{"lien_WSTV":"","tax_name":"deprecated","tax_rate":20,"id_manufacturer":"0","id_supplier":"0","id_category_default":"529","id_shop_default":"1","manufacturer_name":false,"supplier_name":false,"name":"Deepsea","description":"<p><strong>THE LAST FRONTIER<br \/>ROLEX DEEPSEA<\/strong><br \/><strong><br \/>COOL UNDER PRESSURE <\/strong><br \/><br \/>The last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This is the underwater twilight zone, where deep blue fades to pitch black and the ocean sinks into a realm less known to man than the surface of the moon. This threshold to the ocean\u2019s fathomless reaches inspired the blue to black gradient dial of the newest version of the Rolex Deepsea, the professional divers\u2019 watch waterproof to the extreme depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet). \u00a0<br \/><br \/>The new Rolex Deepsea celebrates the partnership between Rolex and the historic 2012 DEEPSEA CHALLENGE exped ition to the deepest point in the ocean. This scienti\ufb01c endeavour was undertaken by explorer and \ufb01lm-maker James Cameron, who wore his trusted Rolex Deepsea as he became the \ufb01rst person to reach the Challenger Deep as a solo pilot. He successfully navigated the unique DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible he co-designed to a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet), where he explored the ocean trench, took samples and captured the \ufb01rst-ever high-resolution images of the deepest sea \ufb02oor. <br \/><br \/>On the outside of the submersible, af\ufb01xed to the robotic arm and the hull, were three experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watches, specially engineered by Rolex to withstand the most colossal water pressure on the planet. These watches, designed with the exact same architecture as the Rolex Deepsea, only much larger, provided the ultimate proof of the model's waterproofness and resistance to extreme pressure. <br \/><br \/>A few weeks earlier, as Cameron was putting his submersible through a trial run off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a standard Rolex Deepsea was attached to the sub\u2019s hydraulic arm for a real-life dive to 4,000 metres (13,120 feet). Under pressure that would crush a nuclear submarine like a can of soda, Rolex\u2019s professional divers\u2019 watch kept its cool.<br \/><br \/>NEW GRADIENT DIAL <br \/>The new version of the Rolex Deepsea sports a deep blue to pitch-black gradient dial, reminiscent of the ocean\u2019s twilight zone where the last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This new \u201cD-blue\u201d dial echoes the journey to the deepest point in the ocean undertaken by \ufb01lm-maker and explorer James Cameron in 2012 with his DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition, partnered by Rolex and National Geographic. As a tribute to this partnership, the \u201cDEEPSEA\u201d marking on the new dial adopts the colour of James Cameron\u2019s green submers ible as it is perceived underwater. <br \/><br \/>OYSTER CASE <br \/>The Rolex Deepsea\u2019s waterproof Oyster case is hewn from a solid block of 904L stainless steel superalloy. This particularly corrosion-resistant grade of steel is greatly valued in the chemical and aerospace industry for its high perform ance. The Oyster case holds the three components of the Ringlock System. The Triplock winding crown, equipped with three seals, screws down securely against the case, completing the waterproofness system and offering watertight security akin to a submarine\u2019s hatch. <br \/><br \/>RINGLOCK SYSTEM <br \/>The Rolex Deepsea owes its exceptional strength, waterproofness and pressure resistance to the exclusive Ringlock System. This innovative case architecture patented by Rolex enables the watch to resist the massive pressure exerted by water at the depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), equivalent to a weight of approximately 3 tonnes on the watch. Its construction is based on three elements: <br \/>- A nearly indestructible nitrogen- alloyed stainless steel compression ring is pos itioned inside the watch case, around the movement, to provide support for the crystal and the case back. The backbone of the watch, it can withstand pressure that would crush a submarine. <br \/>- The watch face is protected by a dense, 5 mm dome-shaped sapphire crystal, made of high-purity aluminium oxide. <br \/>- Finally, the case back in grade 5 titan ium is held tight against the high-performance compression ring by a screw-down ring in 904L stainless steel. The almost imperceptible \ufb02exibility of grade 5 titanium allows the water pressure to strengthen the hermetic seal of the case as depth increases, by for cing the components tighter and tighter together. <br \/><br \/>HELIUM ESCAPE VALVE <br \/>The Rolex Deepsea\u2019s Oyster case is equipped with a helium escape valve. Patented by Rolex in 1967, this safety valve acts as a miniature decompression chamber for the watch and is essential for deep-sea saturation diving. During the decompression phases that professional divers undergo in hyperbaric chambers, the helium valve automatically regulates the excess pressure trapped inside the watch case without compromising the waterproofness of the watch. <br \/><br \/>CERACHROM BEZEL INSERT <br \/>The unidirectional rotatable bezel of the Rolex Deepsea is \ufb01tted with a 60- minute graduated black Cerachrom insert that allows divers to safely monitor their time underwater and their decompression stops. The insert, made of an extremely hard and corrosion -resistant ceramic, is virtually scratchproof and its colour never fades. The numerals and the graduations are engraved in the ceramic and coated with platinum using a PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) process patented by Rolex, for optimal legibility and durability. The bezel\u2019s knurled edge offers excellent grip when setting dive time, even with\u00a0 diving gloves. <br \/><br \/>CHROMALIGHT DISPLAY <br \/>Great attention was paid to the legibility of this Professional divers\u2019 watch. The Chromalight hour markers and hands are \ufb01lled with a luminescent material emitting a long-lasting blue glow \u2013 lasting up to twice as long as traditional materials. On the bezel, the zero marker of the gradu ation, in the form of a triangle, is visible in the dark thanks to a capsule containing the same luminescent material. <br \/><br \/>SAFETY CLASP AND EXTENSION SYSTEM <br \/>The Rolex Deepsea\u2019s Oyster bracelet is equipped with an Oysterlock safety clasp that prevents accidental opening, and with a double extension system that allows the watch to be worn comfortably over a diving suit up to 7 mm thick. The Fliplock extension link extends the bracelet by 26 mm, while the Rolex Glidelock system allows \ufb01ne adjustments of the bracelet length in 2 mm increments for\u00a0 a total of approximately 20 mm. Neither of them requires the use of any tools. <br \/><strong><br \/>CALIBRE 3135, A SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER <\/strong><br \/><br \/>The Rolex Deepsea is powered by calibre 3135, a self-winding mechanical movement entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex. Like all Rolex Perpetual movements, the 3135 is a certi\ufb01ed Swiss chronometer, a designation reserved for high-precision watches that have successfully passed the Swiss Of\ufb01cial Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC) tests. Its architecture, like that of all Oyster watch movements, makes it singularly reliable. <br \/><br \/>The oscillator, the true heart of the watch, has a large balance wheel with variable inertia regulated extremely precisely with gold Microstella nuts. It is held \ufb01rmly in place by a height-adjustable traversing bridge enabling very stable positioning to increase shock resistance. The oscillator features a blue Parachrom hairspring patented and manufactured by Rolex in an exclusive alloy. Insensitive to magnetic \ufb01elds, the Parachrom hairspring offers great stability when exposed to temperature variations and remains up to 10 times more precise than a trad itional hairspring in case of shocks. It has a Breguet overcoil, enhancing the iso chronism of the oscillations in all positions. <br \/><br \/>Calibre 3135 is \ufb01tted with a self-winding module featuring a Perpetual rotor, which ensures continuous winding of the mainspring by harnessing the movements of the wrist to provide a constant source of energy. <br \/><br \/>The Rolex Deepsea\u2019s movement will be seen only by certi\ufb01ed Rolex watchmakers, yet it is beautifully \ufb01nished and decorated, in keeping with the brand\u2019s uncompromising quality standards. <br \/><br \/><strong>HYPERBARIC TEST TANK <\/strong><br \/><br \/>In deep-sea diving, reliability and security are paramount. Each Rolex Deepsea therefore undergoes stringent waterproofness and pressure-resistance tests. To this end, Rolex uses a speci\ufb01cally designed piece of equipment: a high-performance, stainless steel hyperbaric tank, which is cast in a single piece and weighs 1.3 tonnes. It simulates the pressure at 4,875 metres (16,000 feet) below sea level, 25 per cent greater than the depth indicated on the watch dial. This test is destructive, meaning that the slightest weakness in a watch would cause it to implode. Obviously, all Rolex Deepsea watches offered for sale have survived this test. <br \/><br \/>This high-tech equipment was developed and manufactured by Comex (Compagnie Maritime d\u2019Expertises), an internationally renowned company specializing in underwater engineering and hyperbaric technology. Rolex has been collaborating with Comex for decades and supplied watches to equip the French \ufb01rm\u2019s elite divers on deep-sea engineering missions. Comex\u2019s professional divers set the world records for the deepest satur ation dives, and still hold them to this day.