Pre-Owned Rolex Sea-Dweller Watches
The Sea-Dweller is a joint development between Rolex, COMEX and the US Navy Sealab project to adapt the Submariner into a deep-sea diving watch for professional saturation divers. The thicker case and invention of the helium escape valve gave the Sea-Dweller the ability to continue evolving where the Submariner had reached its limits.
Rolex Sea-Dweller Watches
Launched in 1967, the Rolex Sea-Dweller was the first wristwatch designed for use in saturation diving and is now a mainstay in the brand’s line-up, alongside the similar Submariner. It was conceived as a solution to a problem faced by commercial and scientific divers, such as those working for the diving agency COMEX (Compagnie Maritime D’Expertises) who worked underwater at depths of several hundred metres.
While spending time in a dive chamber, and therefore avoiding the need to spend valuable working hours decompressing several times a day, these divers would breathe a helium-oxygen mix, allowing their lungs to function under the enormous pressure.
Unfortunately, this often proved catastrophic for their watches, whose acrylic crystals and gaskets absorbed the fine helium molecules. On completing their work underwater, divers would return to atmospheric pressure faster than the helium could escape the watch, and the pressure would build up to the extent that the crystals of their watches would pop off like a champagne cork.
The introduction of the helium escape valve, a spring-loaded valve which appears as a tiny O-ring built into the side of the case, solved that problem.
The very first commercially produced Sea-Dweller model was the reference 1665. This model, which featured a water resistance of 610 metres, is now known among collectors as the “Double Red” on account of the two lines of red text on the lower half of the dial. Unlike the Submariner it didn’t feature the Cyclops magnifier above the date window. This was because adding it would have given the plexiglass an uneven surface, leading to a structural weakness.
Later versions of the same reference featured a dial with all-white text, while models made for COMEX divers featured the company’s logo in place of the word “Sea-Dweller”. These are hugely sought-after among vintage Rolex collectors today.
By the late 1970s, the reference 16660—known as the “Triple Six”—appeared, which doubled the water resistance to 1,220 metres and featured the brand’s newer Caliber 3035 movement, which was equipped with a more convenient quick-set date. Also, the plexiglass lens was replaced with a much more resilient and scratch-proof sapphire crystal.
This watch was succeeded by the reference 16600 in 1989, which had a healthy production run of twenty years before Rolex discontinued the Sea-Dweller. However, after a five-year hiatus, the collection reappeared in 2014 with the reference 116600, which boasted a Cerachrom bezel.
Today, Rolex offers two variations of the Sea-Dweller: the all-steel reference 126600 and the two-tone 126603, which combines steel and yellow gold for a more refined look. With a case size of 43mm, these two contemporary models are significantly larger than the 40mm of previous models and also feature, for the first time in the Sea-Dweller family, the signature Cyclops lens found on most Submariners.
At Watchfinder, you’ll find a range of pre-owned Rolex Sea-Dweller models, from vintage to current models. Whatever version you choose, you’re adding a vital part of modern diving history to your collection, a true tool watch that’s proven its mettle in some of the deepest parts of the world’s oceans.
