My favorite Rolex blog, Rolex Passion, brings me to the fascinating story of a Rolex Seadweller Ref 1665 “Patent Pending” watch.  Turns out this story is not Rolex Passion’s, but rather a Mr. Daniel Bourn, a vintage Rolex Watch Dealer who runs Vintage DB blog.  In December 2011 Vintage DB presented 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.  The general consensus among collectors is that Rolex developed the Helium Gas Escape Valve (HEV) in conjunction with Comex during the late 1960s via testing of the HEV & non HEV model ref.1665 Patent Pending Sea-Dwellers.  Shortly after acquiring the aforementioned pair of 1665 Patent Pending Sea-Dwellers, Vintage DB serendipitously discovered another original owner example of the Rolex ref. 1665 ‘PATENT PENDING Sea-Dweller’, but of a slightly different provenance….issued by Rolex for testing purposes to a US Navyman in the late 1960s….and so the story goes…loaded with pics, original letters from Rolex, and on and on…RECOMMEND!

Rolex 1665 Double Red Seadweller “Patent Pending”

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