<br \/><strong><br \/>SCALABLE PERFORMANCE <\/strong><br \/><br \/>In 2012, the innovative case architecture of the Rolex Deepsea and its Ringlock System served as the blueprint for the design of the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, an experimental divers\u2019 watch guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 12,000 metres (39,370 feet). Entirely engineered and manufactured by Rolex, it was custom-made to resist the extreme pressure found in the deepest reaches of the oceans. On 26 March 2012, it\u00a0 accompanied explorer and \ufb01lm-maker (Titanic, Avatar) James Cameron on his record-breaking solo submersible dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Paci\ufb01c Ocean. Cameron reached a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) in the Challenger Deep, the ocean\u2019s deepest point.\u00a0 The Rolex Deepsea Challenge emerged unscathed. <br \/><br \/>To achieve this level of performance, Rolex engineers only had to scale up the dimensions of the commercial Rolex Deepsea, from 44 to 51.4 mm, trading wearability for ultimate pressure resistance. Because the only practical limit to the Rolex Deepsea\u2019s performance is the requirement that it \ufb01t on a human wrist.<br \/><strong><br \/>JAMES CAMERON\u2019S DEEPSEA CHALLENGE <\/strong><br \/><br \/>On 26 March 2012, \ufb01lm-maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Paci\ufb01c Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible, a robust science platform, reaching the world\u2019s deepest frontier. The inspir ational DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition paved the way for a new era in scienti\ufb01c exploration of the ocean \ufb02oor, the least known area of the planet. No human being had returned to such depths since 23 January 1960, the date of the \ufb01rst manned dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench by the bathyscaphe Trieste. And whenever humanity ventures to new frontiers on Earth, so does Rolex.<br \/><br \/><strong>EXPLORING THE WORLD\u2019S DEEPEST FRONTIER <\/strong><br \/><br \/>DEEPSEA CHALLENGE was a joint scienti\ufb01c expedition led by James Cameron in partnership with Rolex and National Geographic that pushed the limits of human endeavour in underwater exploration, science and innovation. In the deepest marine trenches, the water pressure is more than 1,000 times greater than at sea level - over 7 tonnes per square inch - and sunlight is completely blacked out, making this environment the most unwelcoming on Earth. <br \/><br \/>The expedition paved the way for more scienti\ufb01c research of the great depths. Scientists estimate that 95 per cent of the oceansremain unexplored and hold hidden clues to life on Earth. \u201cIt was very lunar, a very desolate place,\u201d Cameron said after the historic dive. \u201cMy feeling was one of complete isolation from all of humanity. I felt like, literally in the space of one day, I had gone to another planet and come back.\u201d <br \/><br \/>The DEEPSEA CHALLENGE dives off the coast of Papua New Guinea and in the Mariana Trench shed new light on the deep, providing high-resolution 3D images and collecting valuable samples for the scienti\ufb01c community that have led to the identi\ufb01cation of at least 68 new species. <br \/><br \/>They include shrimp-like creatures called amphipods, sea cucumbers, tens of thousands of microbes, and stringy rock coatings known as microbial mats which contain organisms that can survive in the dark. The expedition included a team of scientists aboard the support vessel who helped to collect and analyse the samples and imagery that Cameron collected on his dives. These assets continue to be analysed by biologists, geolo gists and marine specialists at research institutions around the world. <br \/><br \/>In August 2014, James Cameron released a feature documentary, DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D, tracing the expedition from its beginnings until the last of its 13 dives in the Paci\ufb01c. Mankind knows less about the oceans\u2019 greatest depths than about the surface of the moon, and the \ufb01lm, like the expedition, reminds us how much of this planet remains to be explored. <br \/><br \/><strong>THE MARIANA TRENCH <\/strong><br \/><br \/>The Mariana Trench in the Paci\ufb01c Ocean is the deepest part of the world\u2019s oceans and one of a global network of deep troughs on the sea \ufb02oor. The deepest point in the trench, known as Challenger Deep, lies some 11,000 metres (nearly 7 miles) below the surface and about 320 kilometres (about 200 miles) southwest of the nearest inhabited territory, the island of Guam. If Mount Everest, the world\u2019s tallest peak, were set in the trench, there would still be approximately 2,000 metres (1.3 miles) of water above it. The trench was created by subduction, the downward movement of the Paci\ufb01c tectonic plate beneath the Mariana Plate. <br \/><br \/>\u00a0Challenger Deep was named after the 1858 British Royal Navy ship, HMS Challenger, the \ufb01rst vessel to sound the depths of the trench. In January 1960, Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh manned the\u00a0 150-tonne bathyscaphe Trieste for the \ufb01rst journey to Challenger Deep. <br \/><br \/>James Cameron\u2019s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition marked the \ufb01rst time in 52 years \u2013 and only the second time in history - that another human made the trip to the world\u2019s deepest known point. <br \/><br \/><strong>HIGH TECHNOLOGY TO SERVE SCIENCE <\/strong><br \/><br \/>The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible is 7.3 metres (24 feet) tall and shaped like a vertical torpedo. But, throughout the nearly seven hours he spent underwater, Cameron could barely move\u00a0 from a near-foetal position in the 109-centimetre-wide (43 inches), pressure-resistant metal sphere that formed his life-sustaining\u00a0 cockpit. To cope with the extreme conditions in the deepest parts of the ocean, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER incorporated innovative, cutting-edge features and materials that have helped advance the \ufb01eld of submersible design, including Iso\ufb02oat\u00ae syntactic foam for the buoyant hull, pressure-resistant battery packs and a dedicated compact video system capable of capturing High-De\ufb01nition 3D footage of the world\u2019s deepest sea \ufb02oor. <br \/><br \/>Unlike the Trieste, which spent only 20 minutes on the ocean \ufb02oor and had no research or camera equipment, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER was designed as a science platform and was able to remain at the bottom of the Mariana Trench for three hours to explore, take samples and capture the \ufb01rst-ever high-resolution images of the trench, an ability which remains unprecedented.<br \/><strong><br \/>A WATCH FOR THE DEEPEST CHALLENGE <\/strong><br \/><br \/>James Cameron\u2019s submersible was carrying a specially made experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch on its hydraulic manipulator arm and two others attached to its hull. <br \/><br \/>By scaling up the technology developed for the Rolex Deepsea divers\u2019 watch, waterproof to 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), Rolex engineers created an experimental model capable of with-standing the crushing pressure of about 12 tonnes on the crystal which occurs in this cold, dark and barren world some 11 kilometres (7 miles) below the surface of the Paci\ufb01c Ocean.\u00a0 The watches emerged unharmed and kept time perfectly throughout nearly seven hours beneath the water, as Cameron demonstrated by looking at the Rolex Deepsea Challenge on the manipulator arm at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.