1971–198410 variants
The first Explorer II. Stick hands, a large arrow-tipped orange 24-hour hand (the “Freccione”, Italian for big arrow) geared to the hour hand, so it shows AM/PM only and cannot track a second zone. Painted markers with a large triangle at 12, bars at 6 and 9, and extra half-hour plots for the 24-hour scale; fixed steel with even-hour numerals separated by bars. Black dial only. Never connected to Steve McQueen, despite the nickname.
Five production dial Marks plus two service dials (tritium and Luminova), four bezel types and two seconds hands. Sold slowly; a 1983 example sat at its retailer for six years. Dated case numbers run from about 2.7M (1971) to about 8.27M (c. 1984).
Faded ends mark approximate or unknown dates. Years are as stated by the cited sources.
Specs shared by all variants. Variant pages show where a variant differs.
Second dial, still “T SWISS T”, told apart by the “frog foot” coronet with thin, irregular points and a narrower PERPETUAL. Like the Mark I, it came with the off-centre thick-numeral bezel. Dated examples: papers April 1973 (with Mark I bezel and straight hand), case 3.77M (c. 1974), 3'913'260 (c. 1975) and 5'513'969 (1978, guarantee 1980).