Rolex · Explorer II
Rolex Explorer II 226570: specifications and what to check
A GMT with a fixed bezel: the 24-hour scale is engraved into steel and does not rotate, so the second time zone is read rather than set. Forty-two millimetres and a Twinlock crown.
Reference 226570 · specifications read from the manufacturer on 2026-09-22 · listed as current
Specifications
As published by Rolex. A field the manufacturer does not state is left out rather than filled in.
- Case
- Oyster, 42 mm, Oystersteel. Monobloc middle case, screw-down case back and winding crown
- Diameter
- 42 mm
- Water resistance
- Waterproof to 100 metres / 330 feet
- Crystal
- Scratch-resistant sapphire, Cyclops lens over the date
- Bezel
- Fixed, 24-hour graduated
- Dial
- Black, with highly legible Chromalight display with long-lasting blue luminescence
- Case back
- Screw-down
- Crown
- Screw-down, Twinlock double waterproofness system
- Bracelet
- Oyster, three-piece solid links, Oystersteel
- Clasp
- Folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Easylink 5 mm comfort extension link
Movement
- Calibre
- Calibre 3285, Manufacture Rolex
- Type
- Perpetual, mechanical, self-winding, GMT function; bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor
- Power reserve
- Approximately 70 hours
- Certification
- Superlative Chronometer (official chronometer certification + Rolex certification after casing)
- Notes
- Precision −2/+2 sec/day after casing. 24-hour display, second time zone with independent rapid-setting of the hour hand, instantaneous date, stop-seconds.
What to check before you buy
- Confirm the bezel does not rotate. It is fixed by specification, and one that turns has either been replaced with the wrong part or damaged at the mounting.
- Check the 24-hour graduations on the steel bezel for wear. They are engraved into metal rather than moulded into ceramic, so they mark and dull in a way a Cerachrom insert never does.
- Exercise the independent hour hand in one-hour jumps and confirm the 24-hour hand and minutes hold position throughout.
- Inspect the Cyclops lens over the date for lifting at its edges. It is bonded to the crystal, and a partially detached lens is both visible and a water-ingress path.
- Check the case at 42mm for the dents that large steel cases collect at the lug tips, which is where a watch this size makes contact when knocked.
A fixed bezel changes the complication
Both this and the GMT-Master II run the calibre 3285 with an independently rapid-setting hour hand. What separates them is above the dial.
The GMT-Master II's bezel rotates, which lets an owner track a third zone by turning the 24-hour scale against the hand. This one's bezel is fixed and 24-hour graduated, engraved into the steel. The second zone is read off a scale that never moves.
That makes this the simpler instrument and, in practice, the harder one to misuse. It also means a bezel that turns on this reference is wrong — a genuinely useful binary check that takes a second to perform.
Engraved steel wears differently from ceramic
Because the scale here is cut into the steel bezel rather than moulded into a ceramic insert, it ages like metal. Graduations dull, fill with polish residue, and lose definition where the bezel is handled.
None of that is damage exactly, but it is condition, and on a used example it is one of the more visible indicators of how hard a watch has been worn. Look at the numerals at 6 and 18 — the parts closest to the wrist and most often rubbed.
The Cyclops is a bonded part
The crystal carries a Cyclops lens over the date, and that lens is bonded rather than machined from the same piece. Over years, and especially after poor service work, the bond can begin to fail at the edges.
Check it under angled light for any line of separation or trapped contamination. A lifting Cyclops is a route for moisture into a case rated at 100 metres, and it is the kind of fault that photographs poorly and shows plainly in the hand.
Forty-two millimetres collects knocks
The largest steel case in this group. Big cases catch door frames and desk edges at the lug tips, and that is where to look first — dents and flat spots at the extremities rather than scratches across the flanks.
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Sources
Not affiliated with Rolex. Specifications are read from the manufacturer's own published documentation on the date shown and may change; the manufacturer's current documentation governs.