<br \/><br \/><strong>ROLEX AND THE DEEP <\/strong><br \/><br \/>In 1960 \u2013 52 years before the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition \u2013 Rolex made watchmaking history when it joined the bathyscaphe Trieste on an unprecedented dive to the deepest known point in the world\u2019s oceans. Crewed by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, the Trieste was carrying an experimental Rolex Deep Sea Special wristwatch when it reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Paci\ufb01c Ocean on 23 January 1960, at a record depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 feet). <br \/><br \/>The bathyscaphe and the watch attached to its exterior successfully withstood crushing, deep-sea water pressure that no submersible, let alone time-piece, had confronted before and that no human could ever survive. After the Trieste surfaced from its record dive, a cable was received at Rolex headquarters in Geneva: \u201cHappy to announce your watch as precise at 11,000 metres down as on surface. Best regards Jacques Piccard.\u201c <br \/><br \/>The historic dive of the Rolex Deep Sea Special was the fruit of decades of unrelenting development of the Oyster, the world\u2019s \ufb01rst waterproof wristwatch, invented by Rolex in 1926.<br \/><br \/><strong>LIKE AN OYSTER IN THE SEA <\/strong><br \/><br \/>Rolex has for many decades been associated with exploration of the planet\u2019s most extreme frontiers and with pushing the limits of human endeavour, in keeping with the spirit instilled by its founder, Hans Wilsdorf. The company grew through the most adventurous decades of the 20th century, a period marked not only by some of history\u2019s most daunting challenges in explor ation, but also by great technological advances. <br \/><br \/>Rolex nurtured in particular a special relationship with the sea after creating the waterproof Oyster wristwatch in 1926. Waterproofness was a fundamental feature that helped make watches reliable and accurate. The Oyster innovated with its screw-down case back, bezel and winding crown, forming the essence of the modern-day sealed case that protects a high-precision movement. Such reliable waterproofness is today inherent in every Rolex Oyster Perpetual model. <br \/><br \/>The Rolex Oyster is in its element in water, and the name\u00a0 chosen for this iconic collection is no accident. Rolex provided a real-life demonstration of its waterproofness in 1927, when a young English distance swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze, was equipped with an Oyster as she swam the English Channel. <br \/><br \/>Robust, precise and highly reliable, Rolex Oyster watches have since then proven themselves in real-life conditions during a series of iconic endeavours, including the Trieste\u2019s dive and the expedition by Sir John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of the world in 1953 \u2013 the \ufb01rst successful ascent of Mount Everest. Exploits of this kind have helped build the Rolex Oyster\u2019s reputation of utmost reliability and capability.<br \/><br \/><strong>DIVERS\u2019 WATCHES <\/strong><br \/><br \/>Rolex has sustained and extended its position at the forefront of watchmaking for divers with ground-breaking innovations. During the 1950s, developments in diving technology paved the way for a boom in underwater exploration. The exacting professional divers\u2019 community came to treasure Rolex watches as essential tools of the trade and even helped in their development. <br \/><br \/>The iconic Oyster Perpetual Submariner, \ufb01rst unveiled in 1953, is today waterproof to a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet). The Sea-Dweller model, \ufb01rst presented in 1967, extended the depth limit for Rolex waterproof watches to 610 metres (2,000 feet), then 1,220 metres (4,000 feet) in 1978. And ultimately the Rolex Deepsea, introduced in 2008, illustrates the supremacy of Rolex in mastering waterproofness. This new-generation divers\u2019 watch is rated waterproof to a depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), providing a substantial safety margin for those working in open water at great depth. Each Rolex Deepsea watch is individually tested 25 per cent beyond the guaranteed depth in a specially built hyperbaric tank at the company\u2019s \ufb01nal assembly site in Geneva. <br \/><br \/>Timepieces such as the state-of-the-art Rolex Deepsea are theproduct of nearly a century of \ufb01nely tuned know-how and innovation based on real-life experience of the exacting conditions underwater. They attest to the pursuit of perfection and the \ufb01nest engineering.<br \/><br \/><strong>CARING FOR THE DEEP <\/strong><br \/><br \/>Rolex\u2019s af\ufb01nity with the deep extends to active and sustained sponsorship of renowned marine researchers and ocean exploration, supporting excellence in the advancement of human knowledge and science. <br \/><br \/>Don Walsh, co-pilot of the Trieste in 1960, remains part of the Rolex family, while Rolex Testimonees include renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, as well as under water photographer and marine naturalist David Doubilet. For 40 years Rolex has partnered with the Our World\u2013Underwater Scholarship Society\u00ae. The brand notably funds young Rolex Scholars from North America, Europe and Australasia to gain hands-on experience with leaders in marine-related research, including on scienti\ufb01c expeditions, nurturing new generations of marine scientists. <br \/><br \/>Rolex was associated with The Deep, an exceptional exhibition of deep-sea creatures conceived by \ufb01lm-maker Claire Nouvian in collaboration with scienti\ufb01c researchers, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to discover some of the mysteries of the Earth\u2019s largest reservoir of life. James Cameron\u2019s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE, with Rolex and the National Geographic Society as partners, took us on a new journey to mankind\u2019s deepest frontier, for the \ufb01rst time since the Trieste touched the bottom, helping to shed light on an ocean \ufb02oor that had remained hidden from science for centuries. All paving the way for renewed exploration of the 95 per cent of the oceans that remains unexplored to this day, sparking interest in our vital marine environment.<\/p>","description_short":"","quantity":0,"minimal_quantity":"1","available_now":"","available_later":"","price":9458.333333,"specificPrice":false,"additional_shipping_cost":"0.00","wholesale_price":"0.000000","on_sale":"0","online_only":"0","unity":"","unit_price":0,"unit_price_ratio":"0.000000","ecotax":"0.000000","reference":"116660","supplier_reference":"","location":"","width":"0.000000","height":"0.000000","depth":"0.000000","weight":"0.000000","ean13":"","upc":"","link_rewrite":"deepsea","meta_description":"THE LAST FRONTIERROLEX DEEPSEACOOL UNDER PRESSURE The last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. 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{"Compl\u00e9ment":"Steel - D-Blue Dial","Statut de vente":"N est plus commercialis\u00e9","Date":"2014","Pi\u00e8ce unique":"No","S\u00e9rie limit\u00e9e":"No","Sexe":"Homme","Gaucher":"No","Diam\u00e8tre":"44","Types":"Self-winding","Styles":"Diving","Calibre_autre":"3135 Manufacture Rolex","Calibre distinction":"COSC certified, Chronometer","Affichage":"Luminescent hands","Complication":"Date","Mati\u00e8re du bo\u00eetier":"Steel","Particularit\u00e9 du boitier":"Screwed-down crown, Helium valve, Screwed-down caseback, Unidirectional turning bezel","Particularit\u00e9 du boitier_autre":"Grade 5 titanium caseback, Bezel with Cerachrom insert numerals and graduations coated in platinum via PVD","Etanch\u00e9it\u00e9":"> 1000 meters","Forme":"Round","Couleur du cadran":"Dark blue, Black","Index":"Triangles, Baton-type, Dots, Luminescent","Verre":"Sapphire, Domed","Mati\u00e8re du bracelet":"Steel","Fermeture du bracelet":"Oysterlock with Glidelock","Plus de caract\u00e9ristiques":"Professional watch <br \/><br \/>Movement<br \/>Calibre 3135. Manufacture Rolex <br \/>Mechanical movement. bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor <br \/>Of\ufb01cially certi\ufb01ed Swiss chronometer (COSC) <br \/>Centre hour. minute and seconds hands <br \/>Instantaneous date with rapid setting <br \/>Stop-seconds for precise time setting <br \/>Frequency: <br \/>28.800 beats \/ hour (4 Hz) <br \/>Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring with Breguet overcoil <br \/>Large balance wheel with variable inertia. high-precision regulating via gold Microstella nuts <br \/>Power reserve: Approximately 48 hours <br \/><br \/>Case<br \/>Oyster (monobloc middle case. screw-down\u00a0 case back and winding crown) <br \/>Ringlock System case architecture with nitrogen-alloyed steel ring <br \/>Helium escape valve <br \/>904L steel. case back in grade 5 titanium <br \/>Screw-down. Triplock triple water- <br \/>proofness system <br \/>Integral part of the middle case <br \/>Domed. 5.5 mm-thick. scratch-resistant synthetic sapphire <br \/>Bezel: Unidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated; Cerachrom insert made of ceramic. numerals <br \/>and graduations coated in platinum via PVD <br \/>Waterproofness : <br \/>3.900 m (12.800 ft) <br \/><br \/>Bracelet<br \/>Oyster; folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Rolex Glidelock system for \ufb01ne adjustment of bracelet length. and Fliplock extension link "}
