In December 2011, we presented via the
Vintage-DB Rolex Blog, a pair of Rolex 1665 Double Red PATENT PENDING Sea-Dwellers
with consecutive serials, which were originally delivered to 2 divers for testing purposes while they were working
for dive exploration companies other Comex in the late 1960s.
· 1968 - Westinghouse Oceanic Division, Saturation Dive 600ft
· 1969 - Duke University / US Navy, Saturation Dive 1000ft
· 1970 - Vietnam, US Naval Forces
· 1971-73 – Harbor Clearance Unit-One, Hawaii
· 1973 - Aegir Habitat, Saturation Dive
· 1974 - US Naval Deep Sea Diving School Instructor, Washington DC
· 1975 - US Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda
· 1977 - US Navy Retired
· 1977 - Launched ‘State of the Arts Hyperbaric’
· 2001 - Retired’
US Navy discharge papers (honorable)
Shortly after acquiring these watches, we
were fortunate to discover another original owner example of the Rolex ref. 1665
‘PATENT PENDING Sea-Dweller’, but this time from 2128 batch and again not delivered to Comex.
The following Rolex ref. 1665 ‘PATENT
PENDING Sea-Dweller’ was issued by Rolex for testing purposes to the delightful
Chuck E Gross whilst serving in the US Navy in the late 1960s.
Chuck very
kindly provided to us along with his watch & documented provenance, his US
Navy discharge papers, military diving patches, diving pins and a copy of an
article for Research magazine in which he featured.
We will leave it to Chuck to describe in
his own words
‘In 1967 I joined the US Navy Experimental
Diving Unit in Washington DC evaluating Saturation Diving Techniques. During
this period I was presented with my Rolex Sea-Dweller for Operational &
Comfort Testing in exchange for written reports on its performance during
saturation dives to 600 & 750 ft, and wet testing using a research chamber
to 1000FSW. I was awarded the watch on completion.
During my career I undertook the following
dives accompanied by my Rolex Sea-Dweller
· 1969 - Duke University / US Navy, Saturation Dive 1000ft
· 1970 - Vietnam, US Naval Forces
· 1971-73 – Harbor Clearance Unit-One, Hawaii
· 1973 - Aegir Habitat, Saturation Dive
· 1974 - US Naval Deep Sea Diving School Instructor, Washington DC
· 1975 - US Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda
· 1977 - US Navy Retired
· 1977 - Launched ‘State of the Arts Hyperbaric’
· 2001 - Retired’
US Navy discharge papers (honorable)
Chuck E Gross (pictured) wearing his Rolex
1665 Patent Pending Sea-Dweller for an article in Research magazine
Chuck E Gross in Action
Associated patches & pins
And finally the Watch
Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 ‘Double Pink’
‘Patent Pending’ Serial 2,128,xxx
© Copyright Daniel Bourn www.vintage-db.com
If you are an original owner of a vintage Rolex, Patek Philippe or Panerai watch, and are looking to sell, value or just share your story, please contact Daniel Bourn at www.vintage-db.com on tel. +44 7977 469 568 (London) or tel. +41 799 642 379 (Geneva) or via email at db@vintage-db.com.
