Quote:
Originally Posted by ROGERB
The guy on Ebay with the old Sub and now this!!
"Anitquorum" shows in their past auction sales...
" Prototype No valve Double Red Rolex, Oyster Perpetual Date, "Sea Dweller Submariner" without helium escape valve,2000ft./610m, Superaltive Chronometer, Officially Certified, ref 1665. Made in 1967"--- going on to state " this prototype version was the forerunner to the Sea Dweller 2000's. These prototype Sea-Dwellers were produced in a small batch in 1967. They ere produced without a helium escape valve and in a thinner case and without engravings on the back. They were presented to the world's leading deep sea divers for testing and reporting on the watches dependability on deep sea dives. It is belived that only 30 Rolex Sea Dweller cases were produced without the gas escape valve. Most of these prototypes did not survive decompressions and the gas escape valve which were already fitted to early Submariners ref. 5513 and 5514 were required for the Sea Dweller. The present watch is one of the first to be produced by Rolex Geneve and is extremely rare.
This watch is illustrated "1908-2008, one hundred years of Rolex", By Franca and Guido Mondani, 2008 edition page 129."
http://catalog.antiquorum.com/catalo...&s_batch=2(lot 209)
I think I'd get your watch checked out  R (copied without permission) |
Interesting... only 30 w/o gas escape valves, and most did not survive? If this is a survivor it's incredible indeed -- Bob Ridley can tell you.
It could be another model & yours a replacement dial. Still a very valuable dial, I'd imagine!!
I'd also talk to Bob about switching back to a plastic crystal. Have heard that the sapphires don't fit the vintages well enough and may compromise waterproofness. You don't want to damage that dial!
Good luck. Please do keep us posted. As you can see, your thread has generated a lot of interest & good discussion!