Born of a time where a watch needed little more than three hands today's Explorer can trace its roots back to 1953 with a ground-breaking expedition
link to the world's highest peak. These earliest Explorer models were provided by Rolex for testing on the expedition that saw
link Sir Edmund Hillary
link and Tenzing Norgay conquer Mt. Everest on May 29 1953. The "Explorer" branding was registered in Geneva earlier that same year and the watches were prototyped specifically for this Summit bid.