116660
Brand : | Rolex |
Collection : | Oyster Perpetual |
Model : | Deepsea |
Reference : | 116660 |
Complement : | Steel - D-Blue Dial |
Year : | 2014 |
Is not commercialised any more |
Brand : | Rolex |
Collection : | Oyster Perpetual |
Model : | Deepsea |
Reference : | 116660 |
Complement : | Steel - D-Blue Dial |
Year : | 2014 |
Is not commercialised any more | |
List Price : | 11 350 € |
Diameter : | 44 mm |
Styles : | Diving |
Types : | Self-winding |
Calibre : | 3135 Manufacture Rolex |
Calibre distinction : | COSC certified Chronometer |
Complication : | Date |
Case material : | Steel |
Case peculiarity : | Screwed-down crown Helium valve Screwed-down caseback Unidirectional turning bezel Grade 5 titanium caseback Bezel with Cerachrom insert numerals and graduations coated in platinum via PVD |
Shape : | Round |
Water-resistance : | > 1000 meters |
Dial color : | Dark blue Black |
Display : | Luminescent hands |
Indexes : | Triangles Baton-type Dots Luminescent |
Glass : | Sapphire Domed |
Strap material : | Steel |
Strap clasp : | Oysterlock with Glidelock |
+ More characteristics : | Professional watch Movement Calibre 3135. Manufacture Rolex Mechanical movement. bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor Officially certified Swiss chronometer (COSC) Centre hour. minute and seconds hands Instantaneous date with rapid setting Stop-seconds for precise time setting Frequency: 28.800 beats / hour (4 Hz) Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring with Breguet overcoil Large balance wheel with variable inertia. high-precision regulating via gold Microstella nuts Power reserve: Approximately 48 hours Case Oyster (monobloc middle case. screw-down case back and winding crown) Ringlock System case architecture with nitrogen-alloyed steel ring Helium escape valve 904L steel. case back in grade 5 titanium Screw-down. Triplock triple water- proofness system Integral part of the middle case Domed. 5.5 mm-thick. scratch-resistant synthetic sapphire Bezel: Unidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated; Cerachrom insert made of ceramic. numerals and graduations coated in platinum via PVD Waterproofness : 3.900 m (12.800 ft) Bracelet Oyster; folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Rolex Glidelock system for fine adjustment of bracelet length. and Fliplock extension link |
THE LAST FRONTIER
ROLEX DEEPSEA
COOL UNDER PRESSURE
The last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This is the underwater twilight zone, where deep blue fades to pitch black and the ocean sinks into a realm less known to man than the surface of the moon. This threshold to the ocean’s fathomless reaches inspired the blue to black gradient dial of the newest version of the Rolex Deepsea, the professional divers’ watch waterproof to the extreme depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet).
The new Rolex Deepsea celebrates the partnership between Rolex and the historic 2012 DEEPSEA CHALLENGE exped ition to the deepest point in the ocean. This scientific endeavour was undertaken by explorer and film-maker James Cameron, who wore his trusted Rolex Deepsea as he became the first person to reach the Challenger Deep as a solo pilot. He successfully navigated the unique DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible he co-designed to a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet), where he explored the ocean trench, took samples and captured the first-ever high-resolution images of the deepest sea floor.
On the outside of the submersible, affixed to the robotic arm and the hull, were three experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watches, specially engineered by Rolex to withstand the most colossal water pressure on the planet. These watches, designed with the exact same architecture as the Rolex Deepsea, only much larger, provided the ultimate proof of the model's waterproofness and resistance to extreme pressure.
A few weeks earlier, as Cameron was putting his submersible through a trial run off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a standard Rolex Deepsea was attached to the sub’s hydraulic arm for a real-life dive to 4,000 metres (13,120 feet). Under pressure that would crush a nuclear submarine like a can of soda, Rolex’s professional divers’ watch kept its cool.
NEW GRADIENT DIAL
The new version of the Rolex Deepsea sports a deep blue to pitch-black gradient dial, reminiscent of the ocean’s twilight zone where the last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This new “D-blue” dial echoes the journey to the deepest point in the ocean undertaken by film-maker and explorer James Cameron in 2012 with his DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition, partnered by Rolex and National Geographic. As a tribute to this partnership, the “DEEPSEA” marking on the new dial adopts the colour of James Cameron’s green submers ible as it is perceived underwater.
OYSTER CASE
The Rolex Deepsea’s waterproof Oyster case is hewn from a solid block of 904L stainless steel superalloy. This particularly corrosion-resistant grade of steel is greatly valued in the chemical and aerospace industry for its high perform ance. The Oyster case holds the three components of the Ringlock System. The Triplock winding crown, equipped with three seals, screws down securely against the case, completing the waterproofness system and offering watertight security akin to a submarine’s hatch.
RINGLOCK SYSTEM
The Rolex Deepsea owes its exceptional strength, waterproofness and pressure resistance to the exclusive Ringlock System. This innovative case architecture patented by Rolex enables the watch to resist the massive pressure exerted by water at the depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), equivalent to a weight of approximately 3 tonnes on the watch. Its construction is based on three elements:
- A nearly indestructible nitrogen- alloyed stainless steel compression ring is pos itioned inside the watch case, around the movement, to provide support for the crystal and the case back. The backbone of the watch, it can withstand pressure that would crush a submarine.
- The watch face is protected by a dense, 5 mm dome-shaped sapphire crystal, made of high-purity aluminium oxide.
- Finally, the case back in grade 5 titan ium is held tight against the high-performance compression ring by a screw-down ring in 904L stainless steel. The almost imperceptible flexibility of grade 5 titanium allows the water pressure to strengthen the hermetic seal of the case as depth increases, by for cing the components tighter and tighter together.
HELIUM ESCAPE VALVE
The Rolex Deepsea’s Oyster case is equipped with a helium escape valve. Patented by Rolex in 1967, this safety valve acts as a miniature decompression chamber for the watch and is essential for deep-sea saturation diving. During the decompression phases that professional divers undergo in hyperbaric chambers, the helium valve automatically regulates the excess pressure trapped inside the watch case without compromising the waterproofness of the watch.
CERACHROM BEZEL INSERT
The unidirectional rotatable bezel of the Rolex Deepsea is fitted with a 60- minute graduated black Cerachrom insert that allows divers to safely monitor their time underwater and their decompression stops. The insert, made of an extremely hard and corrosion -resistant ceramic, is virtually scratchproof and its colour never fades. The numerals and the graduations are engraved in the ceramic and coated with platinum using a PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) process patented by Rolex, for optimal legibility and durability. The bezel’s knurled edge offers excellent grip when setting dive time, even with diving gloves.
CHROMALIGHT DISPLAY
Great attention was paid to the legibility of this Professional divers’ watch. The Chromalight hour markers and hands are filled with a luminescent material emitting a long-lasting blue glow – lasting up to twice as long as traditional materials. On the bezel, the zero marker of the gradu ation, in the form of a triangle, is visible in the dark thanks to a capsule containing the same luminescent material.
SAFETY CLASP AND EXTENSION SYSTEM
The Rolex Deepsea’s Oyster bracelet is equipped with an Oysterlock safety clasp that prevents accidental opening, and with a double extension system that allows the watch to be worn comfortably over a diving suit up to 7 mm thick. The Fliplock extension link extends the bracelet by 26 mm, while the Rolex Glidelock system allows fine adjustments of the bracelet length in 2 mm increments for a total of approximately 20 mm. Neither of them requires the use of any tools.
