Rolex Launches New Deepsea Watch

Rolex has launched a new version of its popular Rolex Deepsea watch.

The new Rolex Deepsea was introduced on 4 August in New York, during the US premiere of National Geographic’s Deepsea Challenge 3D film documentary film in the splendid Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History, in the presence of James Cameron and other personalities.

The film Deepsea Challenge 3D traces Cameron’s historic dive into the Mariana Trench with the support of Rolex and National Geographic.

The new Rolex Deepsea 2014 watch. Click to enlarge.

Regarded by many as the ultimate divers’ watch, the Rolex Deepsea is resistant to extreme pressure, and its deep blue to pitch-black gradient D-blue dial is reminiscent of the ocean’s twilight zone where the last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss.

As a tribute to the partnership between Rolex and Cameron, the “DEEPSEA” marking on the new dial adopts the colour of the explorer’s green submersible as it is perceived underwater.

On 26 March 2012, film-maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 metres (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean piloting the Deepsea Challenger submersible. He remained on the ocean floor for three hours to explore, take samples and capture the first-ever high-resolution images of this last frontier.

Scientists estimate that 95% of the oceans remain unexplored and hold hidden clues to life on Earth. The samples taken on the expedition have led to the identification of at least 68 new species.

The inspirational Deepsea Challenge expedition paved the way for a new era in scientific exploration of the deep. No human being had returned to the deepest part of the Mariana Trench since 23 January 1960, the date of the first manned dive to the bottom by the bathyscaphe Trieste.

Rolex watches have a connection with both the Trieste and the Deepsea Challenge expeditions. During both historic dives, an experimental Rolex watch attached to the hull of the submersible was exposed to the most colossal water pressure on the planet, some 11 kilometres (7 miles) below the surface. Both watches emerged working perfectly.

Rolex played a pioneering role in the conquest of the deep with the creation, in 1926, of the Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch, then of professional divers’ watches: the Oyster Perpetual Submariner (1953), Sea-Dweller (1967) and Rolex Deepsea (2008).

Rolex Deepsea

The Rolex Deepsea is waterproof to an extreme depth of 3,900 metres (12,800 feet).

Its 44 mm Oyster case, reinforced with the patented Ringlock System, was designed to exceed the most exacting demands of professional divers.

“The Rolex Deepsea Challenge was visible on the sub’s manipulator arm and working precisely at the bottom of Challenger Deep,” said James Cameron, who was also wearing a Rolex Deepsea during his expedition into the Mariana Trench.

The model also served as the blueprint for the design of the experimental Rolex Deepsea Challenge, waterproof to a depth of 12,000 metres (39,370 feet) and tested in real-life conditions during Cameron’s dive, affixed to the robotic arm of his submersible.