Rolex

Fresh to the market from a Scandinavian deep‑sea diver, the present Rolex Sea‑Dweller Ref. 16660 is distinguished by an exceptional and fully professional history. Originally issued directly by COMEX Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises, the legendary French deep‑sea engineering enterprise, the watch was first assigned to a French COMEX diver named Godart. Over the course of nine years, he carried it on demanding missions across the globe, relying on the watch through pressurized chambers, saturation dives, and extended decompression periods.

In 1991, during a 450‑meter saturation dive in the North Sea, to the consignor’s knowledge the deepest dive ever performed with this specific watch, Mr Godart met the Scandinavian diver Mr. Johansson who would become its next custodian. After 33 days working together in extreme conditions, the two surfaced as friends, and Mr Johansson acquired the watch directly from Mr Godart. Johansson then continued to use it throughout his own deep‑sea diving career until 2005, giving this example an uninterrupted life as a true professional tool worn in service by two saturation divers over more than two decades.

The reference 16660, known among collectors as the “Triple Six,” represents a pivotal transitional moment in the evolution of the Sea‑Dweller. Featuring a newly strengthened case, sapphire crystal, and an enlarged helium escape valve, the model’s technical advancements increased its depth rating to an impressive 1220 meters (4000 feet). Inside the case, Rolex introduced the Caliber 3035, replacing the earlier 1575 movement used in the preceding reference 1665 and marking a significant mechanical upgrade.

Long believed to have been produced with matte dials only for the first 50 examples, collector‑led research has since shown that the entire original COMEX batch, numbered 3001 to 3099, was in fact delivered with matte dials, with some later replaced by Rolex with glossy service dials during routine maintenance. The present watch is one of these rare early Ref 16660 COMEX‑issued pieces that still retains its original matte dial. Repeating serial number inside the case back, and original punched guarantee paper, further underscoring its authenticity and desirability among specialists and collectors.

Issued exclusively to COMEX personnel and never offered to the public, these Sea‑Dwellers are among the most coveted of all Rolex tool watches. Their COMEX‑signed dials, internal case back identification numbers, and proven utilitarian provenance distinguish them as the purest expression of the Rolex COMEX partnership, one of the most celebrated collaborations in the history of professional diving instrumentation.

Uniting genuine COMEX issue and a deeply compelling two‑diver history culminating in a 450‑meter North Sea saturation mission, this Ref. 16660 No 3067 stands as an extraordinary example of a Sea‑Dweller whose life was not simply documented, but truly lived at depth.