Two Broke Watch Snobs
Rolex Explorer 14270 Review: Understated Elegance in 36mm
Get the facts, stats, and photos in this comprehensive Rolex Explorer 14270 Review from TBWS Contributor Greg Bedrosian!
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Two Broke Watch Snobs
Get the facts, stats, and photos in this comprehensive Rolex Explorer 14270 Review from TBWS Contributor Greg Bedrosian!
Revolution
A skeletal essentials-only guide to the Rolex Explorer, in mostly incomplete sentences.
Revolution
A slow burner in terms of its popularity and, therefore, less ubiquitous than some other models, Revolution takes a look at the five iterations of the Rolex Explorer 2.
Revolution
In the words of Jake Elhric, “Every Rolex tells a story”. In this instance two Rolex Explorer watches tell one great story about one intrepid explorer.
Time+Tide
Editor’s note: Today’s review is a little unusual on several accounts. Most significantly it’s of a watch that’s been discontinued for seven years. Given this fact, Bruce (of BLNR fame) has written a more personal, evocative piece, which makes sense as much ink has already been shed in tribute to the details and intricacies of … ContinuedThe post IN-DEPTH: Future classic? The Rolex Explorer II ref. 16570 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.
Video
The Rolex Submariner is supposed to be the ultimate, rugged tool watch, a piece of engineering meant to dive to the bottom of the ocean and take a beating. So why does the two-tone Rolex Submariner Serti with sapphire...
Deployant
Full review: new Rolex Explorer Ref 214720 from Baselworld 2016: hands-on analysis, comparative landscape overview, live high res pics, specs and price.
Two Broke Watch Snobs
The Jack Mason Strat-o-Timer GMT Frontier refines the brand’s tool-watch identity with a hardened steel case and traveller GMT movement.
Monochrome
Rolex has never been known as a watchmaker of grand complications. The core of its portfolio consists of purposeful and precise sports watches with a dose of luxury if desired. 904L stainless steel or “Oystersteel” dominates this lineup, but 18k gold in part or in full are popular choices and often a “flex” for business […]
Quill & Pad
The watch nerd that WMMT is, he rarely immediately wears his new watches, putting them aside for a few days and letting the anticipation grow. When it finally came time to wear his new Rolex, he took it out of the box and proudly put it on his wrist. And then horror struck: he didn’t feel anything, not a thing! Zilch, nada, niente! What to do?
Worn & Wound
There has never been a better time to be in the market for a GMT watch, with no shortage of great options at a wider range of prices than perhaps ever before. There is one watch that’s remained a pillar of the genre over the years, however, and that is the Explorer II reference 16570. It holds up just as well today as it did when it was introduced in the late ‘80s, and remains a favorite among enthusiasts for its sweet spot sizing, and a timeless design that seems to go with everything. But that’s a watch that’s been out of production for decades, so where is the modern incarnation of this ethos? We may have found a perfect candidate in the Grand Seiko SBGE285. Grand Seiko hasn’t exactly been at the center of the scruffy tool watch scene in the same way that 5 digit Rolex references have, but this SBGE285 offers a compelling case for Grand Seiko’s take on the genre with this modern tool-ish GMT. This is a watch that might look a little intimidating by the numbers, but offers a different experience on-wrist. It might not be as svelte as the Explorer II, but there’s plenty to admire here, from the stunning finishing on the hands and dial furniture, to the unorthodox case architecture, which are all executed to Grand Seiko’s high standards. Ultimately, these two watches offer very different experiences that reflect the two brands at their very best. That said, they do converge in a few surprising ways, which Kat and Blake discuss in this inside look at watches...
Video
Every watch you've ever loved — every Submariner, every Datejust, every Tudor Black Bay — traces back to one man: a 12-year-old German orphan with nothing. Hans Wilsdorf didn't just found Rolex. He systematically...
Revolution
Revolution
Rolex celebrates one of its most historically significant lines, the mighty Explorer, as its flagship launch of 2021. Both the Explorer and Explorer 2 have been revisited this year and fans of the venerable tool watches won’t be disappointed.
WatchAdvice
Rolex is a brand filled with iconic model lines, from the famed Submariner to the beguiling Daytona. The brand has managed to churn out generations of their core models with only the slightest misstep here and there. One of the most recent miscalculations came out of the Explorer range. A line famous for scaling Mount Everest strapped to the wrist of the courageous Sir Edmond Hillary, braving some of the harshest conditions found on Planet Earth, the Explorer proving to be a reliable companion for such a daring endeavour. So, when it came time for Rolex to modernise the piece, and growing to its current 39mm design, it was somewhat bewildering that the Swiss giant forgot to also scale up the hands of the watch. Fear not however, never one to sit on a mistake for long, Rolex released the mark 2 spec of the newer, larger Explorer, this is the watch featured in this hands-on review. Few dials are as iconic and recognisable as the legendary Explorer 3, 6, 9 configuration. The watch being balanced, and imperfectly asymmetrical all at once, never have I looked down at the dial of the Explorer reference 214270 and thought it looked anything but ideal. At 39mm the increase in case diameter has given the dial room to breathe, the prominent Arabic numerals so synonymous with the Explorer are allowed to stand proud, not interfered with or cramped as they may feel on a lesser case size. There is a brilliance to how the dial is proportioned here, the blackness of the dial creates a...
