Why is the NEW Rolex Sea-Dweller 126600 Important?

[Applause] to understand the sea-dweller we must understand its purpose where it positions itself in the Rolex family so we will be looking at various models of the line and give it some kind of retrospective because the development of the sea-dweller is quite fascinating in the family it shows that Rolex is addressing these models with a bit more care with a bit more thought about their development now as most of us know the sea dweller is supposed to be the more competent Submariner where the Submariner could be considered the civilian model the sea dweller has that x-factor and that's what enthusiasts love I'm sure civilians appreciated - but enthusiasts especially hobbyists in this game really enjoy that this watch like so many others in that time period evolved out of necessity professionals needed these watches to go deeper so Rolex obliged collaborating with Comex and eventually creating models of their own the reference 1 665 was the first official sea dweller and really when you look at us at first it looks like a Submariner certain variants had single lines of red text the more common variant had twin red lines the watch doesn't have a cyclops lens which was a very characteristic element of the sea dweller and that was mainly because the crystal was domed not flat so it couldn't occupy a cyclops lens the only other real difference is that the case had a helium release valve but really seeing this side-by-side with a Submariner at the time it's very difficult to notice a complete difference the only real time you can tell is that you have to try them on and understand that wine is much thicker than the other we then moved to a more modern variant which was the last hoorah of the aluminium bezel 40 millimeter sea dwellers and that's the reference 1 6600 very simple extremely understated and many people swear by them because there really are the epitome of that classic elegance that the reference 1665 had in spades now this watch especially looks even more like a submariner again the only real difference is when you look at it you can see that it doesn't have a cyclops lens the watch has a much thicker case and deeper crystal and one of the greatest appeals that the sea-dweller line has these five digit references and these four digit references is that they speak very much to the wearer in a way it is a understated diving instrument in the purest sense looks just like a Submariner but really under the hood it isn't that's one of the aspects of this watch that speaks to the enthusiast once again it's very appealing because not many people know what it is on first impressions then we jump to one of the most interesting references that Rolex has made of their dive watches and that is the sea-dweller 4000 which is the reference one one six six zero zero the official last hoorah of the 40 millimeter sea-dweller what they did so well with this was that they made it even more toned-down than the Submariner if that is even possible the case design itself was tapered not squared off like the Submariner which had just adopted the super case at the time all of the elements you have a maxi dial you have a fully graduated ceramic bezel very interesting very simple still looks like a Submariner but under the hood it isn't once again the only real way you could tell is when you're wearing the watch on the wrist and you notice that that thickness this watch only had a lifespan of about three years if I'm not mistaken and is considered one of the most collectible sea dwellers out there for that reason and then we jump to the watch that has stirred a lot of debate it has gotten my hackles up for sure lots of other enthusiasts don't know where to place this watch but that is the new reference one to 6600 known as the sea-dweller 43 now when the swatch was released we all had the same knee-jerk reaction it's 43 millimeters it goes against what the original references were all about being scaled down to 40 and remaining that size it uses a lot more DNA from the James Cameron deep-sea sea dweller but even still manages to somehow remain in that old-school sea-dweller camp by doing a few things one of the elements that is really perplexing about this watch is the single line of red text on the dial because Rolex isn't really one to dig deep and to go back into their archives to pull ideas back for some reason they decided to incorporate a single red line on the dial which is very unlike them when we see what they have been doing with regards to their material choices their case designs all the rest so on one side you are appealing to the enthusiast you are giving back some kind of reference to the original reference 1665 and then all of a sudden you incorporate a cyclops lens the elements that really has been the defining feature of the Cee'd whether is to be a watch without a cyclops lens so why do we have this conflict it's almost as if they apologize for hiding the Cyclops by incorporating the red line of text to the enthusiast I don't know it's very difficult to put together but then on the same side we can see that they are clearly focused to develop this line more and more and what I hope you saw in these various pictures is that there has been such a clear evolution from the 1665 all the way to this latest reference yes the size has changed yes the materials have changed yes they've gone back on their word a few times and added something that is quite out of the blue and strange as you can see that there has been the development of these prototypes over time the sea-dweller 43 shows something else about the name and about the family it's quite a clear representation of what Rolex is planning on doing with them modern development of their pieces in many ways we have little examples of references to the past but still having that very dogmatic approach of sticking to what they know and what they think is best so if we are then to refer back to what the sea dweller was why it was developed what intention had really had behind the name it simply was a submariner built with excess in mind in the sense that it needed to go twice as deep it needed to therefore be twice as imposing and for that reason the 43 millimeters sea dweller addresses it well they have in fact stuck to that DNA I'm sure most of us would agree that the watch would look quite appealing without a cyclops lens but in saying that it is a watch designed for the civilian market nowadays it's designed to be used as a daily wearer so of course the Cyclops makes the reading experience easier many of us question why that watch is 43 millimeters and why Rolex has decided to continue to up the size and scale of their watches on one side it's because that's what the market demands on the other side going back to that idea of it being a more applicable tool for its purpose being used underwater it has a great amount of presence on the wrist and what really has been so expertly done with this model in particular is the direction when looking at the proportions of the watch the architecture on the dial the use of the bezel being fully graduated the size of the case of the case tapers into the body of the watch how the bracelets integrates with the case everything has been scaled appropriately to make the watch look all the more whole and complete so where someone like me who is quite reserved with the whole idea of this improvement and sort of going against what we would like to see strictly speaking when we look at the watch from a developmental point of view we can understand this direction and this choice made as ridiculous as it is that we say it's interesting that they decided to incorporate something like a cyclops lens onto the crystal what it shows is that the family even though they know their history and where they've come from and their development says something that of course they're interested in further developing their line and looking back at their past at the same time but that the family are also open to throwing a spanner in the works and going against what they did in the past which means that then we can open up our speculation towards where the Explorer line might go and where the Explorer 2 might actually receive a ceramic bezel where we might see the likes of these Mariner receiving a complete overhaul as a case study the sea dweller and its development shows you where modern Rolex stands again I'll emphasize it's a very important point and from this line we can see the clear incremental improvements that have been made to make this watch all the more competent as a top-of-the-line diving instrument to be used by professionals and civilians on a daily basis

Channel: IDGuy

Views: 54,268

Keywords: IDGuy, Rolex, Rolex Sea-Dweller, 126600, 116600, 16600, 1665, Rolex Submariner, Dive Watch, Sports Watch, Rolex Daytona Ceramic, Rolex Explorer 2, Rolex Explorer, 1680, 16610, 14060, 14270, 214270, Omega Seamaster, Seiko SKX, Seiko Diver, Homage Watch, Microbrand Watch, Patek Nautilus, Rolex Pepsi, Rolex Batman, Rolex Hulk, Rolex Kermit, Tudor Black Bay, Tudor GMT, Hodinkee

Id: AcUYZ-khsBI

Length: 9min 25sec (565 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 07 2020