Rolex Sea-Dweller Ref. 16600 - Tritium Unpolished

The first Sea-Dweller, the Reference 1665, debuted in circa 1967 and was designed with saturation divers in mind.

The key differentiator between a Sea-Dweller and its little sibling, the Submariner, is that the SD always has a helium escape valve (or 'HEV') on the left case profile and a higher domed crystal with no cyclops magnifier. The earliest prototypes were actually Submariners with the added HEV on the left case profile, but it was the 1665 that first bore the Sea-Dweller name on the dial.

Like virtually all Rolex sport models, the Sea-Dweller has seen a number of evolutions of the years, but not nearly as many as some of the other sports models in the family. The Reference 16600 that we have here succeeded the Ref. 16660 and carried over the glossy black dial and introduced an updated Calibre 3135 movement. The 16600 range is typically broken down into two variants across its roughly twenty-years of production, with the first half using Tritium-filled indices and the second half using Luminova and SuperLuminova.

This particular example dates to circa 1996 and features the former of the two dials. It comes to us in absolutely fantastic overall condition with an unpolished case that retains clear factory chamfers and shows normal wear throughout with no significant blemishes or damage to speak of. It even retains it factory caseback sticker. The dial inside is seemingly flawless, with a clean glossy surface and uniform Tritium within the applied white gold indices and the handset matches perfectly. The bezel assembly and black insert within also remain in superb condition and the Tritium pip matches the dial and hands beautifully.

It comes fitted to its correct Oyster bracelet with solid links and endlinks and a signed fliplock clasp.

Sea-Dwellers are amongst first 'enhanced' dive watches made for saturation diving with a number of technical firsts, were produced in far smaller numbers than its Submariner and Submariner Date siblings, and feature a very similar wearing experience, yet, we think, remain bargains.

This superb example surely has multiple lifetimes left of wrist time, and is ready for its next owner.