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Caravelle Sea Hunter — Explorer Dial

Details

The Story

Here's a vintage Caravelle Sea Hunter 666 diver manual wind with a black dial from the late 60s, early 70s Keeps great time and is fully functional. Measurements include a 36mm case size and 20mm lug width. On a grey vintage-style leather strap (Made in Italy). Time only. 3,6,9,12 \"explorer\" dial. Dauphine hands. The lume in both the hands and hour markers have a slight hue of patina. The black dial has some staining and smudging when looking up close in the photos. Black bi-directional rotating bezel. Steel case and caseback. The dial and crystal are free from any scratches or marks. All parts are original including the signe Bulova crown, caseback, dial, and movement. Both the dial and movement are in great cosmetic, untouched condition.
Key Specs
History

In May 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest wearing Rolex watches. The Explorer — launched that same year — was Rolex's acknowledgment that the Oyster case could go anywhere. Clean dial, no complications, just luminous Arabic numerals at 3, 6, and 9 on a matte black background. Function as design.

The Explorer II followed in 1971 for a different kind of explorer: speleologists and scientists working in environments where day and night lose meaning. A fixed 24-hour graduated bezel and an additional orange GMT hand allowed cave explorers and polar researchers to track whether it was AM or PM when daylight was unavailable.

References 14270 and 114270 (Explorer I, 36mm) and 16570 (Explorer II, 40mm) in our inventory cover the 1990s through mid-2000s — the most mature and reliable expressions of both watches before they were resized in subsequent generations.