Mark 4 1665 Rolex ‘Double Red’ Sea-Dweller

The only way I can describe a Double Red Sea-Dweller is like a Single Red Sub that goes to 11. It’s just more of everything. Neither you nor I will ever have use for a helium escape valve. But this has something else because of it: an honesty. It’s serious about its job, in the…

Read More

Royal Navy Clearance Diver 116660 Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea

Royal-Navy-Clearance-Diver-Rolex-Sea-Dweller-Deepsea-116660

At this point, you might be asking why Hairspring is talking about a modern Deepsea. Well, flip it over, and you’ll find this is not like any other modern Rolex you’re likely to have handled. Milsubs don’t really exist today in the traditional, issued sense. Today, Tudor will make what we now call ‘Unit Watches’…

Read More

Tropical Dial 1665 ‘Double Red’ Rolex Sea-Dweller

Tropical-Dial-1665-Double-Red-Rolex-Sea-Dweller

There is nothing like the appeal of an honest, down-to-Earth, bare bones tool watch. I view the 1665 Sea-Dweller as a Red Sub turned up to 11. It’s a little more technical, a little more appealing to some for its lack of cyclops, and just a little more nuanced. The RMs, LVMH, and Bivers of…

Read More

Tropical 1665 Rolex ‘Double Red’ Sea-Dweller

Tropical-1665-Rolex-Double-Red-Sea-Dweller-DRSD

My favorite food critic ever, AA Gill, always used to write that the quality of any restaurant’s culinary ability was always inversely proportional to the grandeur of its view. Anyone who’s ever lived in Malibu can attest to this. He was so correct that the analogy holds well outside of dining. My most enjoyable holidays…

Read More

Mk4 ‘Triple Six’ 16660 Rolex Sea-Dweller

There’s something inherently worthwhile about going absurdly above and beyond a required goal. Maniacal focus to the extent of vastly overachieving has a kind of merit all its own. It’s why Roger Federer didn’t just win Wimbledon once, it’s why the door of a Mercedes S-Class from the 80s shuts with a reassuring ‘thump’ even…

Read More

Tropical Mk2 1665 Rolex ‘Double Red’ Sea-Dweller

Tropical-1665-Rolex-Double-Red-Sea-Dweller

I’ve heard it said that the movement is the heart of a watch, the case its body, and the dial its soul. This analogy is tenuous at best, a bit like when you hear food critics start talking about the emotion contained within an entrée. That’s just a dinner and this is just a watch,…

Read More

Mk4 ‘Double Red’ 1665 Rolex Sea-Dweller

1665-Rolex-Double-Red-Sea-Dweller

I’m not going saturation diving this weekend, you likely are not either. And yet, I slightly like knowing that I could if I wanted to. This, I know, is absurd—a bit like wearing a snorkel all year just because you might go the Bahamas in March. But if going for drinks while wearing 1665 is…

Read More

Comex 1665 Rolex Sea-Dweller

Comex-Rolex-Sea-Dweller-1665

The 1665 and all its multitude of variants are, to many, thee conclusive tool watch, something of a Submariner turned up to 11. Amongst all the Rail Dial, Double Red, Single Red, and even Patent Pending iterations, Comex issued watches are often considered the apex. This is contentious, particularly as the Patent Pending era predated…

Read More

Rail Dial ‘Great White’ 1665 Rolex Sea-Dweller

Rail-Dial-1665-Rolex Sea-Dweller-Great-White

You are not a Navy Sealab/Comex diver. You are not an astronaut. You are not a factory Porsche driver. At least, based on relative viewership and statistics. Despite these many shortcomings, you and I may still enjoy a small link to these outrageous professions. In 1977, the reference 1665 Sea-Dweller received a bit of an…

Read More