As you could probably tell from the name, The Sea-Dweller’s history is interlinked with the history of diving. This Rolex model was essential to the development of the divers watch that started in the 1950s.

After the Second World War, the popularity of diving grew substantially, hence, due to the big demand, diving watches began to be commercialized for military, professionals and civilians who enjoyed diving as a hobby.

The timepiece that sums up the birth of the divers watch, is of course the Rolex Submariner. This Rolex timepiece was the world’s first commercially produced divers watch.  The Submariner was released in 1954 and boasted a 100m water resistance. 

Then in the 1960s, experiments with saturation diving for commercial deep-sea divers had begun bringing about the need for watches with greater water resistance. At that time, the standard Submariner ref. 5513 could endure 200m of pressure. The goal of Rolex was to triple that.

Rolex in collaboration with COMEX, the French deep-sea diving specialist, carried out experiments that led to the invention of a feature that would later become the hallmark of the Sea-Dweller: the helium escape valve.

This helium escape valve was first retrofitted on Submariner ref. 5514 watches made for COMEX, but in 1967, Rolex introduced the Sea-Dweller ref. 1665, the first watch designed with helium escape valve that was also available for civilian purchase.

The early models from 1967 were very similar to the Submariner ref. 5514 COMEX. The main  characteristics of the early Sea-Dwellers are a “double red” dial  (two lines of text on the dial in red print)  along with “Submariner 2000” and “patent pending” engraved on the case back. This was because Rolex had then filed for, but had not yet received, the patent for the helium valve.

Several updates have been made to the Sea-Dweller over the years. A very rare example includes a single red model. It was a prototype (it is estimated that only 4 watches have been produced!) rated to 500m.

• In 1977, the Rolex Sea-Dweller transformed, and got itself a new nickname, “Great White”/ This model got rid of letting on the dial and the mention of the Submariner 2000.
• IN 1978, Rolex introduced a new Sea-Dweller ref. 16660. This model fitted a sapphire crystal, a bigger helium release valve and an improved depth rating of 1220m.
• In 1988 et a new ref. 16600 came out. It was powered by the modern 3135 calibre and had solid end-links on the bracelet along with a glossy-finish dial.
• In 2008 the Sea-Dweller was discontinued and replaced by the extra-large Deepsea that was 44mm in diameter.
• Nowadays the D-blue version of Rolex Deepsea is available. Rolex stopped the production of the Sea-Dweller 4000 to replace it with a timepiece that had even greater water resistance: the Deepsea Sea-Dweller, rated to 12,000ft or 3,900m