Rolex Explorer Ref. 14270 - 'Tritium' Dial

May 29, 1953

After an arduous journey starting on March 10th of 1953, and an extremely difficult assault on the summit, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary became the first people to successfully summit Mt. Everest. On their wrist? NOT a Rolex Explorer.

Whoops.

Well, to be fair the Rolex Explorer wasn’t created yet. So why the hullabaloo about Sir Edmund Hillary? Well - he was wearing a Rolex. A Rolex Oyster Perpetual. After hearing of the success of this expedition and ruggedness of the watch - the decision was made to replace the Oyster Perpetual with a new model named in Hillary’s honor - The Explorer. Or so the story goes.

Either way, the Rolex Explorer I was introduced in 1953 but like many Rolex models, the first series was not considered ‘the best’ reference. For many collectors, the most desirable Explorer I reference is the 1016, but of course like nearly everything in the world of watches, this is subjective...

The 1016's replacement, the Ref. 14270 was a major departure from the 1016s, utilizing a glossy black dial with applied white gold indices, a sapphire crystal, and was naturally met with some negative feedback at launch. Of course, any negativity would have been purely subjective and it didn't take long for for some of the negativity to fade after enthusiasts began getting hands-on time and wearing these for awhile.

Like so many other reference, this model underwent a series of changes over its roughly 12-year production run and is typically broken down into three different variants, each with their own appeal. The early pieces had Tritium indices and handsets, whereas models produced after 1997-1998 introduced Luminova units. The third variants showed up around 1999 with the only real difference to the previous variant being the utilization of SuperLuminova for its luminous properties. Additionally, in the mid 1990s the brand shifted from a more traditional blade-style clasp to a fliplock for this 14270, and the earliest examples up until about 1993 still features lug holes on their cases.

The example that we have here is a 'T-serial' dating to circa 1996. It comes to us in fantastic overall condition, with an excellent Oyster case, correct smooth steel bezel, and correct Oyster bracelet with a blade clasp — all of which show matching light wear throughout. The dial within features the white-painted 3, 6, & 9 markers and Tritium-filled white gold indices surrounding them. It remains clear and glossy, seemingly devoid of any 'spidering' or 'stippling.' The handset matches the dial beautifully.

These early 14270s in particular are fantastic daily wearers — perhaps even perfect. The updated sapphire crystal and deep glossy black dial combined with more traditional features like the Tritium dial elements and simple blade clasp on the bracelet amount to something that has a foot in the worlds of both modern and vintage. The very definition of neo-vintage.