Touching the new Rolex Sea-Dweller

The Sea-Dweller 4000 is waterproof to a depth of 1220 meters (4000 ft), which is how the “4000” came about, and is the translation of “Sea-Dweller”. It would seem that it should be called the “Angel”. This new version of the Sea-Dweller 4000 is not a brand new innovation this year, it has been around for a long time and has been associated with submariners (some of them have the Sea-Dweller on their dials), as well as with Rolex and COMEX in the 1970s.

I haven’t seen the replica Sea-Dweller that Rolex and COMEX collaborated on (sorry, I wasn’t there back then), so I’m not sure how different the new version is from the old one, so I’m just going to do a quick review of the new model.

Rolex 116600 Try it on!

● Impressions

For people who don’t know much about Rolex, they might confuse it with the Submariner or Deapsea, the recent Submariners with calendars have large blisters, the Deepsea is one size larger, so it’s easy to tell the difference. In fact, on the face of it, it doesn’t feel much like the Black Ghost, still with the same black disc and black ring, and both with the same 40mm diameter, nothing more than a more subdivided bezel scale and no large blisters on the crystal. Of course, being a Rolex, it still has a very good aesthetic and functional balance.

●The dial

As mentioned earlier, it doesn’t do anything innovative with its appearance, but retains some of the flavor of the first Sea Ambassador model. Like many modern models, it has a metal frame for the indices and a Mercedes hand for the hour hand, but the luminous part of the hour markers and hands is Chromalight, a permanent luminosity that only some professional models have. At the 6 o’clock position, we can see its “SEA-DWELLER” and “4000ft=1220m” inscriptions, indicating its “special identity”.

● Bezel

Rolex’s ceramic bezel technology is now well established and is common to most of the brand’s watches. This model also uses a black ceramic Cerachrom bezel with a thin layer of platinum filled in the scale using PVD technology. To achieve this, the crystal is much thicker to resist external pressure.

● The case

The case is still an Oyster structure, with the original 904L steel in the middle layer, which is more resistant to corrosion than ordinary steel. There is a helium valve on the case, which was designed by Rolex in cooperation with COMEX, and COMEX chose Rolex over Omega in the first place. It’s the only Rolex that has this device, besides DEAPSEA, and it’s considered the original. In terms of thickness, I can only say that whoever wears it will know.

● Strap

Rolex professional dive watches, all use Oyster bracelets, three rows of links, all surface brushed and polished to resist wear and tear as much as possible. In fact, the middle row is polished, which is also quite good, after all, it is still a daily life to wear a watch.

● Clasp

The standard Rolex folding clasp, exclusive to sports watches, has an external safety clasp, which is not present on dress watches. The inner part of the clasp is still equipped with a Glidelock extension, which makes it easy to adjust the size of the watch.

● Back cover

One of Rolex’s best tricks is the Oyster structure, with a screw-in back. Of course, in the column introducing the case, you will find how “outstanding” it is, 1220 meters waterproof, still sacrificing a lot of thickness. The bottom cover is a 3135 automatic movement, which is the one Rolex uses the most, and has a history of 26 years.

● Hands on.

After all this, the hands-on experience, the bezel is in place, counterclockwise rotation of each position is quite in place. It is not light on the hands, the whole is a lump of iron, but I like it, if necessary, can be defensive. The crown is inoperable as it is not yet on the market, but based on the diver’s experience, it should be fine. I have a small wrist and this size is fine, but I can’t really afford the thickness.

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