The thing that has always got me about the Rolex Explorer One is the lack of a date function. Seeing as I spend most of the time walking round without knowing what day of the week it is, I've always found this feature quite handy.
Nevertheless, this is a tasty watch - refined, subtle, but possessed of a chunkiness that belies its frost-covered heritage, and recognisable by those enlarged numerals to enable you to tell the time even if your eyeballs have frozen over.
This was the watch that accompanied many an arctic expedition, not least Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's Everest weekender on May 29, 1953.
The sale of Sir Edmund's Rolex collection has apparently been the subject of some controversy of late, so it's quite fitting that the Hillary Tenzing Series of Rolexes has been released. Some might even consider it cashing in.
The limited edition set of three watches from the creators of the Piccard Single Red Deepsea and not officially associated with Rolex come with a bunch of accessories and a dodgy looking plywood crate. For $39,000 (£24,000). If you ask nicely they might even give you the boots.
