The Rolex Explorer rose to fame when Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest on 29 May 1953, with an Explorer strapped on their wrists. In fact, even though Rolex had already registered the name “Explorer” in January of the same year, it was only after Hillary and Norgay reached the peak of Everest that the name was officially adopted.

Although Rolex first experimented with '3-6-9' dials in 1953, it was not until the arrival of reference 6350 that the manufacture officially used this dial configuration in their line of production.

The key objective in creating the Explorer was dial legibility. Luminous material was thus applied to the dial, with the iconic '3-6-9' numerals clearly recognizable even from far away. Unlike reference 6150, which bore ‘Precision’, reference 6350 was marked ‘Officially Certified Chronometer’, confirming the movement had been subject to stricter timing tests.

The present example features the early and highly sought after black honeycomb dial. In lovely original condition with gilt lettering, the black dial stands out with its quarter Arabic dial, displaying only the numbers 3-6-9, with the remainder being baton numerals.