GWIS
2575
Didn't the original black dial Deepsea come out in 2008.
At a time when Offshores and Panerais were in their prime. I assume that Rolex launched the Deepsea to get a slice of the larger watch business, but I love that they didn't just build a bigger submariner (with 300m of water resistance) and call it a day. No, they engineered a watch with (admittedly ridiculous!) 3,900m of water resistance (with a real water resistance of at least 25% more for the ISO test).
The glidelock clasp on the Deepsea is also the best micro adjustment mechanism I have come across.
I love the D-Blue dial on the James Cameron version. I believe it was one of the first with graduated colours and it creates a lot of visual interest on the wrist in different lights.
I'm glad Rolex offers a range of dive watches in different sizes to suit different wrists. Personally, I don't want 35/36mm watches - they look disproportionately small on my wrist. Even 40mm looks a bit small on me. If you have a medium or large wrist, the Deepsea looks perfectly proportionate, albeit thick. It's that thickness which really differentiates it, although the shape of the case back means some of the thickness is absorbed by your wrist and the helium escape value helps break up the slab-sided appearance.
All the best,
Jon