This is an unusual piece for our collection. Unusual in a good way because pieces like this are not the easiest to come by. I am a massive fan of 4 digit sports models, although I have not had the pleasure to own a lot, with my favourites being the 1016, 6262, and this double red seadweller ref. 1665.
People who are into watches will know that sea dwellers are the bigger brother of the submariner. The word “bigger” literally means bigger in modern sea dweller (43mm eh…) but 60 55-60 years ago, the “bigger” meant higher depth rating. To understand the Sea dwellers a little better, we have to mention the Submariner, since it is the originator of Rolex dive watches.
Rolex have been massively invested in their watches going under the water, since the 1920s to be more precise. First started off with the ‘oyster’ in 1926, with English swimmer Mercedes Glitze wearing the watch when swimming across the English channel in 1927. Then in the 50s Rolex started producing proper tool watches with the Turn O Graph, which led to the Submariner. Then in 1967, Rolex officially started producing this Sea dweller ref.1665 with a purpose: to have a watch that can have a higher depth rating than the submariner for saturation diving. Simpler term, a submariner on steroids. While the Submariner back in the 60s had 200m water resistance, the sea dweller could handle up to 610m (Don’t forget that extra ‘10’ meters). 99 percent of humans would never even go below 50 meters, but this unordinary watch was not made for those ordinary people. The notable difference between the submariner and the sea dweller (apart from the name on the dial) is the helium escape valve, which allows this watch to release helium in the watch when going saturation diving as helium needs to be escaped during decompression. With that, the legend was born. But Rolex did not stop their underwater adventures. There were numerous occasions where Rolex supported divers/diving teams to test their watches to go deeper and deeper with recent history of 2012, when we saw Rolex supporting James Cameron’s experiment to go down to the deepest part of the ocean of mariana trench with their special deepsea challenge watch. I can only guess that they will continue to experiment further on their underwater experiment.
Well, the name “Double Red” can be quite obvious with 2 red lines of “Sea Dweller” and “Submariner 2000”. The later dial variations of “Great White” 1665s do not have that striking presence compared to this double red 1665. This specific Sea Dweller features a Mark IV dial, with 3 million serial numbers, produced around 1974. In terms of aesthetics, I definitely prefer the overall looks of this 1665 sea dweller over a 1680 or any date function submariners due to its striking double red signatures, as well as the lack of cyclops. I am not a fan of cyclops, and the seamless look of domed plexiglass is more pleasing to my eyes.
Having this beast on my wrist, it makes me not want to wear submariners from the same era (5513, 1680). It is clear, this is a proper tool watch. They did not care how to slim down the thickness, with its thickness reaching up to 17mm, as long as the watch did the job of reaching deeper than the Submariner could. Don’t worry though, a lot of the thickness is coming from the domed plexiglass so it does not feel that thick on the wrist (more like a 14mm thickness on the wrist).
I have to come clean: after watching Keegan Allen’s Hodinkee video where he uses his red submariner ref.1680 to go diving, I had to test this guy out underwater as well. Thankfully, this guy is still as solid as it is and will be water resistant for 99 percent of us desk divers. (I still do not recommend taking 50-60 year old watch to go diving though)
The watch has not been baby cared, and definitely has a few minor scratches, as it should: this is supposed to be a utilitarian watch. As much as people tend to seek “perfect” condition, I believe these types of watches should live a little. I love how this watch shows that the previous owner really used this piece like how it should be worn. It was born to be a tool watch, and it should continue to be a tool watch in my opinion. So do not worry about baby caring this piece, it is meant to be Worn. With a capital W. I hope the next caretaker of this piece will enjoy wearing and utlise this piece to its absolute max.
