Rolex

A Red Submariner with a great diving pedigree

 

I have already presented here in details several first owner divers watches of my collection. I am lucky enough to live in an area where there are lots of retired divers who still have their “diving tools” on the wrist. They may be fishermen or Comex divers, every story is different but yet fascinating:

omega.watchprosite.com

omega.watchprosite.com

rolex.watchprosite.com

rolex.watchprosite.com

A few months ago, I had a chance to purchase a very special Rolex red Submariner ref 1680. I got it from a woman whose father was a famous diver here in the South of France. He was one of the very first French diver to obtain the Diploma in Professional Scuba Instruction in the late 1950’s.

In the 1960’s, he created a famous underwater rescue company that was specialized in complicated operations on ships and wrecks near Marseille. He participated to some very famous operations, like diving in crude oil to repair a tanker near Martigues.





In the early 1970’s he bought a Rolex Submariner from a local shop, as he needed the best diving watch on the market. He has worn the watch continuously until he gave it to his daughter, many years later. She also used the watch as a tool and was diving with it every day in the Med until she sold it to me !

If this watch could speak, it would definitely have incredible stories to tell.

The watch has an awesome patina: the sun and salted water have completely discolored the bezel, which has a spectacular “ghost” aspect. Yet the dial has been very well preserved and is absolutely flawless.









The little red line on the dial may appear to some as “snobbish Rolex collector thing”…but believe me, it is definitely a sexy feature that catches your eyes every time you look at the dial !





The watch comes with a lot of documentation concerning its history.

• More than 20 years of service records from various local watchmakers. As the watch was intensively used for diving, it had to be absolutely reliable and waterproof and therefore it was serviced and tested on a regular basis. Of course, the Bianchi service receipt is of particular interest because he was the watchmaker who used to service all the Comex watches in Marseille.





• a provenance letter telling the whole story of the watch and describing some incredible jobs it was involved in.





• Together with the watch, I got lots of pictures of its previous owner “in action”, during both his personal or professional dives.









This package of course gives to the watch another dimension: it is not just a timepiece anymore, but more a legacy of someone who had a fantastic life, a local diving legend. This is the kind of watches that keeps me the most excited now: they are very hard to find, because it definitely takes more than a checkbook and a vintage dealer shop…but once you have them on your wrist, the feeling is quite unique.





This message has been edited by DrStrong on 2015-07-16 03:53:26 This message has been edited by DrStrong on 2015-07-20 00:01:47 This message has been edited by DrStrong on 2015-10-16 04:17:21