i finally get to post my brothers watch.
i apologise for the poor pics, but the lighting was bad. i will attempt to get better ones soon.
there is a good , if not funny, story to this piece.
my brothers father in law bought this watch off a friend in the early 80's, possibly late 70's. he wore it every day during his job as an engineer and even got welding burns on the bracelet. sadly he passed away about 10 or more years ago and the watch was given to my brother. at the time he was a tree surgeon and gardener, but he wore the watch every day because it was just a watch. he didnt have a lot of interest in watches and sadly we were estranged for too many years for reasons i wont go into.
now we are living close by each other and back to the relationship we had in the 80's he told me the story about the watch. about 18 months ago he was in London with his wife and went into the vintage Rolex store in Burlington Arcade. he saw some watches looking like his and saw the obscene prices. by this time i hadnt actually seen the watch not that i know anything about Rolex. as his watch was losing time and in need of a service he went into the store to ask about the watch. the guy in their nearly wet his pants as he saw what turned out to be a totally original 1655 Explorer II. he phoned friends and soon there were 3 other dealers pawing over the watch. one immediately offered him £xx,xxx, but he refused saying, 'why would i sell it, i need a watch to tell the time'. in the end he had it serviced and using advice from the store he insisted that the dial, bezel and hands stay original, but he did buy a new bracelet as his was knackered. 6 months later and not a huge amount out of pocket he got his watch back and this is how it now looks.
needless to say, now he knows its value he wears a G-Shock i gave him when doing things like painting, but other than that its his only mechanical watch and he wears it daily.
he has no children, his wife is an only child so it is possible that my son will be the person most likely to next take ownership although my brother is 4 years older than me so....................
best
Graham