Then there’s the much more subdued fixed stainless bezel of the Explorer II which matches the case and features a 24-hour marked scale. This feature was specifically built for explorers who need to distinguish day from night – think cave explorers or polar explorers in the height of summer when the sun never sets.For decades, the durable and waterproof Oyster case on the Explorer II measured 40mm, but upon its redesign for the 40th anniversary of the collection in 2011, it was enlarged to 42mm. However, while Rolex produces a precious metal version of the Submariner, the Explorer II is exclusively offered in 904L stainless steel, and there have never been any solid gold or two-tone models ever produced. The current Explorer II is only offered on a steel Oyster bracelet with a Oysterlock clasp, but to be honest, when it comes to the Explorer II, collectors are much more concerned with what really makes this watch: the face.The dial of the Explorer II is iconic for a few reasons. The most notable being the colored 24-hour hand which circles the face. First there’s the iconic orange 24-hour hand, originally designed to help polar and cave explorers distinguish night from day, that gained its cult-status from the original “Steve McQueen” reference. Rolex eventually brought back the bright orange hand with much fanfare. Then there’s the red 24-hour hand which graced the dial for decades – it’s distinctly different than the orange hand with a skinnier body and smaller luminous triangle at the tip. The dials with a red 24-hour hand are far less punchy than their orange counterparts, but still make the Explorer II standout from the rest of the Rolex lineup.Then there are the dial colors – available in effortlessly-cool black and the coveted ‘polar’ white. The polar dial is totally cool and clean, the white face outfitted with white lume plots and Mercedes hands outlined in black. The black face on the other hand has a totally different appeal. While it boasts the same features, the darker face really highlights the stainless steel bezel, lume hour plots and lume-filled Mercedes hands (this time in white gold rather than finished black). It’s a punchier look, and the colored 24-hour hand – especially the orange one – shines against the black a little brighter.
The Rolex Submariner has been a part of the Rolex catalog for well over 60 years. As expected, the famed dive watch has undergone plenty of design and mechanical enhancements over the past six decades, including the all-important timing bezel. Read on to discover all the different types of bezels of the Rolex Submariner.When Rolex debuted the Submariner in 1953, the stainless steel dive watch included a rotating bezel marked to 60 minutes to allow divers to track immersion times. The steel bezel turned both ways for simple timing adjusting, the edge of the bezel was knurled for easy gripping underwater, and the insert was fashioned from black aluminum.The printed 60-minute scale on the earlier versions included markings for every 5 minutes, alternating between batons and numerals. By the late 1950s, Rolex started to include hash marks for the first 15 minutes on the bezel followed by 5-minute markings.Around 1969, Rolex introduced the first yellow gold Submariner, the Submariner Date ref. 1680/8. Accordingly, the knurled rotating bezel was fashioned from 18k yellow gold. What’s more, the Rolex Submariner ref. 1680/8 now offered the choice of either a black or blue aluminum bezel insert and matching dial.
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