My First Vintage Watch: The Rolex Explorer Reference 1016

By Tony Mullin (@tonymullin_)

The Rolex Explorer reference 1016 was my first vintage watch. I decided upon the 1016 after seeing the Reference Points video/article that Eric Wind produced with HODINKEE. The watch epitomizes the ideal Explorer as we know it today. It is a wonderful condensation of Swiss engineering and typographic elegance.

What initially drew me in was the dial. You have the generous curvature of the 3, 6 and 9, versus the blockier typeface of later models. There’s something about the application of the letters - they're not “perfect,” in comparison to modern watches. The letters have a “painterly” appearance rather than a mechanical metallic border. That's why I gravitated towards a watch of that era. Eric and I kind of went back and forth on the “Mark I” versus “Mark II”. Naturally the quality of the Mark II that Eric had was really special and something I knew I would enjoy for the rest of my life.

The Explorer doesn't leave my wrist and I am always traveling with it because it's just so solid and reliable. Beautiful things with utility should really be used and not handled with white gloves. Obviously with the history of this watch, it's robustness has been proven - it can take whatever you throw at it.

A bit of background on myself: I grew up in Northern Ireland, I'm a painter and studied at the Royal College of Art.

I do photography and illustration to support myself in New York where I now live. Recently as an exercise I did a few watch illustrations after acquiring the Explorer. I reduced the drawings to their bare essentials akin to the minimalist style of Saul Steinberg and Saul Bass.

I've been living in NYC for 13 years and I love it. My wife, Emily Mullin, is a great artist and she makes beautiful ceramics. We share a studio in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and are currently expecting our first child. We plan to leave him the Explorer one day.