Early Explorer 1016, with a Twist

@cvalue13

Your above post is so riddled with nonsense that I will not waste time with a point by point refutation. You're also now resorting to the kind of dishonest argumentation that marred at least one of our previous encounters.

I suggest that you refrain from being dishonest, and you respond with further dishonesty. Déjà vu.

And congrats on the irony of the Zebra remark.

I would say the STAINLESS STEEL on the outer caseback was engraved ex-factory -- but still possibly by a Rolex authorized agent and/or retailer -- and was done upon import, probably to North America, due to the tariff schedule on solid steel watches vs. chrome top, silver, white gold, etc. Rolex did a lot of funny things just to save a couple of bucks on import duties back in the day (17j movements to America vs. 25j of the same calibers for Europe, for example) so I would bet that the notation relates to that. I've definitely seen this similar scratchy "hallmark" on the odd Rolex from late '50s/early '60s so I think it was just done briefly and somewhat randomly in response to some or other shifting import tariff schedule at the time.

Also, one often sees an added "ACERO" (Steel) engraving on the back many original Serpico & Laino-retailed Rolex of the '50s & '60s. So there is certainly precedent for this being solely a retailer's add-on, which might explain the relative roughness of the engraving, as well as its rarity in the wild since it could be peculiar to just a few retailers who sold only a statistically small amount of Rolex (like S&L).
As for the between-the-lugs engravings, there is a case to be made for re-engraved (either by Rolex or an indy watchmaker at service) due to bracelet end-piece wear but I have also seen some pretty poor work that was almost certainly factory original. And, in fact, sometimes if the engravings are too good on these older watches that actually indicates that it's a fake case! 😲

Finally, on the lume: I would be wary of the low geiger readings and then assuming that the dial "only" has a mix of Tritium (beta emitter) and standard Radium-226 (alpha emitter) just because there are not a lot of micro-Sieverts being picked up. Rolex was really messing around trying to boost the luminous capabilities of their tool watches between their introduction in the mid-'50s and the mandated T<25 Tritium standard in '62-'63 (again in response to United States-originated restrictions on radioactivity in watches & clocks). So the numbers/hands on this Explorer could just have a different phosphor material than the bars & triangle, with the numbers similar to what is found throughout the early to mid-60s on Rolex Sports dials, a compound with a very excitable reaction to ambient sunlight/UV light even to this day. But the types of luminous compound on this dial could still have been excited by the same radioactive element originally.

OR we could be looking at a mix of older Radium for the bars & triangle and other, "newer" exciters like Radium-228 (aka Mesothorium, a beta emitter with a half-life of just 5.75 years) and Strontium 90 (beta emitter with half life of 29 years), both of which it is well known that Rolex deployed until the Tritium rules in the USA, world's biggest market, along with the Sr-90 Bakelite 6542 GMT scandal slightly prior, made such shenanigans unprofitable, technically illegal and overly risky from a liability standpoint.

As a last note, I would also add that I don't believe I've ever seen a mix and match on Explorer lume quite like this example. Seen it plenty on the "6" bars of Submariners of the period, as a previous poster mentioned, but not on a 6610 or 1016. So it's a very interesting anomaly and it would be fascinating to get a chemical analysis of the differing lume types to find out what they are really made of (presumably the hands and the numerals are of the same or very similar material based on the matching UV reaction). From the time lapse, the non-numeral markers do react like a lot of Radium lume I've UV'ed before, while the numerals react similarly to a lot of different types off '60s Rolex Sports lume (Ex Point Gilt-era, Underline Gilt-era, post-Underline Gilt-era and early Matte dial-era). But again, these are my speculative and general impressions about the lume absent a real scientific analysis.

Just my 2¢ & YMMV.
Best,
T.

An example of retailer-applied extra "steel" markings just to have it in the thread (albeit in Spanish 😉):

(Pic via Rolex Passion Report)
Keep in ind that it would be very easy to polish out such an engraving, which may also account for their uncommon nature at this late date.
Best,
T.

Thank candy coated jeebus someone found this example -- I was Googling and checking my hard drive for like an hour! 😁👍
Best,
T.

Makes sense. It would be interesting to learn if most, or all of the known ones with the rough SS engravings were originally sold in the U.S.

Thanks Tom!