And so Rolex delivered its first titanium watch, the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Challenge. We will ignore tradition and simply refer to the watch as the Deepsea Challenge, in order to distinguish it from the normal Deepsea, which remains in the collection. The case part number is 126067; these numbers will undoubtedly be important to collectors, which puts this watch at the top of the new list. It certainly hit a few pieces we were preparing this week…
For now, we’ll stick to the numbers because this is a Rolex diver’s watch and it doesn’t get more desirable than that. First of all, for those who like to wear their watches, this new Deepsea is 50mm, so you must have wrists like LeBron James. It’s made from a type of grade 5 titanium called RLX, which makes it lighter – it’s 30% lighter than the 2012 steel version, which isn’t surprising. Considering how heavy this beast is, it will always be pleasantly resolved.
On a wetsuit, the girth of the Deepsea will look completely natural. On this point, the Deepsea is a professional tool for divers that is suitable for any type of deep-sea activity, from freediving to submersible dives and hyperbaric chambers. It has everything you would expect from a watch of this type, including the famous helium escape valve and the proprietary Ringlock system, which will be familiar to Leviathan fans. It’s water resistant to 11,000 meters, so it doesn’t shy away from the depths of Davy Jones’ locker. Those who remember the Ringlock as it existed before know that it offered protection up to 3,900 meters of water resistance in 2008, which means it has come a long way…or smashed a limit until then unmatched.
Seriously, this watch exudes deeper-than-life vibes throughout its over 20mm-thick case. It could well be both the most waterproof watch in the world and the most robust, at least for those who associate waterproofness with the quality of manufacture. Rolex can test this extraordinary water resistance thanks to a special high-pressure tank, developed with Comex. This reservoir can reach a depth of more than 13,700 meters, which means that the Deepsea Challenge can probably offer 20% more sealing than it claims. What else can you expect from Rolex and a watch called Deepsea Challenge?
Before we get to the important details such as the fine tuning of the RLX titanium bracelet, the finish of the case and the chamfer of the lugs, we would like to state that we believe that Rolex will eventually introduce titanium elsewhere in its collections. We have said this before, but it should be noted that the machining of titanium is completely different from that of steel. The production of titanium watch cases and bracelets therefore follows a different path. Even the finish will be different. Economies of scale require Rolex to produce more of this material. This is of course pure speculation, but it may be the only type of harmless speculation that exists.
Now on to the details, the main one being the matte burnishing of the case, bracelet and clasp. From what we can see (and we’ve only seen photos), it looks like the Deepsea Challenge features the kind of matte finish that titanium parts typically sport, with one exception. These are the polished edges of the horns, features reported by the European Union news agency. monochrome and WatchesbySJX.
These are probably sightings based on the photos, and what Rolex said; you can judge for yourself. The bezel is made of Cerachrom, engraved with a 60-minute scale, which is then filled with platinum. Low-light readability will be excellent thanks to Chromalight, another Rolex signature, and some collectors will be pleased to see that there’s no date display here. The movement is the automatic caliber 3230 which powers the Submariner without date, with all the features common to this model. The new Deepsea Challenge isn’t a big show of movement development anyway, but the whole Deepsea range has been updated and we may have more to say about that, most likely in WOW later this year. Finally, the Deepsea Challenge is priced at S$36,040, and its availability is immediate, with the reservation that the retail reality is different.
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