Rolex. A fine and large stainless steel automatic diver’s wristwatch with sweep centre seconds, date, gas escape valve, bracelet, guarantee and box

The present ref. 116660 is offered in absolutely mint, new-old-stock condition, still retaining the original guarantee and box. It is consigned by its first owner who purchased it at the prestigious retailer Fratelli Pisa in Milan.

An evolution of the celebrated Sea-Dweller model, the DeepSea pushes the boundaries of water resistance even further than its hallowed parent, achieving an astounding depth rate of 3900 meters (or 12800 ft.). The pressure at that depth is simply enormous, even difficult to imagine. It amounts roughly to 390 times the pressure at sea level: 390 ATM, which is equal approximately to 400 kg per square centimeter (5730 pound per square inch). In order to withstand it, the entire case – and the crystal as well – had to be re-engineered, a process which resulted in the largest case ever seen on a standard production Rolex timepiece. A similar size can be found on the intellectual predecessor of this watch: the Deep Sea Special which was sent down to 11’000 meters below sea level, to the bottom of the Mariana trench – the deepest part of the ocean – in 1960, strapped to the outside of Jacques Piccard’s bathyscaphe Trieste.