real dial or a redial of this 1950s Rolex ?

pitpro · May 7, 2015

http://watchestobuy.com/OysterExplorerBoys.htm/
This 29mm.OYSTER EXPLORER (by ROLEX) is the FIRST EXPLORER EVER produced by ROLEX! Despite what you read anywhere on the net, this boy’s size EXPLORER was the FIRST EXPLORER EVER to appear and dates to 1940. ONly manufactured for the Canadian market; this watch is extremely rare and only the second we have owned in 25 years collecting ROLEX watches. The stainless steel ref. 3121 case has a gold bezel. The original gold OYSTER PATENT winding crown is in fine shape. The dial and hands are entirely original to the watch, with gold, reflective outer minute track and sub-seconds. These watches were marketed IN CANADA only (as were the first dress Explorers in 1953). The OYSTER series watches such as the Raleigh, Lipton, Junior sport, Dudley, Commander, Centregraph etc. were market in the Canadian PX stores to soldiers going overseas in WW2. We purchased this watch from the owner’s wife in New Brunswick Canada-never polished or altered and in its original state. The correct caliber 59 movement is signed ROLEX under the dial.

807eye · Apr 12, 2024

pitpro
I don't think I said it was specific to any case reference. That would have been kind of silly as I
just referenced your 6018 in the post which is right above mine and it had the same type dial.
I was making a point on the lineage of the Rolex Explorer and these dials were part of the
progenesis of the Explorer line. Rolex was experimenting with many dial types at this stage
in both references..
The 6098 was the prototype and the 6298 was the update to that prototype in the development
of a more robust cased watch, both references are scarce. Both these references participated in the Sir Edmund Hillary
Mt. Everest ascent and other expeditions of the time. The ascent was March 1953 and I believe the
common thinking is that Explorer made it onto the dial 4-5 months later.
Now that I am looking at the crown on the OP's picture, I think there's a good chance it could be a 6098 or 6298.
Somebody ought to grab it if resonably priced

Sir Edmund Hillary's 6084 (from an earlier expedition)

Here's some 6098's

Here's some 6298's
Sir Edmund Hillary's supposed Everest watch( some say he wore a Smith's)

other 6298's
mine:bought from E.Ku

807eye · Apr 12, 2024

pitpro
I don't think I said it was specific to any case reference. That would have been kind of silly as I
just referenced your 6018 in the post which is right above mine and it had the same type dial.
I was making a point on the lineage of the Rolex Explorer and these dials were part of the
progenesis of the Explorer line. Rolex was experimenting with many dial types at this stage
in both references..
The 6098 was the prototype and the 6298 was the update to that prototype in the development
of a more robust cased watch, both references are scarce. Both these references participated in the Sir Edmund Hillary
Mt. Everest ascent and other expeditions of the time. The ascent was March 1953 and I believe the
common thinking is that Explorer made it onto the dial 4-5 months later.
Now that I am looking at the crown on the OP's picture, I think there's a good chance it could be a 6098 or 6298.
Somebody ought to grab it if resonably priced

Sir Edmund Hillary's 6084 (from an earlier expedition)

Here's some 6098's

Here's some 6298's
Sir Edmund Hillary's supposed Everest watch( some say he wore a Smith's)

other 6298's
mine:bought from E.Ku

Pitpro,

Even your messages from 9 years back have been very helpful to me. I haven't been absent; I've been looking around at other timepieces (1970s Patek, Piaget, and Chopard, and other 1950s Rolex and Tudor) but always come back to the pre-Explorers. I have posted both here and on the Rolex forum but get very little to no responses. I'm not sure I am approaching the forum correctly.

In any case, I made a friend last fall in Belgium from whom I got a 6332. He knows of my interest in the pre-Explorers and found this one below, a 6298 (928477), just recently. The dial is a bit rough but the crown, case back and movement look solid. The hands I was questioning him about as they looked both more oddly shaped (like 1940s Rolex) and older than the dial (like they had barely survived a house fire). And neither he nor the dealer who sold it to him could say for sure. But sure enough, looking around (First looking at "Canadian" Explorers which seem to be 5500 and 5501, then at any 6298 that I could find anywhere on the web), I finally found this omega forum in which you had given examples of both 6098s and 6298s. And there above is the exact same dial face as the one he has. Photos to follow.