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The Rolex Explorer II 1655 was produced for a relatively short period of time, from 1971 to 1984/85. It was designed specifically for cave explorers who, due to being in the dark for so many hours at a time and according to the Rolex marketing at the time, tend to lose their perspective on “day” and “night.”
It housed the cal.1575 movement, which is the hacking movement used in the GMT 1675 from 1971 onward. The 24-hour hand on the 1575 is not independently adjustable, further more, the 1655 has a fixed bezel, so the 24-hour hand was simply intended to signify whether or not the time shown by the main hands was night or day - 4:00 a.m. or 4:00 p.m. for example.
The watch was never a big seller during its production run, especially when compared to models like the 1675 GMT Pepsi or the Submariner.
Many argued that the appearance of the Explorer II was problematic, with claims that the dial was cluttered or even illegible, it may also have had something to do with the way they were marketed by Rolex at the time.
During its production run, the Rolex Explorer II 1655 went through five dial variations, two different seconds hands - straight seconds hand and seconds hand with luminous dot - four different bezels, and two GMT hands. On some Explorer II 1655's, you will see that some of them have a 24-hour hand that appears to be yellow or all white. Both the original orange hand and the later red hand tend to discolor badly.
The Rolex Explorer 1655 shot to fame when it was rumored to be worn by one very famous man. Ironically this seems to have been a mistake - a journalist misidentified his 5512 Submariner - there is no evidence that Steve McQueen ever owned a 1655 Explorer II. What is certain is that they’re a lot more popular now than when they were available as a current model.
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