Albino orange hand of Explorer II

[imranahmed]

I am rather curious as I have read and heard from my buddy Steve Mulholland
about the Albino orange hand.Apparently in one batch or year rolex used a different paint for orange. I will never disagree with Steve as he is honest as bricks but if there is any chemical guy here he may explain the phenomenon to me. Wow what variety we have in Rolex's !

[padi56]

Originally Posted by imranahmed

I am rather curious as I have read and heard from my buddy Steve Mulholland
about the Albino orange hand.Apparently in one batch or year rolex used a different paint for orange. I will never disagree with Steve as he is honest as bricks but if there is any chemical guy here he may explain the phenomenon to me. Wow what variety we have in Rolex's !

Its just something in the paint pigment,that reacts with everyday light very much like the blue dialled Subs from the early 90s.They turned a shade of purple and on the all gold models looked fantastic.There was a fault in the paint and Rolex offered to change dials free of charge if you wanted too, but many liked the purple hue and kept them.Now whether they will ever fetch a premium price in future maybe.

[Tools]

Some of the early 70's orange hands were susceptible to UV and, over time, the orange of the hand was bleached out. Usually that showed up as a very faint beige or slight orangish look. It's really just a name to denote a faded hand and not a particular model inference..

Unfortunately, this is also easily faked, so it's not really a sought after attribute and those of most years with a distinctly orange hand may be more valuable...