FERNANDO CORREIA DE OLIVEIRA
Among collectors, the world of the Submariner is huge and
the evolution of the model is the subject of books and Internet
forum debates – calibres, chronometer versions or not, hand
style, crown size, dial colour, signatures, luminescent material
used, etc.
In 2003, Rolex commemorated 40 years of the Submariner,
giving it an even more waterproof case, a new calibre
and some aesthetic changes. The production of this
commemorative model Rolex Submariner-Date anniversary
edition (16610 LV) ended in 2010. In 2008, a new case from
the Rolex GMT II began to be used in the Submariner- Date,
with a cerachrom bezel.
“Brother” to the Submariner, in 1971 Rolex created the
Sea-Dweller, a version with a thicker case and dial glass, with
a date and without the so-called “eye of Cyclops”. Equipped
with a helium escape valve, the first version guaranteed water
resistance up to 1,220 metres (4,000 feet). The popularity and
reliability of the two models benefitted from the fact that the
French professional diving company, Comex, used the Rolex
Submariner and Sea Dweller in their operations from the late
1960s. The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller Submariner
2000 (2000 feet = 610 m), available from 1967, was even
developed specifically for Comex. It was then that the
Submariner and Sea-Dweller became autonomous.
In 1988, a team of professional Comex divers beat the
offshore diving record while doing exercises for a pipeline
connection over 534 metres deep in the Mediterranean. The
team wore Rolex Sea-Dwellers.
In 1992 the Comex diver, Theo Mavrostomos, established
a record of 701 metres (2,300 feet) in a hyperbaric chamber
offshore. It took 43 days to complete the dive. The watch used
in this scientific experiment, where he breathed a mixture of
hydrogen, helium and oxygen (hydreliox) was a Rolex SeaDweller 16600 resistant up to 1,220 m (4,000 feet).
In late 2008, the Sea-Dweller was replaced by the
DeepSea Sea-Dweller. With a 44 mm case, it is resistant up to
3,900 metres (12,800 feet).
The use of the patented Triplock safety system in the
crown, the unidirectional rotatable bezel, protecting against
accidental handling and the rapidly-adjustable bracelet
clasp are technical developments that have accompanied
the Submariner and the Sea-Dweller, later imitated by other
brands.
Rolex diving watches have been part of the most important
underwater expeditions. In the 1950s, Rolex ran extremely
tough tests on one model, the Deep Sea Special, using
the knowledge acquired from previous models. In 1960,
the experimental bathyscaphe, the Trieste, succeeded in
descending to the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point
on the Earth’s surface. With Lieutenant Don Walsh at the
helm, accompanied by Professor Jacques Piccard, the Trieste
managed to go where no-one had ever been. The expedition
used Deep Sea Special watches.
In 1967, the Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller was launched,
waterproof up to 610 metres (2,000 feet), with a helium escape
valve in the case.
Today, this line of diving watches has models resistant up
to 3,900 metres deep (12,800 feet), which is the case of the
most recent, the Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA, presented in 2008
at the Basel Fair. This is the most waterproof, mass-produced
mechanical wristwatch. Rolex tests it at 4,875 metres (15,994
feet), to guarantee the 25 per cent safety margin required
by ISO standard 6425, which regulates professional diving
watches.
Finally, on 26th March 2012, the film director and National
Geographic Society explorer, James Cameron, went down to
the Mariana Trench, making the first solo dive to the deepest
place on the planet, the third man ever to visit the zone
following the Trieste exploration in 1960. On the expedition,
and on the outside of the submarine, there was a prototype
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Sea-Dweller Deepsea Challenge,
which went down to 10,898.4 metres (35,756 feet). This
prototype is prepared to resist depths of up to 12,000 metres
(39,370 feet). On his wrist, Cameron used the mass-produced
Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea.
Only one passenger went on both the 1960 and 2012
expeditions to the Mariana Trench: Rolex watches.
Submariner Date
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