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution’s Editor-at-Large Ken Kessler takes a tour through the watchmaking classics.
Video
Rolex officially discontinued the Pepsi GMT, and the market has completely lost its mind. With stainless steel models now trading at $30,000, it is officially time to call out the insanity.
Revolution
One of Rolex’s most enduring models and its 65 years of evolution.
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Revolution
Video
If you’re buying a Rolex or another luxury watch, preowned, there’s a good chance you’re overpaying—and it’s not your fault.
Fratello
Back in the ’90s, I got really into watches. I remember sitting across from a guy on the train who was wearing a Rolex Explorer - one without the white gold surrounds on its hour markers, so probably a reference 1016. I asked him about it, and he said he had owned it for a […] Visit Earthen Co.’s New Summit Collection Convinced Me About Ceramic Watches to read the full article.
Worn & Wound
Seiko has recently expanded their Seiko 5 Sports Field series to include two new references, each with a GMT function. A first for this line of watches following the popular series that included rotating 24 hour bezels last year, the GMT function allows for a secondary timezone to be easily read in a tidy field watch format. Whether choosing the silver SSK023 or the more rugged black SSK025, each balances functionality against a backdrop of timeless design. As for the specifications of this watch, the Seiko 5 Sports Field series is a robust and reliable timepiece designed for everyday wear. Equipped with a 4R34 automatic movement, it offers a power reserve of approximately 41 hours and is equipped with 24 jewels. The watch incorporates practical functions such as a 24-hour hand for dual time display and a stop second hand function. Functionality is identical to the earlier Seiko 5 Sports GMT release, which means an independently adjustable 24-hour hand and “caller” GMT functionality. Its stainless steel case, measuring 39.4mm in diameter and 13.6mm in thickness, includes a curved Hardlex crystal and showcases Lumibrite on both hands and indexes for enhanced visibility. The watch has a water resistance of 10 bar and magnetic resistance of 4,800 A/m, making it suitable for various environments that really lives up to its field watch bona fides. Importantly, these watches feature a fixed 24-hour bezel in the style of a Rolex Explorer II, which naturally gives these watc...
Worn & Wound
Editor’s note: In this week’s 3 Watch Collection for $5,000, Griffin Bartsch (@cgriffinbartsch on Instagram), a seasoned collector and watch enthusiast, makes his case for value with a trio of watches that punch well above their weight class. In a watch environment where prices keep climbing, it can be tough to find quality and originality that’s budget friendly, and it can be even tougher if you can easily recall a time when these things just weren’t so expensive. But as Griffin points out, there are still great watches to discover at any price point. You can make your submission to the Three Watch Collection – Reader Edition by filling out the form right here. Talk to anyone who has been a watch enthusiast or collector long enough and a constant through-line will be that watches cost more than they used to. It’s hard to deny. In the near decade and a half that I have nominally been what could be called a watch collector, the market has experienced a dramatic surge. It’s gotten to the point where it is unavoidable that rising prices have become a pretty standard stop in the flow of conversation at meetups and on forums. Even I am not immune to the temptations of the topic - I have probably mentioned a few too many times that when I was 18 I could have bought a polar dial Rolex Explorer II Ref. 16570 for the same money as my Martin D-35 (around 3500 bucks). That Martin still floats right around that price today, the Rolex decidedly does not. A result of a...
Worn & Wound
The latest limited edition produced by Wei Koh and our friends at Revolution is a high concept variant of the Nomos Tangente Neomatik 41 Update that uses one of our favorite mathematical principles as a starting point. Longtime readers might recall Blake’s dive into the Rolex Explorer 124270, and pondered what the dimensions of that watch and their relationship to the Golden Ratio meant for comfort on the wrist. The so-called Golden Ratio is derived from dividing each number in the Fibonacci series by its predecessor, and the results, in an almost mystical way, seem to line up with natural phenomenon, like the way leaves, branches, and petals grow in a predictable spiral, and the shape of the shell of a snail. This new watch, dubbed “Resilience,” is so-named because the helix shape, a pattern linked to the Fibonacci sequence, is the symbol for resilience in nature, a concept that Revolution and Nomos were interested in exploring coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Before we get to the watch, a brief refresher/math lesson is required to get everyone up to speed on the Fibonacci numbers. This will be coming from someone with a liberal arts education, so please do feel free to check my work in the comments below, as I just barely passed introductory calculus. The easiest way to understand the Fibonacci sequence is to observe that they’re a set of numbers where the next digit is always the sum of the two digits immediately preceding it. Dividing any two successive F...
Two Broke Watch Snobs
Compare Omega Railmaster vs Rolex Explorer. See which quiet luxury tool watch delivers better accuracy, comfort, and usability, based on our hands-on verdict.
Video
Hands on with the new Rolex watches of 2026
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