Rolex

The original owner of this watch was working for the Phillips-Ericson Joint Venture for the Saudi-Arabian Telephone Expansion project when he was gifted the watch by his colleagues. When they discovered his upcoming birthday, they decided to surprise him with this watch. “I had no idea what a Rolex was” the consignor says, “In hindsight, if I’d known how much it cost, I would not have accepted it.”

The watch was worn for about ten years before getting serviced in Chester UK with an authorized retailer. Once the watch returned it was hidden in a drawer and not worn again.

The Rolex Sea-Dweller was first introduced in 1967 as a more robust answer to the Submariner. Featuring a pioneering, yet-to-be patented helium escape valve, the new model could accompany divers to extreme depths of 610 meters. The valve allows helium and other gases to escape, enabling the watch to withstand compression during saturation diving and preventing the acrylic crystal from popping out on the ascent to the surface. On the dial, two lines of text were printed in red: The Sea-Dweller text, and below, Submariner 2000, thus giving the watch its nick name, the “Double Red.” While retaining the Submariner’s date window at 3 o’clock, it notably omitted the cyclops lens over the plexiglass.

The current example features an attractive, late version of the Mark IV dial. The case was gently polished when it was serviced approximately 40 years ago and retains its original contours.