This week, the spotlight is on the vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 with a Mark II tropical dial. Shop pre-owned luxury watches: www.bobswatches.com
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Each week on ‘What's in the Box,' the team unboxes a different timepiece from our latest arrivals. Watches featured in this series are available in the links below.
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Justin’s Wrist: Rolex GMT Master II Ref. 126720VTNR “Sprite”
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Emily’s Wrist: Rolex Cellini Ref. 5115
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Brandon’s Wrist: Vintage Rolex Submariner Ref. 5512
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FEATURED WATCH: Vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller Ref. 1665
Find the Rolex 1665 for sale here: www.bobswatches.com/rolex-sea...
Ref. 1665 is the inaugural Rolex Sea-Dweller, coming to market in the late 1960s and bowing out of production sometime in the 1980s. Rolex released many iterations of the Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 during its production run, including the fascinating Mark II dial Rolex featured in this week’s edition of What’s in the Box.
The Sea-Dweller builds upon the success of the Submariner, featuring a similar design and substantial water resistance. However, while the Submariner only has a waterproof screw-down crown, the Sea-Dweller also sports an innovative Helium Escape Valve. As a result, it offers increased waterproofness up to 600 meters/2,000 feet.
SINGLE RED
Early prototypes of the watch had a red Sea-Dweller logo, and the rest of the text was white. Those models were produced for a short time and are incredibly rare. They are often referred to as the “Single Red Sea-Dweller.”
DOUBLE RED
What is a Rolex Sea-Dweller Double Red? For the second iteration of the ref. 1665, the “Submariner 2000” text is also red, hence the name “Double Red Sea-Dweller” or “DRSD.”
Rolex produced reference 1665s with two lines of red text for about a decade, during which many variations came to market. Each iteration differs from the next in very subtle ways that might not be easily recognizable to the untrained eye, whether it be the spacing of the text or the way the red paint is applied.
The dial variations are categorized as Marks O to 7, with the last three being service replacement dials.
GREAT WHITE
Rolex eventually switched to all-white text for ref. 1665, around 1977. These models were dubbed “Great White” Sea-Dwellers and remained in production for a few years before being discontinued to make way for the ref. 16660.
MARK II SEA-DWELLER REF. 1665
The featured Rolex this week is a Mark II Sea-Dweller circa 1972. It sports a desirable Mark II tropical dial, distinguished from other dial variations by the smaller hole in the base of the Rolex coronet and some white text showing underneath the red paint.
Mark II dials are also known to go tropical, a term used in watch collecting to describe dials that have changed in color over time. The original black dial has changed to brown on this model due to how the original lacquer reacts to UV light.
Many collectors gravitate towards these dials because of their rare and unique appearance.
The color change on our example is particularly prominent around the edges of the date window. Additionally, the hands and hour markers have developed a patina, and the Tritium luminescent material exhibits a nice, even yellow color.
It also sports a clasp with the error diver’s extension. These clasps have a typo, reading “PATETED” instead of “PATENTED.” Small details like this one make this ref. 1665 even more collectible.
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