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Lot Essay
With a copy of Rolex UK Bexley Office letter confirming that the present watch was supplied to the Comex Organisation in 1981 and Rolex International Service Guarantee dated 5 September 2006. Furthermore delivered with a receipt of Comex Houlder Diving Limited.
Examples of the exceedingly rare COMEX Sea-Dweller reference 1665 in such an original and well-preserved condition like the present watch are exceedingly rare. As a matter of fact, the specimen presented here for sale stands out by numerous details which are treasure to the demanding collector such as the dial of the watch which is a "rail" one. In terms of condition, the present watch delights by having retained its sharp outlines, crisp milling and last but not least its correct Oyster bracelet for this model, reference 93150, is in excellent condition.
According to literature, roughly 300 examples of the Sea-Dweller reference 1665 with gas escape valve were supplied from the late 1960s until the early 1980s to COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertise) in Marseille (France), a professional diving operation for the oil industry.
The "rail" dial is extremely rare on a Sea-Dweller and is so named because of the symmetric division of the two lines below the center: "Superlative" and "Officially" to the left, clearly separated by a vertical space (thus "rail"), and "Chronometer" and "Certified" to the right.
The fascination and desirability of the present watch does not only lie in its impressively small production number but also because it was never available to the public. In fact, as the COMEX watches were worn under the most extreme conditions (for which the model was actually made for), it is fully understandable that some may not have survived and others have been repeatedly serviced and sometimes not with period or correct exchanged parts. Consequently, examples as original as the present watch are amongst the most charismatic and fascinating collector's watches. They inspire any beholder to imagine stories and adventures of divers of the past years.
COMEX reference 1665 is described and illustrated in 100 Superlative Rolex Watches by John Goldberger, pp. 222 & 223.
Examples of the exceedingly rare COMEX Sea-Dweller reference 1665 in such an original and well-preserved condition like the present watch are exceedingly rare. As a matter of fact, the specimen presented here for sale stands out by numerous details which are treasure to the demanding collector such as the dial of the watch which is a "rail" one. In terms of condition, the present watch delights by having retained its sharp outlines, crisp milling and last but not least its correct Oyster bracelet for this model, reference 93150, is in excellent condition.
According to literature, roughly 300 examples of the Sea-Dweller reference 1665 with gas escape valve were supplied from the late 1960s until the early 1980s to COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertise) in Marseille (France), a professional diving operation for the oil industry.
The "rail" dial is extremely rare on a Sea-Dweller and is so named because of the symmetric division of the two lines below the center: "Superlative" and "Officially" to the left, clearly separated by a vertical space (thus "rail"), and "Chronometer" and "Certified" to the right.
The fascination and desirability of the present watch does not only lie in its impressively small production number but also because it was never available to the public. In fact, as the COMEX watches were worn under the most extreme conditions (for which the model was actually made for), it is fully understandable that some may not have survived and others have been repeatedly serviced and sometimes not with period or correct exchanged parts. Consequently, examples as original as the present watch are amongst the most charismatic and fascinating collector's watches. They inspire any beholder to imagine stories and adventures of divers of the past years.
COMEX reference 1665 is described and illustrated in 100 Superlative Rolex Watches by John Goldberger, pp. 222 & 223.