Vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller 1665 Black Dial

Vintage Watch Condition Examination

This Sea-Dweller is in overall great, honest condition. The case is strong with scratches and some wear, it appears to have been polished. The case has scratches and some nicks. The inside caseback is correctly stamped "1665" and the entire case number that corresponds to the number between the six o'clock lugs. The crown shows some wear. The bezel is in great condition and has aged from black to a lovely dark grey,, graphite color that can look bluish/ purple in some lights. The bezel has some wear and light scratches. The dial is in excellent condition with light patina and some light wear along the edge. The two lines of red text have remained vibrant. The hands have developed patina. The lume on the dial and in the hands have aged beautifully to lovely creamy color. The lume at the base of the hands is a bit darker than the rest of the hands, this is commonly seen. The bracelet is a later service replacement and shows some wear with scratches and light stretch between the links. 

Vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller 1665

By Paul Altieri

Sea-Dwellers in general are some of the rarest vintage Rolex sports models out there. Rolex introduced the celebrated model in 1967 and they still make it today. The Sea-Dweller was developed for use by professional deep-sea saturation divers, particularly with its inclusion of a "Helium Escape Valve" or "HEV" on the 9 o'clock side of the case to help the watch survive decompression from dry, pressurized environments. The earliest Sea-Dweller examples had red printing and are called "Single Red" because of the one line of red text about the 6 o'clock marker, while the "Double Red" (featured here) features the words "Sea-Dweller" and "Submariner 2000" in red text above the 6 o'clock marker. Rolex made the double red version until around 1978 and at that point they switched to all white text. Rolex continued to use all white text on the Sea-Dweller until 2017 when they re-introduced the 43mm 50th anniversary version with a single line of red text. 

The example we have here today has the two lines of red text on the dial and is from circa 1978. It features a mark IV dial which is the last version of the DRSD dial. This DRSD also features a lovely faded bezel that originally was black and has turned to a gorgeous grey color that adds to the overall character. This DRSD has aged so nicely over the years from the nicely faded bezel to the creamy lume, this thing just sings in the light. In addition to being a great example, this watch comes directly from the original owner and is fresh to market. If you have been looking for a well preserved, honest DRSD with some character this watch should be considered.