CALIBRE 3135, A SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER
The Rolex Deepsea is powered by calibre 3135, a self-winding mechanical movement entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex. Like all Rolex Perpetual movements, the 3135 is a certified Swiss chronometer, a designation reserved for high-precision watches that have successfully passed the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC) tests. Its architecture, like that of all Oyster watch movements, makes it singularly reliable.
The oscillator, the true heart of the watch, has a large balance wheel with variable inertia regulated extremely precisely with gold Microstella nuts. It is held firmly in place by a height-adjustable traversing bridge enabling very stable positioning to increase shock resistance. The oscillator features a blue Parachrom hairspring patented and manufactured by Rolex in an exclusive alloy. Insensitive to magnetic fields, the Parachrom hairspring offers great stability when exposed to temperature variations and remains up to 10 times more precise than a trad itional hairspring in case of shocks. It has a Breguet overcoil, enhancing the iso chronism of the oscillations in all positions.
Calibre 3135 is fitted with a self-winding module featuring a Perpetual rotor, which ensures continuous winding of the mainspring by harnessing the movements of the wrist to provide a constant source of energy.
The Rolex Deepsea’s movement will be seen only by certified Rolex watchmakers, yet it is beautifully finished and decorated, in keeping with the brand’s uncompromising quality standards.
HYPERBARIC TEST TANK
In deep-sea diving, reliability and security are paramount. Each Rolex Deepsea therefore undergoes stringent waterproofness and pressure-resistance tests. To this end, Rolex uses a specifically designed piece of equipment: a high-performance, stainless steel hyperbaric tank, which is cast in a single piece and weighs 1.3 tonnes. It simulates the pressure at 4,875 metres (16,000 feet) below sea level, 25 per cent greater than the depth indicated on the watch dial. This test is destructive, meaning that the slightest weakness in a watch would cause it to implode. Obviously, all Rolex Deepsea watches offered for sale have survived this test.
This high-tech equipment was developed and manufactured by Comex (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises), an internationally renowned company specializing in underwater engineering and hyperbaric technology. Rolex has been collaborating with Comex for decades and supplied watches to equip the French firm’s elite divers on deep-sea engineering missions. Comex’s professional divers set the world records for the deepest satur ation dives, and still hold them to this day.
SCALABLE PERFORMANCE
In 2012, the innovative case architecture of the Rolex Deepsea and its Ringlock System served as the blueprint for the design of the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, an experimental divers’ watch guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 12,000 metres (39,370 feet). Entirely engineered and manufactured by Rolex, it was custom-made to resist the extreme pressure found in the deepest reaches of the oceans. On 26 March 2012, it accompanied explorer and film-maker (Titanic, Avatar) James Cameron on his record-breaking solo submersible dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Cameron reached a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) in the Challenger Deep, the ocean’s deepest point. The Rolex Deepsea Challenge emerged unscathed.
To achieve this level of performance, Rolex engineers only had to scale up the dimensions of the commercial Rolex Deepsea, from 44 to 51.4 mm, trading wearability for ultimate pressure resistance. Because the only practical limit to the Rolex Deepsea’s performance is the requirement that it fit on a human wrist.
JAMES CAMERON’S DEEPSEA CHALLENGE
On 26 March 2012, film-maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible, a robust science platform, reaching the world’s deepest frontier. The inspir ational DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition paved the way for a new era in scientific exploration of the ocean floor, the least known area of the planet. No human being had returned to such depths since 23 January 1960, the date of the first manned dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench by the bathyscaphe Trieste. And whenever humanity ventures to new frontiers on Earth, so does Rolex.
EXPLORING THE WORLD’S DEEPEST FRONTIER
DEEPSEA CHALLENGE was a joint scientific expedition led by James Cameron in partnership with Rolex and National Geographic that pushed the limits of human endeavour in underwater exploration, science and innovation. In the deepest marine trenches, the water pressure is more than 1,000 times greater than at sea level - over 7 tonnes per square inch - and sunlight is completely blacked out, making this environment the most unwelcoming on Earth.
The expedition paved the way for more scientific research of the great depths. Scientists estimate that 95 per cent of the oceansremain unexplored and hold hidden clues to life on Earth. “It was very lunar, a very desolate place,” Cameron said after the historic dive. “My feeling was one of complete isolation from all of humanity. I felt like, literally in the space of one day, I had gone to another planet and come back.”
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGE dives off the coast of Papua New Guinea and in the Mariana Trench shed new light on the deep, providing high-resolution 3D images and collecting valuable samples for the scientific community that have led to the identification of at least 68 new species.
They include shrimp-like creatures called amphipods, sea cucumbers, tens of thousands of microbes, and stringy rock coatings known as microbial mats which contain organisms that can survive in the dark. The expedition included a team of scientists aboard the support vessel who helped to collect and analyse the samples and imagery that Cameron collected on his dives. These assets continue to be analysed by biologists, geolo gists and marine specialists at research institutions around the world.
In August 2014, James Cameron released a feature documentary, DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D, tracing the expedition from its beginnings until the last of its 13 dives in the Pacific. Mankind knows less about the oceans’ greatest depths than about the surface of the moon, and the film, like the expedition, reminds us how much of this planet remains to be explored.
THE MARIANA TRENCH
The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is the deepest part of the world’s oceans and one of a global network of deep troughs on the sea floor. The deepest point in the trench, known as Challenger Deep, lies some 11,000 metres (nearly 7 miles) below the surface and about 320 kilometres (about 200 miles) southwest of the nearest inhabited territory, the island of Guam. If Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, were set in the trench, there would still be approximately 2,000 metres (1.3 miles) of water above it. The trench was created by subduction, the downward movement of the Pacific tectonic plate beneath the Mariana Plate.
Challenger Deep was named after the 1858 British Royal Navy ship, HMS Challenger, the first vessel to sound the depths of the trench. In January 1960, Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh manned the 150-tonne bathyscaphe Trieste for the first journey to Challenger Deep.
James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition marked the first time in 52 years – and only the second time in history - that another human made the trip to the world’s deepest known point.
HIGH TECHNOLOGY TO SERVE SCIENCE
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible is 7.3 metres (24 feet) tall and shaped like a vertical torpedo. But, throughout the nearly seven hours he spent underwater, Cameron could barely move from a near-foetal position in the 109-centimetre-wide (43 inches), pressure-resistant metal sphere that formed his life-sustaining cockpit. To cope with the extreme conditions in the deepest parts of the ocean, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER incorporated innovative, cutting-edge features and materials that have helped advance the field of submersible design, including Isofloat® syntactic foam for the buoyant hull, pressure-resistant battery packs and a dedicated compact video system capable of capturing High-Definition 3D footage of the world’s deepest sea floor.
Unlike the Trieste, which spent only 20 minutes on the ocean floor and had no research or camera equipment, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER was designed as a science platform and was able to remain at the bottom of the Mariana Trench for three hours to explore, take samples and capture the first-ever high-resolution images of the trench, an ability which remains unprecedented.
A WATCH FOR THE DEEPEST CHALLENGE
James Cameron’s submersible was carrying a specially made experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch on its hydraulic manipulator arm and two others attached to its hull.
By scaling up the technology developed for the Rolex Deepsea divers’ watch, waterproof to 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), Rolex engineers created an experimental model capable of with-standing the crushing pressure of about 12 tonnes on the crystal which occurs in this cold, dark and barren world some 11 kilometres (7 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The watches emerged unharmed and kept time perfectly throughout nearly seven hours beneath the water, as Cameron demonstrated by looking at the Rolex Deepsea Challenge on the manipulator arm at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
ROLEX AND THE DEEP
In 1960 – 52 years before the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition – Rolex made watchmaking history when it joined the bathyscaphe Trieste on an unprecedented dive to the deepest known point in the world’s oceans. Crewed by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, the Trieste was carrying an experimental Rolex Deep Sea Special wristwatch when it reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean on 23 January 1960, at a record depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 feet).
