Dear Rolex-Fans,
following you will find some scans from Reinhold Messners book about his solo climb to the Nanga Parbat in 1978. Messner wore an Explorer II 1655, which can be seen from the scans. This book was responsible for my decision to buy a 1655 in 1979, which was my very first Rolex.






(Source: Reinhold Messner: Alleingang, BLV Verlagsgesellschaft München, 1979)

And as you can see, my 1655 is still with me:



An interesting detail:
Messner reached the Nanga Parbat on 9th August 1978 and therefore AFTER his first climb to the Everest without additional oxygene together with Peter Habeler on 8th May 1978. Looking to Rolex-advertisements from that time Messner should have worn during the Everest-expedition an Oysterquartz, which he then obviously changed to a 1655 for the solo climb to the Nanga Parbat. Unfortunately Messners book about the Everest-Expedition does not show any photo of him on which his watch can be seen. Only a photo of Peter Habeler wearing his Submariner can be found in Messners Everest-book.

Best Regards
Matthias