Rolex Sea Dweller*** 1665 COMEX*** 1977
ROLEX Sea Dweller Ref. 1665, COMEX issued, First Series, 1977
Serial: 5148141 / COMEX on back # 2032
Circa: 1977
Reference: 1665
DIAL: Black matte dial with luminous triangle, dots and rectangle hour markers. COMEX logo on the dial.
Date aperture at 3 o’clock. ‘Mercedes’ hands with central sweep seconds.
Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 printed in red on the dial.
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date, 2000ft=600m, Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified and SWISS – T < 25 indicated on the dial. This dial configuration is also known as the Pisani Dial.
CASE: 40mm, with black rotating diver bezel, helium escape valve. Case back with straight Rolex (first series, like DRSD), COMEX and number 2032 engraved as well as Oyster Rolex Patent Gas Escape Valve.
MOVEMENT: Caliber 1575, Self-winding mechanical movement with 26 jewels
BRACELET: Rolex stainless steel flip lock bracelet, 93150/585 date stamp 'VD'
CONDITION REPORT: Excellent and original condition, the bezel insert has faded over time to a stunning light grey color.
NOTES:
Rolex worked closely with the French professional diving company COMEX in order to develop and eventually commercialize the Sea-Dweller. The COMEX divers needed diving watches that could resist the depths at which they worked and ascend without breaking during decompression.
Since helium atoms are the smallest gas particles they can get through o-rings and other water resistance mechanisms and build up. These divers worked for prolonged periods under high pressure with mixed gas and the helium could seep into the watch and upon decompression expand and pop off the crystal. Rolex started working on a helium escape valve in the 1960s and first tested it on Submariner 5513 models they delivered to COMEX. The testing was successful and the COMEX Submariners with the helium escape valve and COMEX logo on the watch were given a separate reference number: 5514.
By 1967, Rolex decided to commercialize this patent, still pending under application at the time, with a new reference 1665 and the first two lines of the model name were printed in red (hence the name Double Red Sea Dweller). This first series also explains where the Patent Pending name comes from and the engraving on the case-back of these early sea dwellers had (Patent Pending) in parenthesis. Regular production of the double red sea dwellers started in 1971 and ended in approximately 1977.
The first COMEX Sea Dweller 1665 were delivered in 1977 at the tail end of DRSD production, which is why these first 1665 delivered to COMEX have the same layout of text as a DRSD.
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