By TEEEMPUS · Published
The Rolex Explorer 40 has no date, no magnifier and no turning bezel. What's left is a black dial with luminous 3, 6 and 9 numerals, a triangle at 12, batons and a Mercedes hour hand, inside a smooth bezel, in a 40 mm Oystersteel case on an Oyster bracelet. Its reference is 224270-0001, it's water resistant to 100 metres, and inside is Rolex's automatic calibre 3230, with about 70 hours of power reserve. If 40 mm is more than you want, the 36 mm Explorer, reference 124270, has the same face in a smaller case.
Rolex's US site listed it at $8,350 in a copy of the page archived on 10 June 2026. The live page wouldn't load for us, so that's the latest US price we could read.
A dial with that little on it is easy to borrow. We went through watches like the Rolex Explorer on sale in the US today and kept six with its black dial and numerals on a steel bracelet, from $152 to $4,025. Nothing above $5,000 looked enough like an Explorer to make the list, so the dearest of them costs about half of the Rolex's price. Each one comes with what it gets wrong. Prices are regular US list prices, not sale prices, checked on 26 October 2026. Tudor's comes from US retailers, and its section says which. The photos are to scale, so if a watch looks smaller here, it is. The one exception is the Islander: there's no straight-on photo of it, so its size is approximate.
One of the six is marked as a homage, the watch world's word for a watch that follows a famous design on purpose, under its own name. If you came looking for an Explorer homage, it's the Pagani Design. Retailers often sell for less than the list prices here. Where we couldn't confirm that Amazon lists the exact watch, its Amazon button runs a search instead.
This is the watch every pick is measured against, the Explorer 40, reference 224270-0001, on six points:
Nothing below matches all six. Only the Pagani has the Mercedes hour hand, only the Pagani and the Monta are 40 mm, and only the Monta has a date. The Islander and the Lorier are 36 mm, the size of the smaller Explorer. Every pick is water resistant to at least the Rolex's 100 metres, and Tudor is the only maker here that says its movement is certified as a chronometer.
| Watch | US list price | Case | Numerals | Hour hand |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pagani Design PD-1692 II (homage) | $152 | 40 mm | 3, 6, 9 | Mercedes |
| Islander Manhasset | $299 | 36 mm | 3, 6, 9 | Sword |
| Lorier Falcon | $699 | 36 mm | 3, 6, 9 | Broad arrow |
| Nivada Grenchen Super Antarctic 3.6.9 | $1,145 | 38 mm | 3, 6, 9 | Round tip |
| Monta Triumph | $1,850 | 40 mm | 3, 9 | Sword |
| Tudor Ranger | $4,025 | 39 mm | 12, 3, 6, 9 | Arrow |
| Rolex Explorer 40, for comparison | $8,350 | 40 mm | 3, 6, 9 | Mercedes |
If you want the Explorer's face and don't mind whose name is on the dial, this is the one to look at. Pagani lays the black dial out as Rolex does, with 3, 6 and 9, a triangle at 12, batons in between, a Mercedes hour hand and no date, inside a smooth polished bezel, on an Oyster-style bracelet. The 316L steel case is 40 mm across, the Rolex's size, and 12 mm high, with a screw-down crown and a sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating. It's water resistant to 200 metres, twice the Rolex's rating, and Pagani names a Miyota 8215 automatic, with 42 hours of power reserve.
What you give up: the dial carries Pagani's logo, and its water rating where the Rolex's says Superlative Chronometer. The power reserve is 42 hours against about 70, and Pagani doesn't publish the lug-to-lug length. It lists at $152, a fifty-fifth of the Rolex, and was on sale for $139 when we checked.
This is our pick for value: nearly all of the Explorer's dial, at the size of the smaller Explorer. The black dial has applied 3, 6 and 9 numerals filled with C3 Super-LumiNova, a triangle at 12, batons in between and no date, inside a polished smooth bezel. The steel case is 36 mm across, 12 mm thick and 43 mm from lug to lug, with an oversized screw-down crown and a flat sapphire crystal, and a sapphire caseback shows the Miyota 82S0 automatic, which has 40 hours of power reserve. It's water resistant to 100 metres, like the Rolex, on a brushed steel bracelet that tapers from 20 mm to 16 mm. Islander sells it through Long Island Watch, which had it in stock.
