Much like the red line of text on the dial of the latest Sea-Dweller, the bright orange, arrow-shaped 24-hour hand on the latest incarnation of the Rolex Explorer II is a design element directly borrowed from the very first version of the watch from 1971. For a number of decades, this style of 24-hour hand was entirely absent from the Rolex watch catalog, during which time, the Explorer II shared a 24-hour hand design with Rolex’s GMT-Master II line of watches.However, in 2011 for its 40th anniversary, the Explorer II line received a complete makeover, both inside and out. Although the vast majority of the new reference 216570 Explorer II was completely different from the original version and classifies it as an undisputedly modern timepiece, the large, orange-colored, arrow-shaped, 24-hour hand is aesthetically almost identical to the one on the original version of the Explorer II from the early 1970s.A significant part of the allure of the Rolex GMT-Master II 126710BLRO is rooted in its vintage-inspired design elements, such as its red and blue, “Pepsi” bezel insert and its Jubilee-style bracelet. The very first Rolex GMT-Master watches from the mid-1950s were made from stainless steel and fitted with half-red, half-blue bezel inserts; however, ever since the introduction of Cerachrom (ceramic) bezels, half-red, half-blue “Pepsi” bezel inserts were only available on the 18k white gold version of Rolex’s GMT-Master II. The reference 126710 GMT-Master II marked the return of a stainless steel “Pepsi” GMT, as well as the return of the Jubilee bracelet to the GMT-Master line.
IW389001 is in whole black, including the dial, it is the model I prefer. While IW389002 has a green dial. There is one little difference between the two watches on the dial, that is IW389002 has a red circle on the center of the dial to display 12 hours. Two subdials are positioned at 12 and 6 o’clock. The subdial with a small red hand is small seconds subdial, while the subdials at 12 o’clock have two small dials in sunken design, the outer one is 60-minute chronograph counter, while the inner one is 12-hour chronograph counter. All hour markers are in white, the markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock are applied with luminous material, they will emit a strong green light at night.Compared with the green dial of IW389002, I like the black one of IW389001 more. It has a match of white details in blackground, which greatly increases the dial readability. Black looks cooler too.