The bathyscaphe and the watch attached to its exterior successfully withstood crushing, deep-sea water pressure that no submersible, let alone time-piece, had confronted before and that no human could ever survive. After the Trieste surfaced from its record dive, a cable was received at Rolex headquarters in Geneva: “Happy to announce your watch as precise at 11,000 metres down as on surface. Best regards Jacques Piccard.“
The historic dive of the Rolex Deep Sea Special was the fruit of decades of unrelenting development of the Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, invented by Rolex in 1926.
LIKE AN OYSTER IN THE SEA
Rolex has for many decades been associated with exploration of the planet’s most extreme frontiers and with pushing the limits of human endeavour, in keeping with the spirit instilled by its founder, Hans Wilsdorf. The company grew through the most adventurous decades of the 20th century, a period marked not only by some of history’s most daunting challenges in explor ation, but also by great technological advances.
Rolex nurtured in particular a special relationship with the sea after creating the waterproof Oyster wristwatch in 1926. Waterproofness was a fundamental feature that helped make watches reliable and accurate. The Oyster innovated with its screw-down case back, bezel and winding crown, forming the essence of the modern-day sealed case that protects a high-precision movement. Such reliable waterproofness is today inherent in every Rolex Oyster Perpetual model.
The Rolex Oyster is in its element in water, and the name chosen for this iconic collection is no accident. Rolex provided a real-life demonstration of its waterproofness in 1927, when a young English distance swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze, was equipped with an Oyster as she swam the English Channel.
Robust, precise and highly reliable, Rolex Oyster watches have since then proven themselves in real-life conditions during a series of iconic endeavours, including the Trieste’s dive and the expedition by Sir John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of the world in 1953 – the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Exploits of this kind have helped build the Rolex Oyster’s reputation of utmost reliability and capability.
DIVERS’ WATCHES
Rolex has sustained and extended its position at the forefront of watchmaking for divers with ground-breaking innovations. During the 1950s, developments in diving technology paved the way for a boom in underwater exploration. The exacting professional divers’ community came to treasure Rolex watches as essential tools of the trade and even helped in their development.
The iconic Oyster Perpetual Submariner, first unveiled in 1953, is today waterproof to a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet). The Sea-Dweller model, first presented in 1967, extended the depth limit for Rolex waterproof watches to 610 metres (2,000 feet), then 1,220 metres (4,000 feet) in 1978. And ultimately the Rolex Deepsea, introduced in 2008, illustrates the supremacy of Rolex in mastering waterproofness. This new-generation divers’ watch is rated waterproof to a depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), providing a substantial safety margin for those working in open water at great depth. Each Rolex Deepsea watch is individually tested 25 per cent beyond the guaranteed depth in a specially built hyperbaric tank at the company’s final assembly site in Geneva.
Timepieces such as the state-of-the-art Rolex Deepsea are theproduct of nearly a century of finely tuned know-how and innovation based on real-life experience of the exacting conditions underwater. They attest to the pursuit of perfection and the finest engineering.
CARING FOR THE DEEP
Rolex’s affinity with the deep extends to active and sustained sponsorship of renowned marine researchers and ocean exploration, supporting excellence in the advancement of human knowledge and science.
Don Walsh, co-pilot of the Trieste in 1960, remains part of the Rolex family, while Rolex Testimonees include renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, as well as under water photographer and marine naturalist David Doubilet. For 40 years Rolex has partnered with the Our World–Underwater Scholarship Society®. The brand notably funds young Rolex Scholars from North America, Europe and Australasia to gain hands-on experience with leaders in marine-related research, including on scientific expeditions, nurturing new generations of marine scientists.
Rolex was associated with The Deep, an exceptional exhibition of deep-sea creatures conceived by film-maker Claire Nouvian in collaboration with scientific researchers, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to discover some of the mysteries of the Earth’s largest reservoir of life. James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE, with Rolex and the National Geographic Society as partners, took us on a new journey to mankind’s deepest frontier, for the first time since the Trieste touched the bottom, helping to shed light on an ocean floor that had remained hidden from science for centuries. All paving the way for renewed exploration of the 95 per cent of the oceans that remains unexplored to this day, sparking interest in our vital marine environment.
THE LAST FRONTIER
ROLEX DEEPSEA
COOL UNDER PRESSURE
The last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This is the underwater twilight zone, where deep blue fades to pitch black and the ocean sinks into a realm less known to man than the surface of the moon. This threshold to the ocean’s fathomless reaches inspired the blue to black gradient dial of the newest version of the Rolex Deepsea, the professional divers’ watch waterproof to the extreme depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet).
The new Rolex Deepsea celebrates the partnership between Rolex and the historic 2012 DEEPSEA CHALLENGE exped ition to the deepest point in the ocean. This scientific endeavour was undertaken by explorer and film-maker James Cameron, who wore his trusted Rolex Deepsea as he became the first person to reach the Challenger Deep as a solo pilot. He successfully navigated the unique DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible he co-designed to a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet), where he explored the ocean trench, took samples and captured the first-ever high-resolution images of the deepest sea floor.
On the outside of the submersible, affixed to the robotic arm and the hull, were three experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watches, specially engineered by Rolex to withstand the most colossal water pressure on the planet. These watches, designed with the exact same architecture as the Rolex Deepsea, only much larger, provided the ultimate proof of the model's waterproofness and resistance to extreme pressure.
A few weeks earlier, as Cameron was putting his submersible through a trial run off the coast of Papua New Guinea, a standard Rolex Deepsea was attached to the sub’s hydraulic arm for a real-life dive to 4,000 metres (13,120 feet). Under pressure that would crush a nuclear submarine like a can of soda, Rolex’s professional divers’ watch kept its cool.
NEW GRADIENT DIAL
The new version of the Rolex Deepsea sports a deep blue to pitch-black gradient dial, reminiscent of the ocean’s twilight zone where the last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss. This new “D-blue” dial echoes the journey to the deepest point in the ocean undertaken by film-maker and explorer James Cameron in 2012 with his DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition, partnered by Rolex and National Geographic. As a tribute to this partnership, the “DEEPSEA” marking on the new dial adopts the colour of James Cameron’s green submers ible as it is perceived underwater.
OYSTER CASE
The Rolex Deepsea’s waterproof Oyster case is hewn from a solid block of 904L stainless steel superalloy. This particularly corrosion-resistant grade of steel is greatly valued in the chemical and aerospace industry for its high perform ance. The Oyster case holds the three components of the Ringlock System. The Triplock winding crown, equipped with three seals, screws down securely against the case, completing the waterproofness system and offering watertight security akin to a submarine’s hatch.
RINGLOCK SYSTEM
The Rolex Deepsea owes its exceptional strength, waterproofness and pressure resistance to the exclusive Ringlock System. This innovative case architecture patented by Rolex enables the watch to resist the massive pressure exerted by water at the depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), equivalent to a weight of approximately 3 tonnes on the watch. Its construction is based on three elements:
- A nearly indestructible nitrogen- alloyed stainless steel compression ring is pos itioned inside the watch case, around the movement, to provide support for the crystal and the case back. The backbone of the watch, it can withstand pressure that would crush a submarine.
- The watch face is protected by a dense, 5 mm dome-shaped sapphire crystal, made of high-purity aluminium oxide.
- Finally, the case back in grade 5 titan ium is held tight against the high-performance compression ring by a screw-down ring in 904L stainless steel. The almost imperceptible flexibility of grade 5 titanium allows the water pressure to strengthen the hermetic seal of the case as depth increases, by for cing the components tighter and tighter together.
HELIUM ESCAPE VALVE
The Rolex Deepsea’s Oyster case is equipped with a helium escape valve. Patented by Rolex in 1967, this safety valve acts as a miniature decompression chamber for the watch and is essential for deep-sea saturation diving. During the decompression phases that professional divers undergo in hyperbaric chambers, the helium valve automatically regulates the excess pressure trapped inside the watch case without compromising the waterproofness of the watch.
