Rolex Sea Dweller
Encyclopedia
Diving watch
A diving watch is a watch designed for underwater diving that features, as a minimum, a water resistance greater than , the equivalent of . The typical diver's watch will have a water resistance of around , though modern technology allows the creation of diving watches that can go much deeper...
manufactured by Rolex
Rolex
Rolex SA is a Swiss watchmaking manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. Rolex watches are popularly regarded as status symbols and BusinessWeek magazine ranks Rolex No.71 on its 2007 annual list of the 100 most valuable global brands...
, with an underwater diving depth rating of 610 metres (2,001.3 ft) for the vintage models and up to 3,900 metres (12,800 ft) for the most recent Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA model.
History
During the 1960s, the needs of professional marine divers working at great depths led to the development of the first 'ultra water resistant' tool watches designed for conducting safe diving operations at 300 m+ (1,000 ft+) depths.The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 (2000 ft = 610 m) that became available in 1967 was developed from the Submariner
Rolex Submariner
The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner is a line of watches manufactured by Rolex, designed for diving and known for their resistance to water. The first Submariner was introduced to the public in 1954 at the Swiss Watch Fair...
for the Comex S.A. industrial deep-sea diving company by increasing crystal thickness and was produced in several variations. It had a depth rating of 610 metres (2,001.3 ft) and its Rolex reference number was 1665.
Saturation diving
Saturation diving is a diving technique that allows divers to reduce the risk of decompression sickness when they work at great depth for long periods of time....
. Early Sea-Dwellers did not always have the helium escape valve. The model is also distinguished by the absence of the date magnifier ("cyclops") present on most other Rolex models. The Sea-Dweller diving watch range has been standard issue for Comex divers since 1977.
The Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 watches had 2 red text lines on the watch dial which led to an unofficial "Double Red" designation under watch collectors for these watches.
The Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 models were succeeded by the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller 4000 (4000 ft = 1220 m) model with an increased depth rating to 1220 metres (4,002.6 ft).
The last Comex Sea-Dweller 4000 Rolex reference number is 16600 and this watch was issued to Comex divers since 1992.
Several semi custom production runs of Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 and 4000 models were produced with and without helium escape valves and differing watch dial patterns for the Comex S.A. company. These variants sometimes also had differing Rolex reference numbers. Some of these non standard Sea-Dweller watches had the Comex S.A. logo depicted on the watch dail which led to an unofficial "COMEX watches" designation under watch collectors for these watches. These watches were either issued to actual Comex staff members or served as gifts for business relations.
At the BaselWorld
BaselWorld
Baselworld Watch and Jewellery Show is a trade show for the watch and jewellery industry organized annually in the city of Basel, Switzerland. The international show unites about 2,100 exhibitors from over 45 countries, including the leading watch and jewelry brands, as well as companies...
watch and jewellery show 2008, Rolex introduced an updated Sea-Dweller model, named the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA. Its reference number is 116660. With an official depth rating of 3900 metres (12,795.3 ft), the Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA represented in its launch year the most water resistant mechanical watch
Automatic watch
An automatic or self-winding watch is a mechanical watch, whose mainspring is wound automatically by the natural motion of the wearer's arm, providing energy to run the watch, to make it unnecessary to manually wind the watch. A watch which is not self-winding is called a manual watch...
in serial production. For obtaining this official depth rating the Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA water resistance is tested to a depth of 4875 metres (15,994.1 ft) to offer the 25% safety reserve required by the ISO 6425 divers' watches standard. To test the water resistance of the Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA, Rolex uses testing equipment developed for them by Comex.
Normal surface air filled watch cases and crystals designed for extreme depths must be dimensionally large to cope with the encountered water pressure. To obtain its water resistance the Rolex Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA watch case has a diameter of 43.0 mm, thickness of 17.7 mm (domed crystal thickness 5.5 mm) and the case and bracelet weigh 220 g.
Diving records
The design and actual availability of diver's watches certified for more than 1,000 meters (3,281 ft) is not solely explicable by practical diving needs.The diving depth record for actual off shore diving was achieved in 1988 by a team of professional divers of the Comex S.A. industrial deep-sea diving company performing pipe line connection exercises at a depth of 534 meters (1752 ft) of sea water (MSW) in the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. The diver's watches used were Rolex Sea-Dwellers.
In 1992 Comex diver Theo Mavrostomos achieved a record of 701 MSW (2300 ft) in an on shore hyperbaric chamber. He took 43 days to complete the dive. The watch used during this scientific record dive, where a hydrogen-helium-oxygen (hydreliox
Hydreliox
Hydreliox is an exotic breathing gas mixture of helium, oxygen and hydrogen.It is used primarily for research and scientific deep diving, usually below . Below this depth, extended breathing of heliox gas mixtures may cause high pressure nervous syndrome . Two gas mixtures exist that attempt to...
) gas mixture was used as breathing gas
Breathing gas
Breathing gas is a mixture of gaseous chemical elements and compounds used for respiration.Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas...
, was a Rolex Sea-Dweller 16600 with a 4000 ft (1,219 m) depth rating. Rolex used this achievement in advertising campaigns.
The complexity, medical problems and accompanying high costs of professional saturation diving to extreme depths and the development of deep water atmospheric diving suit
Atmospheric diving suit
An atmospheric diving suit or ADS is a small one-man articulated submersible of anthropomorphic form which resembles a suit of armour, with elaborate pressure joints to allow articulation while maintaining an internal pressure of one atmosphere...
s and remotely operated underwater vehicles in offshore oilfield drilling and production effectively nixed the need for ever deeper non-atmospheric manned intervention in the ocean.