Thinking about doing a Rolex 1675 / 1655 modification

leetse2 · Jun 16, 2020

Vintage Rolex purists avert your eyes and click back now! I have always loved the dial and hands of the Rolex Explorer II 1655. But I also like the look and the functionality of the rotating bezel of a GMT. I am strongly considering modifying a 1675 GMT Master with either the dial and hands from a 1655 or just the hands. Here are a couple crude mockups. I'm leaning towards just modding the hands, as it looks a little less cluttered and would potentially be easier to read. I'm planning on sourcing Luminova service parts to not further bastardize valuable vintage parts. Curious to get your thoughts.

-LT

All the original images are from HQMilton.

mzinski · Jun 16, 2020

Interesting project! My two-cents:

- The use of the black insert is a no-brainer. Maintaining a monotone composition with only the GMT hand in color creates a pleasing balance of all the parts.
- While I like the clean, simple aesthetic of a GMT dial, I do not think the hand set matches very well. Again, compositionally the Explorer hand set better matches the rectangular indexes and dial layout. For instance, look at the overlap of the GMT hand to the circular indexes on the GMT - compare that to the perfect alignment on the Explorer dial (the tip of the arrow lines up to the edge of the index).
- I do like the relationship between the circular indexes of the GMT to the insert dots better but when the other issues are taken into account I think it's not that pressing or overwhelming.

Have you checked dial diameters? Are the Explorer and GMT the same size?

I look forward to seeing your end result.

leetse2 · Jun 16, 2020

mzinski
Interesting project! My two-cents:

- The use of the black insert is a no-brainer. Maintaining a monotone composition with only the GMT hand in color creates a pleasing balance of all the parts.
- While I like the clean, simple aesthetic of a GMT dial, I do not think the hand set matches very well. Again, compositionally the Explorer hand set better matches the rectangular indexes and dial layout. For instance, look at the overlap of the GMT hand to the circular indexes on the GMT - compare that to the perfect alignment on the Explorer dial (the tip of the arrow lines up to the edge of the index).
- I do like the relationship between the circular indexes of the GMT to the insert dots better but when the other issues are taken into account I think it's not that pressing or overwhelming.

Have you checked dial diameters? Are the Explorer and GMT the same size?

I look forward to seeing your end result.

Really appreciate the feedback and thoughts. Completely agree on the better composition of the 1655 hands and dial. I just struggle with the contrast of the bezel dots and the dial squares, it just seems like a bit too much. I have also heard that the 1655 dial is harder to quickly tell the time on, which I can totally see. I saw that Oliver Shepard, an explorer who needed a true tool watch, elected to have the 1675 dial and hands put int he 1655 case to provide better legibility.

mzinski · Jun 16, 2020

leetse2
Really appreciate the feedback and thoughts. Completely agree on the better composition of the 1655 hands and dial. I just struggle with the contrast of the bezel dots and the dial squares, it just seems like a bit too much. I have also heard that the 1655 dial is harder to quickly tell the time on, which I can totally see. I saw that Oliver Shepard, an explorer who needed a true tool watch, elected to have the 1675 dial and hands put int he 1655 case to provide better legibility.

Huh - I’ll have to dig deeper into this story. Is it confirmed the special order was fulfilled by Rolex or was it produced by someone else?

mancio · Jun 17, 2020

leetse2
Vintage Rolex purists avert your eyes and click back now! I have always loved the dial and hands of the Rolex Explorer II 1655. But I also like the look and the functionality of the rotating bezel of a GMT. I am strongly considering modifying a 1675 GMT Master with either the dial and hands from a 1655 or just the hands. Here are a couple crude mockups. I'm leaning towards just modding the hands, as it looks a little less cluttered and would potentially be easier to read. I'm planning on sourcing Luminova service parts to not further bastardize valuable vintage parts. Curious to get your thoughts.

-LT

All the original images are from HQMilton.

The one on the right looks unbulanced, the one on the left looks Fking great!!

WatchCor · Jun 17, 2020

Wouldn't the difference id case size (38vs 40mm) indicate that the Exp dial wouldn't fit snugly into a GMT case. How about the dial feet? How would one attach the dial?

Esthetically the one the left looks better but I suspect that the relative sizes are mismatched. I suspect there will be a 1-mm gap between the dial even if you managed to attach it properly. Similarly there might be a slight misalignment in the date window due to the case size difference.

All of the above is speculation and just my opinion. Haven't heard or read about something like this before.

Having said that, as a owner of 1655 I also say

leetse2 · Jun 18, 2020

Seems like the consensus is that both the 1655 dial and hands need to stay together. The original inspiration for this potential mod came from seeing it on Andy Garcia. Don't exactly know how Andy had this done, but it looks like a 1655 with a 1675 bezel fitted to that case. Not sure if the crystal retention ring from a 1675 would fit a 1655.

Andy%2BGarcia%2BRolex%2BGMT-Master%2Bwith%2BOrange%2BHand%2BReference%2B1655%2BSpinning%2BBlack%2BBezel.jpg

Image from the great site Jake's Rolex World, rolexmagazine.com.

mzinski · Jun 18, 2020

WatchCor
Wouldn't the difference id case size (38vs 40mm) indicate that the Exp dial wouldn't fit snugly into a GMT case. How about the dial feet? How would one attach the dial?

Esthetically the one the left looks better but I suspect that the relative sizes are mismatched. I suspect there will be a 1-mm gap between the dial even if you managed to attach it properly. Similarly there might be a slight misalignment in the date window due to the case size difference.

All of the above is speculation and just my opinion. Haven't heard or read about something like this before.

Having said that, as a owner of 1655 I also say

Dial feet and date window shouldn't be of concern, both references 1675 and 1655 used the 15XX GMT movements. This is to say, dial feet and date disc will be in the same location. The dial diameter is the prime concern in swapping. If both are 27.2mm, should be good to go.

JwRosenthal · Jun 18, 2020

leetse2
Seems like the consensus is that both the 1655 dial and hands need to stay together. The original inspiration for this potential mod came from seeing it on Andy Garcia. Don't exactly know how Andy had this done, but it looks like a 1655 with a 1675 bezel fitted to that case. Not sure if the crystal retention ring from a 1675 would fit a 1655.

Image from the great site Jake's Rolex World, rolexmagazine.com.

Perhaps you should reach out to Andy and ask if that was a factory order or a mod, he would probably appreciate somebody calling him these days.