CERACHROM BEZEL INSERT
The unidirectional rotatable bezel of the Rolex Deepsea is fitted with a 60- minute graduated black Cerachrom insert that allows divers to safely monitor their time underwater and their decompression stops. The insert, made of an extremely hard and corrosion -resistant ceramic, is virtually scratchproof and its colour never fades. The numerals and the graduations are engraved in the ceramic and coated with platinum using a PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition) process patented by Rolex, for optimal legibility and durability. The bezel’s knurled edge offers excellent grip when setting dive time, even with diving gloves.
CHROMALIGHT DISPLAY
Great attention was paid to the legibility of this Professional divers’ watch. The Chromalight hour markers and hands are filled with a luminescent material emitting a long-lasting blue glow – lasting up to twice as long as traditional materials. On the bezel, the zero marker of the gradu ation, in the form of a triangle, is visible in the dark thanks to a capsule containing the same luminescent material.
SAFETY CLASP AND EXTENSION SYSTEM
The Rolex Deepsea’s Oyster bracelet is equipped with an Oysterlock safety clasp that prevents accidental opening, and with a double extension system that allows the watch to be worn comfortably over a diving suit up to 7 mm thick. The Fliplock extension link extends the bracelet by 26 mm, while the Rolex Glidelock system allows fine adjustments of the bracelet length in 2 mm increments for a total of approximately 20 mm. Neither of them requires the use of any tools.
CALIBRE 3135, A SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER
The Rolex Deepsea is powered by calibre 3135, a self-winding mechanical movement entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex. Like all Rolex Perpetual movements, the 3135 is a certified Swiss chronometer, a designation reserved for high-precision watches that have successfully passed the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC) tests. Its architecture, like that of all Oyster watch movements, makes it singularly reliable.
The oscillator, the true heart of the watch, has a large balance wheel with variable inertia regulated extremely precisely with gold Microstella nuts. It is held firmly in place by a height-adjustable traversing bridge enabling very stable positioning to increase shock resistance. The oscillator features a blue Parachrom hairspring patented and manufactured by Rolex in an exclusive alloy. Insensitive to magnetic fields, the Parachrom hairspring offers great stability when exposed to temperature variations and remains up to 10 times more precise than a trad itional hairspring in case of shocks. It has a Breguet overcoil, enhancing the iso chronism of the oscillations in all positions.
Calibre 3135 is fitted with a self-winding module featuring a Perpetual rotor, which ensures continuous winding of the mainspring by harnessing the movements of the wrist to provide a constant source of energy.
The Rolex Deepsea’s movement will be seen only by certified Rolex watchmakers, yet it is beautifully finished and decorated, in keeping with the brand’s uncompromising quality standards.
HYPERBARIC TEST TANK
In deep-sea diving, reliability and security are paramount. Each Rolex Deepsea therefore undergoes stringent waterproofness and pressure-resistance tests. To this end, Rolex uses a specifically designed piece of equipment: a high-performance, stainless steel hyperbaric tank, which is cast in a single piece and weighs 1.3 tonnes. It simulates the pressure at 4,875 metres (16,000 feet) below sea level, 25 per cent greater than the depth indicated on the watch dial. This test is destructive, meaning that the slightest weakness in a watch would cause it to implode. Obviously, all Rolex Deepsea watches offered for sale have survived this test.
This high-tech equipment was developed and manufactured by Comex (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises), an internationally renowned company specializing in underwater engineering and hyperbaric technology. Rolex has been collaborating with Comex for decades and supplied watches to equip the French firm’s elite divers on deep-sea engineering missions. Comex’s professional divers set the world records for the deepest satur ation dives, and still hold them to this day.
SCALABLE PERFORMANCE
In 2012, the innovative case architecture of the Rolex Deepsea and its Ringlock System served as the blueprint for the design of the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, an experimental divers’ watch guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 12,000 metres (39,370 feet). Entirely engineered and manufactured by Rolex, it was custom-made to resist the extreme pressure found in the deepest reaches of the oceans. On 26 March 2012, it accompanied explorer and film-maker (Titanic, Avatar) James Cameron on his record-breaking solo submersible dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. Cameron reached a depth of 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) in the Challenger Deep, the ocean’s deepest point. The Rolex Deepsea Challenge emerged unscathed.
To achieve this level of performance, Rolex engineers only had to scale up the dimensions of the commercial Rolex Deepsea, from 44 to 51.4 mm, trading wearability for ultimate pressure resistance. Because the only practical limit to the Rolex Deepsea’s performance is the requirement that it fit on a human wrist.
JAMES CAMERON’S DEEPSEA CHALLENGE
On 26 March 2012, film-maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible, a robust science platform, reaching the world’s deepest frontier. The inspir ational DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition paved the way for a new era in scientific exploration of the ocean floor, the least known area of the planet. No human being had returned to such depths since 23 January 1960, the date of the first manned dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench by the bathyscaphe Trieste. And whenever humanity ventures to new frontiers on Earth, so does Rolex.
EXPLORING THE WORLD’S DEEPEST FRONTIER
DEEPSEA CHALLENGE was a joint scientific expedition led by James Cameron in partnership with Rolex and National Geographic that pushed the limits of human endeavour in underwater exploration, science and innovation. In the deepest marine trenches, the water pressure is more than 1,000 times greater than at sea level - over 7 tonnes per square inch - and sunlight is completely blacked out, making this environment the most unwelcoming on Earth.
The expedition paved the way for more scientific research of the great depths. Scientists estimate that 95 per cent of the oceansremain unexplored and hold hidden clues to life on Earth. “It was very lunar, a very desolate place,” Cameron said after the historic dive. “My feeling was one of complete isolation from all of humanity. I felt like, literally in the space of one day, I had gone to another planet and come back.”
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGE dives off the coast of Papua New Guinea and in the Mariana Trench shed new light on the deep, providing high-resolution 3D images and collecting valuable samples for the scientific community that have led to the identification of at least 68 new species.
They include shrimp-like creatures called amphipods, sea cucumbers, tens of thousands of microbes, and stringy rock coatings known as microbial mats which contain organisms that can survive in the dark. The expedition included a team of scientists aboard the support vessel who helped to collect and analyse the samples and imagery that Cameron collected on his dives. These assets continue to be analysed by biologists, geolo gists and marine specialists at research institutions around the world.
In August 2014, James Cameron released a feature documentary, DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D, tracing the expedition from its beginnings until the last of its 13 dives in the Pacific. Mankind knows less about the oceans’ greatest depths than about the surface of the moon, and the film, like the expedition, reminds us how much of this planet remains to be explored.
THE MARIANA TRENCH
The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is the deepest part of the world’s oceans and one of a global network of deep troughs on the sea floor. The deepest point in the trench, known as Challenger Deep, lies some 11,000 metres (nearly 7 miles) below the surface and about 320 kilometres (about 200 miles) southwest of the nearest inhabited territory, the island of Guam. If Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, were set in the trench, there would still be approximately 2,000 metres (1.3 miles) of water above it. The trench was created by subduction, the downward movement of the Pacific tectonic plate beneath the Mariana Plate.
Challenger Deep was named after the 1858 British Royal Navy ship, HMS Challenger, the first vessel to sound the depths of the trench. In January 1960, Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh manned the 150-tonne bathyscaphe Trieste for the first journey to Challenger Deep.
James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition marked the first time in 52 years – and only the second time in history - that another human made the trip to the world’s deepest known point.
HIGH TECHNOLOGY TO SERVE SCIENCE
The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible is 7.3 metres (24 feet) tall and shaped like a vertical torpedo. But, throughout the nearly seven hours he spent underwater, Cameron could barely move from a near-foetal position in the 109-centimetre-wide (43 inches), pressure-resistant metal sphere that formed his life-sustaining cockpit. To cope with the extreme conditions in the deepest parts of the ocean, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER incorporated innovative, cutting-edge features and materials that have helped advance the field of submersible design, including Isofloat® syntactic foam for the buoyant hull, pressure-resistant battery packs and a dedicated compact video system capable of capturing High-Definition 3D footage of the world’s deepest sea floor.
