Reference 1016 needs hardly any introduction among watch enthusiasts. Introduced in 1959 and produced until 1990, over these three decades it cemented itself in the collectors’ imaginary as the most beloved and recognisable vintage Explorer piece, a true archetype by fame if not by chronology (the first Explorer models, ref. 6098 and 6150, being launched in 1952).

The present piece is without a doubt one of the most collectible and intriguing - both aesthetically and intellectually as well - specimens of this reference, reuniting three very attractive features under the same case.
First and foremost, the most apparent and striking trait of the watch is its Albino dial. Rolex is known to have made in absurdly scarce quantities white dial versions of its tool watches. Not only such Albino pieces are indeed enormously rare - with a number of examples in the low single digits known for most vintage references - but furthermore they feature a completely foreign aesthetic impact. So ingrained is in our mind the concept of Explorers with black dials, that the brain struggle to accepts what it is beholding. While the color of the dial is undoubtedly the star of the show, it shall not deter the connoisseur from analysing the dial further, as it holds a second, more subtle surprise which makes this Explorer the only one of its kind known so far: it is an “Exclamation mark” dial, featuring a luminous dot under the numeral at 6 (the name “exclamation mark” comes from the aesthetic effect of such dot under the baton numeral found at 6 on most Rolex dials).

Finally, a further layer of intellectual intrigue comes from the fact that this is one of the earliest specimens of reference 1016, which was introduce only a couple years before production of this watch. All this considered, it is without a doubt that the present piece is one of the most intellectually and aesthetically intriguing 1016 to ever appear at auction.