch bracelet. If you try and wear it that way, you will find the clasp going toward one side of the wrist. So the best thing to do is have your AD change it over to an 8+5 arrangement. In any event, have no more than 5 links on the 6 o'clock side even if you have a smaller wrist and have to take one off.

Very comfortable bracelet on the wrist once it has been resized properly.

MOVEMENT - Time proven 3185 movement which enables the user to move the small hour hand independently - an important convenience when travelling from one time zone to another.

31 jewels and a hi-beat 28,800 A/Hr (8 bps) gives this watch its characteristic fast ticka, ticka, tick!!

COMFORT - Very, very comfortable on the wrist. At an actual diameter of 39 mm, this is one of the slimmest Rollies in their line-up. So it sits well on the wrist and is good for small wrists too. Being slim, it slips in easily under the shirt cuffs....so can be worn as a dress watch too.

READABILITY - Superb!! The WG painted over black hands contrast so well with the Snow White dial that time reading is instantaneous!! No problems in that department. Even the cyclops is perfectly centralised over the date window. Dates are in BLACK on a WHITE background, making date readabilty instantaneous too.

PRICE - Listed at US$ 5,000...the watch is quite freely available and good discounts are possible with this model. If you plan on buying it, then buy it as a keeper. Resale on this baby is not as good as the Subs or SS Daytonas.

To summarise - The Exp-II is a superbly practical watch. If you are not a "bezel-fiddler"....even better. I love the brushed finished bezel, gently sloping away from the sapphire crystal.

If you are looking for a dual timezone watch, this would be a great choice. While the GMT-II is quite the stunner too, the SNOW WHITE dial of the Exp-II gives me an adrenalin rush like no other WHITE DIAL watch!!

So, guys, if it's a WHITE dial SPORTS Rolex you're looking for, you might want to consider the Exp-II as an option.

The other options are rather high priced (like the white SS Daytona or the TT White YM!!).

Thanks for reading.

Cheers - JJ

Easy to read dial....great lume too!!





Crown guards not too bulbous or obvious....and yet serve their purpose of protecting the crown!!



Stunning, brushed-finished, sloping bezel....



Solid OYSTERLOCK bracelet....more than adequately strong enough for the purpose it was intended for!!



Cyclops - perfectly positioned over the DATE window....for easy DATE readability...



RED 24-hour hand nicely contrasted against the white background and different from the other 3 hands - so no confusion in time reading...



No lug-hole case sides...



Very, very comfy on the wrist!!



Just go for it, guys!!

[leopardprey]

Agree with the above. Only thing I found is that compared to the Black dial version, the lum is harder to see in low light conditions, and the slim minute hand is hard to see at times. Love the case adn bezel design though and the way it fits. Very nice. If, I could change one thing, it would be to put a Maxi dial on it like the new GMTs.

The Exp II is a very classy yet sporty watch at the same time.

[richbrowne]

Good review JJ, thanks for the info.

[TARDIS]

Nice review JJ.
Even better pics.

[miner]

JJ
Always thought the Explorer II was a bit of a naff watch, nothing special. But I've just spent an evening with an old Mate with a plat YM. Now WTF has a YM got to do with a white faced ExPII??

Nothing except

I thought the Ym was a naff watch too until I'd met one in the flesh. Sweet as.. Monday I'm off to my AD to try on an ExpII.

JJ great review but nothing beats the real thing, got to try it on and see if she smiles back. And I tell you what, the plat YM smiled and sang sweet songs. Soooooo.....

Can't wait to see and hear what the ExpII does on Monday.

[Mennald]

Nice review, JJ. Happy to see you are pleased with your Explorer.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by miner

JJ
Always thought the Explorer II was a bit of a naff watch, nothing special. But I've just spent an evening with an old Mate with a plat YM. Now WTF has a YM got to do with a white faced ExPII??

Nothing except

I thought the Ym was a naff watch too until I'd met one in the flesh. Sweet as.. Monday I'm off to my AD to try on an ExpII.

JJ great review but nothing beats the real thing, got to try it on and see if she smiles back. And I tell you what, the plat YM smiled and sang sweet songs. Soooooo.....

Can't wait to see and hear what the ExpII does on Monday.

Yes, Clive, considerable difference between the two watches....and in price too!!

Try on the Exp-II and see how you feel about the fit. In all fairness to the YM, I've owned that one too at one stage and it too is a very comfortable watch on the wrist, albeit a tad heavier.

Good luck in your final decision and do keep us updated.

Cheers - JJ

[Andad]

Good one JJ.

[kpinthebay]

nice... you should write for a magazine

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by yilver

nice... you should write for a magazine

Tried Playboy....they didn't like my Rolex biased articles!!

