Bonhams 1793 : Rolex. A very fine and rare stainless steel automatic calendar bracelet watch 'Double Red' Sea-Dweller Mark II, Ref:1665, Case No.1760304, Movement No.DO45416, Circa 1964

'Double Red' Sea-Dweller Mark II, Ref:1665, Case No.1760304, Movement No.DO45416, Circa 1964
26-jewel Cal. 1570 movement adjusted to five positions and temperature, shock resistant suspension to monometallic balance, black matte dial, 'Sea-Dweller / Submariner 2000' in red letters and in white,'2000ft=610m superlative chronometer officially certified' with 'Swiss-T 25' at 6, outer minute divisions, luminous hour numerals, luminous filled Mercedes hands and sweep centre seconds, date aperture, brushed and polished case, screw down engraved case back inscribed 'Oyster Gas escape valve – Rolex patent', bi-rotating calibrated bezel, gas escape valve in the band, Triplock Oyster crown, fitted stainless steel Oyster with locking folding clasp, case, dial and movement signed
39mm.

Sold for HK$ 325,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

勞力士罕有精鋼男裝月曆自動腕錶約1964年

The 'Double-Red' Sea-Dweller Ref.1665 appeared in the Rolex catalogue from 1973 until 1975. The 'Sea-Dweller 2000' was one of the first production watches to employ a gas-escape valve which allows the interior of a watch to decompress and avoid injury to the wearer and damage to the watch.

There are at least seven different variations of the 'double red' dials that were sold to the public. They vary slightly whether it be the size of the 'O' in the Coronet or the colour of the 'double red' itself.

The Mark II version of the dial is also known as the 'Smudge' crown because of the printing of the coronet. In these dials, the font size of the numerals is larger than the font size of the SUBMARINER and the depth rating is smaller than the preceding Mark. The print is also usually directly applied to the dial and is bright red and crisp. Produced in approximately 1.7 million cases, the dial sometimes changes colour from matte black to a light or chocolate brown.