16570 - 'Tuminova' or Swiss only?

[hayy]

Hi gents, I'm new here and have been looking to acquire a pre-owned 16570 Explorer II.

There are two variants which I see on the market right now, and I'm wondering if you guys could share your opinions.

1) 1997 - Swiss-T<25 (tritium) dial but with Luminova applied on indices and hands - apparently a transitional model during when Rolex was moving to Luminova

2) 1999 - Swiss only dial - also a transitional model with Luminova, before Rolex moved on to SuperLuminova in post 2000.

Both are similarly priced - with (1) having a couple of corrosion on the hands and (2) with some dings on the bezel.

What are your thoughts on the two above variants? Some inputs would be greatly help in my decision making... thank you so much!

[Tools]

Get the one in the best condition for the price you want to pay.

What the lume is, is irrelevant, unless you have a preference.

[hayy]

Thanks Tools for the note.

Yes I suppose I should select the one with the better condition. Just can't help but wonder if I would end up with any "regrets" if i purchase one over the other...

If others have any inputs, your 2cents would be much appreciated.

[iliketime]

Unless you are after the tritium patina, the lume on both of those would probably be dead at this point. does one have box/papers? better condition?

[nigelk]

I'll choose dings on bezel over corrosion on the hands any day since the bezel can be easily replaced if you really want to.

Replacement tritium hands with matching patina to your dial would be hard to change if the hands' corrosion gets really bad.

If this is the polar version of the explorer we are talking about, i always find the yellow patina-ed markers on a white dial to be weird. It doesn't really pair that well to me. On a black dial they look great though.

Just my thoughts ;)