If the two-tone Explorer I was one of the biggest surprises of Watches & Wonders 2021, then Rolex?s other major release, the new Explorer II Ref. 226570, may well have been one of the show?s most expected. This year, after all. marks the 50th anniversary of the original Explorer II Ref. 1655 from 1971, and so it was widely anticipated, and later teased by Rolex directly, that a revitalization of the design was on the way. And while many in the watch world drew up mock models and placed their bets, Rolex still managed to surprise most everyone by making only minor design edits and upgrading the movement to the manufacture’s current GMT-equipped flagship caliber.

A closer look at the new Explorer II’s 42 mm-diameter, 12.5-mm-thick steel case reveals that it’s essentially the same as that of the prior Reference 216570. The only apparent differences are subtle, in the slimmed down lugs reduced by a cumulative 1-mm (and made up for, in a sense, by an additional 1 mm of width on the steel Oyster bracelet. Many anticipated the 226570 to feature a new ceramic bezel, but this latest reference kept to the traditional family look instead, continuing in its use of a satin-finished steel bezel.
The dial’s updates are also relatively minuscule, the most obvious being the use of a tiny Rolex crown emblem between ?Swiss? and ?Made? at the bottom of the dial, an element lacking from the description on previous models. Beyond that, the classic Explo...