What a 1655 Clone Should Get Right
A Rolex Explorer II 1655 clone is worth buying only if it copies the original reference at four points: a 39 mm steel case with crown guards, a fixed steel bezel engraved with a 24-hour scale, a matte black dial, and a large orange 24-hour hand. If a seller cannot confirm those four specs in writing, the watch is a generic GMT with vintage styling, and anyone who knows the reference will spot it across a table.
The 1655 ran from 1971 into the mid 1980s and picked up the nickname Steve McQueen long after the actor had stopped wearing an Explorer II. Original examples trade in the tens of thousands of dollars, which is why the clone market exists. The checks below tell you whether a build is a serious reproduction or a parts-bin gamble.
Prerequisites
- Know the target specs before you shop: 39 mm case, 20 mm lug width, roughly 13 mm thick, plexi crystal, reference 7836 Oyster bracelet with 580 end links.
- Ask the seller for the movement name, case dimensions, and crystal material in a written message you can keep.
- Accept that selling counterfeit watches is illegal in the United States. Importing them can be seized at customs. Evaluate the risk before you spend.
How to Evaluate a 1655 Clone
- Measure the case. It should read 39 mm across the bezel, 20 mm between the lugs, and 47 mm from lug tip to lug tip. A 40 mm or 42 mm case is a different watch wearing 1655 clothes.
- Check that the bezel does not rotate. The 1655 bezel is fixed steel with a 24-hour scale cut into the metal and filled black. A rotating bezel belongs on a 1675 GMT-Master, not here.
- Look at the 24-hour hand. It should be bright orange, straight, and arrow tipped, with no lume fill. Weak orange, a bent shaft, or a painted tip signals a cheap hand set.
- Read the dial print. Genuine layout is ROLEX over OYSTER PERPETUAL over EXPLORER II in the upper half, with SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER and OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED below the center. Font weight should be thin and even, not bold block lettering.
- Inspect the hour markers. Tritium style plots sit in metal surrounds, and the date window at 3 o'clock carries a cyclops. Misaligned plots or a flat printed dial are the fastest tells.
- Confirm the 24-hour hand completes one full turn every 24 hours and the date flips at midnight, not noon. Set the watch to 11:55 PM and watch it change.
- Ask which movement is inside. Accept an ETA 2893-2, an ETA 2836 with a GMT module, or a Miyota 9075. A basic three-hand movement with a decorative 24-hour hand cannot track a second time zone.
- Test the bracelet and end links. Reference 7836 folded links should move freely but not rattle like a tin can, and the 580 end links should sit flush against the case with no gap.
- Pressure test the watch if you plan to wear it near water. A vintage-style case with a plexi crystal and old gaskets will not survive a pool without fresh seals.
Red Flags
Walk away from a listing that hides the movement, shows only stock photos, quotes a case size as "about 40 mm," or sells the watch as genuine at a price that makes no sense. Sellers who refuse a timestamped photo of the actual watch are reselling someone else's pictures.
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After You Buy
Have a watchmaker regulate the movement and replace the case gaskets. Keep the plexi crystal clean with a soft cloth, since the material scratches easily and polishing compound will round off the case edges. Store the watch away from magnets and wear it on rotation so the lubricants stay spread.