[TARDIS]

Wrong magazine for Rolex JJ. With 'Playboy' you should write about your expertise in cleavage!.



Steve

[kpinthebay]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Tried Playboy....they didn't like my Rolex biased articles!!

Oh is that what they call them now??

"...hey George look at her Rolexes. The movement is so beautiful."

[SLRdude]

How did I miss this??

Congrats JJ!! That's a beauty.

[Gaijin]

Nice Job JJ.

[dannytam]

JJ,
Thanks for the great review.

[TDH]

Superb review. ...if the price is good at the AD's I will be getting one too....hopefully the wait won't be for too long.

[Gaijin]

If anybody wants an Explorer II and are near the West Coast, I can get you gauranteed 10% off from an AD out here. White or black dial. $4500. No sales tax too. MSRP is $5000.

[SPACE-DWELLER]

Thanks, JJ. A pleasure to read your review

[GerardoG]

VERY well posted JJ!!! Thank you! (Boy, you are in love!!!)

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by GerardoG

VERY well posted JJ!!! Thank you! (Boy, you are in love!!!)

Show me ANY Rolex....and I'll show you LOVE, Gerardo!!

[madformac]

Nice review JJ.

I have a challenge for you. Try and get a picture of the laser etched crown on the crystal of this bugger!

Its a tough one!

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by madformac

Nice review JJ.

I have a challenge for you. Try and get a picture of the laser etched crown on the crystal of this bugger!

Its a tough one!

Post a picture? I can barely see it. Took me like half an hour to spot the little fella tucked away somewhere in the domain of that crystal!!

[karwath]

The white dial with the black numbers on the bezel make the white faced exp II a stunner.

I went to an AD wanting to buy a Plat/SS YM, saw the White Exp II in person for the first time, and was struck by its looks. I decided I better hold off buying the YM until I was sure which I really wanted.

I spent the next week thinking about that EXP II.

When I returned to buy the EXP II it was gone and so I had to wait a few months for another to come in. The black dialed EXP II they had was not singing to me. And the YM I once thought I had to have, well it now looked just "so-so."

I will never part with my EXP II. I have bought many watches since then, but have never felt about any of them the way I felt when I first saw the EXP II white dial in person.

[Silvio Mosiello]

Originally Posted by madformac

Nice review JJ.

I have a challenge for you. Try and get a picture of the laser etched crown on the crystal of this bugger!

Its a tough one!

I have the same watch and same serial. I didnt even know that the engraving was there until I saw the shadow of it on the dial when the sun hit the face of the watch at a certain angle

[Danz]

Originally Posted by JJ Irani

Show me ANY Rolex....and I'll show you LOVE, Gerardo!!

Thanks JJ for that detail reviews, I used to own a ExpII black dial, its too common in black a most sport series comes in black dial, I have recently sold it and purchase the white dial one, this is a great pc.

cheers!

Danz from Singapore!

[Flyjet601]

Originally Posted by GerardoG

VERY well posted JJ!!! Thank you! (Boy, you are in love!!!)

I agree, good review......(and it is a bit creepy, thank God they are waterproof )

[portable75]

That was great! I love the pics. Thats my next purchase.....

[kelsod333]

Hi,

Great review! BTW...I own this watch and am curious as to what kind of crown mechanism the EXPII has since there is a solid line under the Rolex symbol on the crown as opposed to the three dots of a triplock or no dots of a twinlock? Is it either of these or something entirely different?

Thanks for your help anyone.

[BiG JeEzY]

Originally Posted by kelsod333

Hi,

Great review! BTW...I own this watch and am curious as to what kind of crown the EXPII has since there is a solid line under the Rolex symbol on the crown as opposed to the three dots of a triplock?

Just curious. Thanks for your help anyone.

Dave

Welcome to the forums kelsod333!

The Explorer II has a twinlock crown. The line under the crown indicates that its a twinlock. They are guaranteed water resistant to a depth of 330 feet or 100 meters. The twinlock is also smaller than the triplock.

On the Submariners, you would see a crown with three dots under the crown and that is indeed the triplock.

[gtwatson]

Originally Posted by BiG JeEzY

Welcome to the forums kelsod333!

The Explorer II has a twinlock crown. The line under the crown indicates that its a twinlock. They are guaranteed water resistant to a depth of 330 feet or 100 meters. The twinlock is also smaller than the triplock.

On the Submariners, you would see a crown with three dots under the crown and that is indeed the triplock.

Is the following an urban legend? Someone told me that the bar under the crown stood for a gold bar and was on all gold Rolex watches. I've always wondered what the bar and dots stood for.