There must be something in the water.
The Rolex Deep Sea Special No. 1 being offered by Christie’s on current owner Reza Ali Rashidian's wrist in 2019.
From hodinkee.comNot One, But Two Ultra-Rare Rolex Deep Sea Specials Are Going Up For Sale
If you’ve ever sat at home, surrounded by mountainous piles of loose undocumented cash, and wondered when you’d next get the chance at an astoundingly rare and museum-level interesting watch from Rolex, then have I got an auction listing for you. Actually, two.
That’s right, over the course of the past couple of weeks, both Phillips and Christie’s have announced that their November auctions will feature something of a holy grail among Rolex collectors – Deep Sea Specials.
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Like the waters at the bottom of the ocean, the Deep Sea Special backstory is still somewhat murky at depth and it’s important to understand that these watches – No. 1 and No. 35 – are similar, but not the same. For the original prototype Deep Seas Specials, we’re talking about real running watches with record-breaking deep-diving acumen.Conversely, while still exceedingly special, rare, and eminently collectible, the display models are more like trophies to celebrate the success of the Deep Sea Special program, as such, some are said to have been delivered without movements, and others have surfaced with automatic movements, like the Rolex 1030 or even later movements like the caliber 1570 (which is what we see in No. 35). If you want to go even deeper (sorry) on the Deep Sea Special story, I recommend you start with this fantastic post from The Rolex Passion Report.
Profile view of the Rolex Deep Sea Special No. 1 being offered by Christie’s this fall. Note, this is as thin as Deep Sea Special’s get.
The Rolex Deep Sea No. 35 being offered by Phillips
For context, I would offer this comparison to Omega Speedmasters. Deep Sea Special No. 1 is like Speedmaster with Apollo mission provenance. No. 3 – that’s the one that is in the Smithsonian – is like a Speedmaster that was actually worn on the moon.
No. 35 is loosely more like the solid gold Speedmaster BA145.022, which was a special 1,014-piece edition made for VIPs and NASA astronauts. While certainly much much more rare and important, Deep Sea Special No. 35 is a commemorative model that celebrates the successes of the program that took the Deep Sea Special to the lowest point on Earth.
The Rolex Deep Sea Special N0. 1 being offered by Christie’s
In one of the press releases for the upcoming sale, the auction house compared the Deep Sea Special to a Formula One car, in that it was the development bed for technology that would trickle down to consumer-grade product for years (aka, Rolex Submariners, or really anything with an Oyster case). I suppose that’s close enough to being correct, but in looking at the upcoming sales, the Deep Sea Special may be more like a Formula One car than they expected.See the whole post online here:
As a pinnacle of engineering and human development, having a Deep Sea Special today is a lot like owning a Formula One car that has aged out of relevance in the sport. It’s an icon of achievement in a time that is no longer of use to the modern zeitgeist. As such, many owners don’t drive the cars as much as they keep them like ultimate memorabilia.
A Tale of Two Rolex Deep Sea Specials
https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/not-one-but-two-ultra-rare-rolex-deep-sea-specials-are-going-up-for-sale