Unlike the Trieste, which spent only 20 minutes on the ocean floor and had no research or camera equipment, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER was designed as a science platform and was able to remain at the bottom of the Mariana Trench for three hours to explore, take samples and capture the first-ever high-resolution images of the trench, an ability which remains unprecedented.
A WATCH FOR THE DEEPEST CHALLENGE
James Cameron’s submersible was carrying a specially made experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge watch on its hydraulic manipulator arm and two others attached to its hull.
By scaling up the technology developed for the Rolex Deepsea divers’ watch, waterproof to 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), Rolex engineers created an experimental model capable of with-standing the crushing pressure of about 12 tonnes on the crystal which occurs in this cold, dark and barren world some 11 kilometres (7 miles) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. The watches emerged unharmed and kept time perfectly throughout nearly seven hours beneath the water, as Cameron demonstrated by looking at the Rolex Deepsea Challenge on the manipulator arm at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
ROLEX AND THE DEEP
In 1960 – 52 years before the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition – Rolex made watchmaking history when it joined the bathyscaphe Trieste on an unprecedented dive to the deepest known point in the world’s oceans. Crewed by Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, the Trieste was carrying an experimental Rolex Deep Sea Special wristwatch when it reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean on 23 January 1960, at a record depth of 10,916 metres (35,814 feet).
The bathyscaphe and the watch attached to its exterior successfully withstood crushing, deep-sea water pressure that no submersible, let alone time-piece, had confronted before and that no human could ever survive. After the Trieste surfaced from its record dive, a cable was received at Rolex headquarters in Geneva: “Happy to announce your watch as precise at 11,000 metres down as on surface. Best regards Jacques Piccard.“
The historic dive of the Rolex Deep Sea Special was the fruit of decades of unrelenting development of the Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, invented by Rolex in 1926.
LIKE AN OYSTER IN THE SEA
Rolex has for many decades been associated with exploration of the planet’s most extreme frontiers and with pushing the limits of human endeavour, in keeping with the spirit instilled by its founder, Hans Wilsdorf. The company grew through the most adventurous decades of the 20th century, a period marked not only by some of history’s most daunting challenges in explor ation, but also by great technological advances.
Rolex nurtured in particular a special relationship with the sea after creating the waterproof Oyster wristwatch in 1926. Waterproofness was a fundamental feature that helped make watches reliable and accurate. The Oyster innovated with its screw-down case back, bezel and winding crown, forming the essence of the modern-day sealed case that protects a high-precision movement. Such reliable waterproofness is today inherent in every Rolex Oyster Perpetual model.
The Rolex Oyster is in its element in water, and the name chosen for this iconic collection is no accident. Rolex provided a real-life demonstration of its waterproofness in 1927, when a young English distance swimmer, Mercedes Gleitze, was equipped with an Oyster as she swam the English Channel.
Robust, precise and highly reliable, Rolex Oyster watches have since then proven themselves in real-life conditions during a series of iconic endeavours, including the Trieste’s dive and the expedition by Sir John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay to the top of the world in 1953 – the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Exploits of this kind have helped build the Rolex Oyster’s reputation of utmost reliability and capability.
DIVERS’ WATCHES
Rolex has sustained and extended its position at the forefront of watchmaking for divers with ground-breaking innovations. During the 1950s, developments in diving technology paved the way for a boom in underwater exploration. The exacting professional divers’ community came to treasure Rolex watches as essential tools of the trade and even helped in their development.
The iconic Oyster Perpetual Submariner, first unveiled in 1953, is today waterproof to a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet). The Sea-Dweller model, first presented in 1967, extended the depth limit for Rolex waterproof watches to 610 metres (2,000 feet), then 1,220 metres (4,000 feet) in 1978. And ultimately the Rolex Deepsea, introduced in 2008, illustrates the supremacy of Rolex in mastering waterproofness. This new-generation divers’ watch is rated waterproof to a depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet), providing a substantial safety margin for those working in open water at great depth. Each Rolex Deepsea watch is individually tested 25 per cent beyond the guaranteed depth in a specially built hyperbaric tank at the company’s final assembly site in Geneva.
Timepieces such as the state-of-the-art Rolex Deepsea are theproduct of nearly a century of finely tuned know-how and innovation based on real-life experience of the exacting conditions underwater. They attest to the pursuit of perfection and the finest engineering.
CARING FOR THE DEEP
Rolex’s affinity with the deep extends to active and sustained sponsorship of renowned marine researchers and ocean exploration, supporting excellence in the advancement of human knowledge and science.
Don Walsh, co-pilot of the Trieste in 1960, remains part of the Rolex family, while Rolex Testimonees include renowned oceanographer and explorer Sylvia Earle, as well as under water photographer and marine naturalist David Doubilet. For 40 years Rolex has partnered with the Our World–Underwater Scholarship Society®. The brand notably funds young Rolex Scholars from North America, Europe and Australasia to gain hands-on experience with leaders in marine-related research, including on scientific expeditions, nurturing new generations of marine scientists.
Rolex was associated with The Deep, an exceptional exhibition of deep-sea creatures conceived by film-maker Claire Nouvian in collaboration with scientific researchers, providing visitors with a unique opportunity to discover some of the mysteries of the Earth’s largest reservoir of life. James Cameron’s DEEPSEA CHALLENGE, with Rolex and the National Geographic Society as partners, took us on a new journey to mankind’s deepest frontier, for the first time since the Trieste touched the bottom, helping to shed light on an ocean floor that had remained hidden from science for centuries. All paving the way for renewed exploration of the 95 per cent of the oceans that remains unexplored to this day, sparking interest in our vital marine environment.
Brand : | Rolex |
Collection : | Oyster Perpetual |
Model : | Deepsea |
Reference : | 116660 |
Complement : | Steel - D-Blue Dial |
Year : | 2014 |
Is not commercialised any more | |
List Price : | 11 350 € |
Diameter : | 44 mm |
Styles : | Diving |
Types : | Self-winding |
Calibre : | 3135 Manufacture Rolex |
Calibre distinction : | COSC certified Chronometer |
Complication : | Date |
Case material : | Steel |
Case peculiarity : | Screwed-down crown Helium valve Screwed-down caseback Unidirectional turning bezel Grade 5 titanium caseback Bezel with Cerachrom insert numerals and graduations coated in platinum via PVD |
Shape : | Round |
Water-resistance : | > 1000 meters |
Dial color : | Dark blue Black |
Display : | Luminescent hands |
Indexes : | Triangles Baton-type Dots Luminescent |
Glass : | Sapphire Domed |
Strap material : | Steel |
Strap clasp : | Oysterlock with Glidelock |
More characteristics : | Professional watch Movement Calibre 3135. Manufacture Rolex Mechanical movement. bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor Officially certified Swiss chronometer (COSC) Centre hour. minute and seconds hands Instantaneous date with rapid setting Stop-seconds for precise time setting Frequency: 28.800 beats / hour (4 Hz) Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring with Breguet overcoil Large balance wheel with variable inertia. high-precision regulating via gold Microstella nuts Power reserve: Approximately 48 hours Case Oyster (monobloc middle case. screw-down case back and winding crown) Ringlock System case architecture with nitrogen-alloyed steel ring Helium escape valve 904L steel. case back in grade 5 titanium Screw-down. Triplock triple water- proofness system Integral part of the middle case Domed. 5.5 mm-thick. scratch-resistant synthetic sapphire Bezel: Unidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated; Cerachrom insert made of ceramic. numerals and graduations coated in platinum via PVD Waterproofness : 3.900 m (12.800 ft) Bracelet Oyster; folding Oysterlock safety clasp with Rolex Glidelock system for fine adjustment of bracelet length. and Fliplock extension link |