An immense excitement was sparked in me when my AD announced
that the Deepsea Challenge exhibition was coming to their boutique earlier this
year. So much so that I knew about the email message well before most the staff
that are working there lol.
There is something that fascinates me more about Rolex
diving watches than any other brand. In this I’m not alone and I suspect it comes
down to the profound interplay of pleasing aesthetic, rich history and a
continuous sense of adventure that Rolex fosters to this day.
Technology truly is a marvel when you can share in the
experience of James Cameron (via NatGeo) descending 10,898 metres into the
Mariana Trench on the 26th of March 2012.
The Rolex Deepsea Special started it all in 23rd
January 1960 with bathyscaphe Trieste, crewed by Swiss oceanographer Jacques
Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh, as the Swiss-designed bathyscaphe
descended to the then deepest-known point in the ocean.
The experimental watch was attached to the exterior of the
Trieste when it touched the very bottom of the Mariana Trench on January 23,
1960, reaching a depth of 35,814 feet (10,916 meters).
It successfully withstood tremendous pressure that no
submersible, let alone watch, had confronted before and that no human could
ever survive. The dive marked the culmination of a long association with
Jacques Piccard and his father, Auguste Piccard, the inventor of the
bathyscaphe, as they stretched the boundaries of deep-sea exploration.
A cross sectional view, Deepsea Special.
This is a model of the Deepsea Challenger that took James
Cameron on his underwater journey. The Deepsea Challenger was designed as a
science platform with manipulator arm, remotely operated vehicle and two lander
vehicles to collect samples for marine biology research.
The test tank for the Rolex Deepsea and Rolex Deepsea
Challenge was developed with specialist engineers from COMEX (Compagnie
Maritime d’Expertises), the world-renowned French company specializing in
underwater engineering and hyperbaric technologies. Rolex has been
collaborating with COMEX for decades and supplied Submariner and Sea-Dweller
models to equip its elite divers.
The Deepsea Challenge was attached by manipulator arm and
remained at the bottom for about 3 hours of a dive that was to last just over 6
hours. It returned in perfect working order and was running to chronometer
specifications.
This is one Big Watch!
A cross sectional view Deepsea Challenge.
If Rolex decided to actually produce this watch for
collectors I suspect that I would be mad enough to buy one!
