While Rolex is certainly well known for its dive watches, the Rolex Submariner and Sea-Dweller, there is one that stands out above the rest. And no, it isn’t some obscure MilSub…Decades ago, during the brief period in which diving – a new sport – reached a peak in its popularity, Rolex experimented with their ability to produce watches able to resist enormous amounts of water pressure. The result was the Rolex Deep Sea Special, a watch that was first exclusively a prototype and then made in an extremely limited edition for the public.
1953 marked the year the first Rolex Submariner was introduced, but it also marked the year that the first prototype of the Rolex Deep Sea Special was made. Rolex had previously made prototypes earlier in the 1950s, but the Submariner, along with the first Deep Sea Special prototype, represented the perfection of their years of work. The first achievement of the Rolex Deep Sea Special came the same year it was made, 1953. Rolex contacted Professor Auguste Piccard to test their watches during his own trials. The watch was first tested at 1,080 meters successfully and then attached to the exterior of the bathyscaphe Trieste, piloted by Auguste and Jacques Piccard off the coast of Ponza Island, where it reached a depth of nearly 2 miles or 3,150 meters successfully! Another test was conducted with the Deep Sea Special in 1956 when it reached 3,700 meters successfully.
Then, in the late 1950s when the Trieste was acquired by the US Navy, planning commenced for a descent down the Marianas Trench with Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh and Auguste’s son, Jacques. This is the most remembered of the different descents of the Rolex Deep Sea Special watches, as they were the first crew to successfully descend the Challenger Deep of Marianas Trench – an incredible depth of 10,916 meters! The bathyscaphe Trieste had been adjusted to go down to such depths, up from its previous limit of 6,000 meters, and was the first vessel to reach the bottom of the deepest point known in the ocean. Jacques Picard then sent a telegram to Rolex in Geneva, congratulating them on their watch working successfully at “11,000 metres”.
1960s Rolex ad featuring the Deep Sea Special
So, yet another athletic achievement linked to Rolex. To commemorate this great feat, and of course for publicity, Rolex released 35 versions of the Deep Sea Special, ‘Display’ models for public consumption. While the watch being sold in the upcoming Phillips auction is one of these early homages, number 35, the original Rolex Deep Sea Special that joined Picard and Walsh on their famous descent in 1960 – the number 3 – resides at the Smithsonian.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
Stahl, Philipp. “The Rolex Deep Sea Special Story of Piccard & Walsh.” Rolex Passion Report, August 1st, 2017, https://rolexpassionreport.com/5950/the-rolex-deep-sea-special-first-dss-prototypes-made-between-1953-and-the-final-deepest-dive-of-piccard-and-walsh-in-1960-and-the-later-dss-display/.
Goulard, Brice. “Phillips to Auction An Ultra-Rare Rolex Deep Sea Special at the Geneva Watch Auction XIV.” Monochrome Watches, September 14th, 2021, https://monochrome-watches.com/news-ultra-rare-rolex-deep-sea-special-to-be-auctioned-by-phillips/.