SIGNED ROLEX, SEA-DWELLER 'COMEX' MODEL, REF. 1665, CASE NO. 5'586'529, COMEX ISSUE NO. 2118, SOLD BY ROLEX TO COMEX IN 1978 AND ISSUED TO DIVER MR. ROBERT BEAUDOU ON 4 NOVEMBER 1981

Examples of the COMEX Sea-Dweller reference 1665 in such appealing condition are exceedingly rare. Sold to the present private collector owner by the individual who acquired the watch from its original COMEX diver owner, the present Sea-Dweller, COMEX issue number 2118, is recorded as being issued to professional diver Robert Beaudou on November 1981.

Never available to the public, these watches were only issued to professional divers, reflecting their status as professional diving equipment. Thus, COMEX divers were required to sign a document or Certificat de Reception upon receipt of their individually issued Rolex. The ‘Ludion’ issue 61, magazine of the Club des Anciens de COMEX, the club for past and present professional divers and all those interested in the sea and deep waters, lists Rober Beaudou as one of the 'Icons of Nuclear'. The diving endeavors that this watch witnessed over its years in service can only be imagined.

The Sea-Dweller reference 1665 is one of the most desirable of all the Rolex references used by COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertise). As of the late 1960s, Rolex supplied different Submariner and Sea-Dweller models featuring the patented gas escape valve to the side to COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertise) in Marseille, a professional diving operation for the oil industry.

The defining characteristic of reference 1665, beyond the HEV, is the case back engraved with the watch issue number. In addition, most of the dials of reference 1665 are signed Comex. The present watch features the so-called ‘rail’ dial. Its name is derived from the symmetric division of the two lines below the centre, 'Superlative' and 'Officially' to the left, clearly separated by a vertical space (thus ‘rail’), and 'Chronometer' and 'Certified' to the right.