What you give up is the Mercedes hand and 4 mm of case. The hands are slim swords, and the case is 36 mm against the Rolex's 40, the size of the Explorer 124270. The power reserve is 40 hours against about 70. There's no straight-on photo of it, so the one here is taken from a slight angle and its size is approximate. It costs $299, a twenty-eighth of the Rolex.
Pick the Falcon if the 3-6-9 dial and a slim, small case matter more to you than the triangle and the Mercedes hand. Lorier polishes and facets the broad-arrow hands, the applied numerals and markers, the bezel and the chamfers along the case. The glossy black dial has no date and sits under a domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on the inside. The steel case is 36 mm across, 8.8 mm thick plus a 1.6 mm dome, and 44 mm from lug to lug, with a screw-down crown, and it's water resistant to 100 metres. Inside is a Miyota 9039 automatic, and the bracelet has solid end links and tapers from 20 mm to 16 mm.
What you give up is the triangle and the Mercedes hand. A long marker sits at 12, the hour hand is a broad arrow, and the case is 4 mm narrower than the Rolex's. Lorier doesn't publish the power reserve. It costs $699, a twelfth of the Rolex, but you'll wait for it: when we checked, Lorier's store took pre-orders only, shipping in late December 2026.
After the Pagani, this is the nearest dial here to the Explorer's, and it has a history of its own: it's Nivada's reissue of one of its vintage watches, rebuilt with a sapphire crystal and a Swiss automatic movement. The black dial has 3, 6 and 9 in white lume, a triangle at 12 and batons, with no date. The 316 steel case, polished and brushed, is 38 mm across, 12 mm thick and 45 mm from lug to lug, under a double-domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating. It has a screw-down crown and 100 metres of water resistance, like the Rolex, and Nivada says it's built to resist magnetism. Inside is a Swiss Soprod P024 automatic, and the version here is on a flat-link steel bracelet.
What you give up: the hour hand ends in a filled circle rather than the Mercedes, the case is 2 mm narrower than the Rolex's, and the flat-link bracelet looks nothing like an Oyster. Nivada doesn't publish the power reserve. It costs $1,145, about a seventh of the Rolex. Nivada also sells it on leather and rubber straps, for less.
This is the pick if you want the Explorer's 40 mm and a Swiss movement, and don't mind a date. Monta's designers drew the applied 3 and 9 by hand, and they sit on a matt black dial with a wedge at 12, batons and sword hands. The 316L steel case is 40 mm across, 10.5 mm thick and 47.8 mm from lug to lug, with polished sides and bezel, a screw-down crown between crown guards, a flat sapphire crystal and a sapphire caseback. It's water resistant to 200 metres. Inside is Monta's M-22, a Swiss-made Sellita SW300, with 56 hours of power reserve, the most any maker here quotes after Tudor.
What you give up is a third of the Explorer's numerals. A date window sits where the Rolex's 6 would be, the 12 is a wedge rather than a triangle, the hands are swords, and the crown guards change the case's outline. The only photo on Monta's page is small, so it looks softer here than the rest. It costs $1,850, about a fifth of the Rolex.
This is the best-built watch here, and it comes from Rolex's sister brand. Tudor's MT5402 is certified by COSC, has a silicon balance spring and runs for 70 hours, about what Rolex quotes for the Explorer. The grained, matt black domed dial has 12, 3, 6 and 9 in beige lume, batons in between, an arrow hour hand and a red-tipped seconds hand, with no date. The 39 mm steel case and its fixed bezel are satin-brushed, under a sapphire crystal, and it's water resistant to 100 metres, on a steel bracelet with Tudor's T-fit rapid-adjustment clasp.
What you give up is the Explorer's shine and its spare dial. The bezel is brushed rather than polished, the Ranger adds a 12, the lume is beige rather than white, and the hour hand is an arrow rather than the Mercedes. The case is a millimetre narrower. Tudor's own site wouldn't load for us, so the price comes from two of its US retailers: Fink's and Bucherer both list it at $4,025, about half of the Rolex's price.
