1987 Rolex Sea-Dweller "Triple 6" 16660 With Box
Ref: 16660

Points of Mention

This watch is sold with its original Rolex box but no paperwork is provided. The watch comes paired with its original Rolex bracelet with a signed Rolex clasp, the bracelet will fit up to a 7inch wrist. The watch is from Circa. 1987 and is sold in worn condition, but overall fair condition as you can see. The hands have been replaced at some time by Rolex during a service infilled with Luminova. The watch comes with our 12-Months Warranty.

The Watch

Here we have a 1987 Rolex Sea-Dweller "Triple 6" 16660 first introduced in 1978 as part of their saturation diver collection and remained in production until 1989 when it was replaced by the 16600. The 40mm stainless steel Oyster case has polished sides and brushed top surfaces that transition with crisp edges, the tapered drilled lugs have a lug-to-lug length of 48mm and a case thickness of 14.5mm giving the watch an impressive wrist presence. On the right side, a Triplock screw-down crown, a system introduced on the Sea-Dweller in 1970, consists of three sealed zones, two gaskets within the tube and a third gasket under the winding crown. On the left side, we have a Helium Escape Valve (HEV) to release the built-up gases that saturation divers experience at 4,000 feet / 1,220 metres. The unidirectional bezel has a black aluminium 60-minute scale and deep knurling for extra grip, the “Triple Six” was the first Sea-Dweller to use sapphire crystal which replaced the plexiglass that was used on the ref. 1665. A glossy black dial has Tritium infilled white gold surround disc and baton indexes marking the hours and at 3 o’clock a date window. Mercedes' hands are infilled with Luminova (Rolex Service replaced hands) complemented by a lollipop counterweighted sweeping second hand. At 12 o’clock we have the Rolex motif with “Oyster Perpetual Date” printed underneath, at 6 o’clock “Sea-Dweller  4,000 feet / 1,220 metres Superlative Chronometer Officially Certified”. On the reverse, a coin-edged screw-down case back, inside an automatic Rolex Cal. 3035, 27 jewels, 28,800 beats per hour, this workhorse movement was first introduced in 1977 and was produced until 1988 when it was replaced with the Cal. 3135. The watch comes fitted on its original Rolex 20mm solid end link 904L stainless steel Oyster bracelet with an OysterLock safety clasp and the watch comes with its Rolex presentation box only.

Personal Note

The Brand

In 1905, German-born Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis set up a company in London that imported Swiss movements which are installed in British cases and sold to jewellers who put their names on the dials. Recognising the potential for their brand, Wilsdorf created the brand name Rolex in 1908. In 1910, a Rolex became the first wristwatch to carry the Swiss Certificate of Chronometric Precision, awarded by the Official Watch Rating Centre in Bienne, Switzerland. Demand for Rolex watches rose swiftly, and British taxes on the Swiss movements Rolex used prompted Wilsdorf to move the business to Geneva, Switzerland, in 1919. With production costs lowered, Wilsdorf quickly set out to solve the age-old problem of moisture and dust entering a watch case and damaging the movement. The Rolex watchmakers came up with a fully sealed watch case, which Wilsdorf named the Oyster, and released to an appreciative audience in 1926. In 1931, Rolex introduced the first automatic winding wristwatch, giving it the legendary name Oyster Perpetual. In 1945, they released Datejust. The Datejust was the first watch to have the date jump instantaneously at midnight. The 1950s saw a whole lot of releases such as the Air-King (1958), the Explorer (1953), the Submariner (1953), the GMT Master (1955), the Day-Date (1956), the electromagnetic field resistant Milgauss (1956), the Lady-Datejust (1957) and the first Deep Sea model (1960). Wilsdorf’s death in 1960, saw ownership of Rolex S.A. (a collection of sub-companies) passed to the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation which was founded by Wilsdorf in 1945, the mission of which is simply to sustain Rolex S.A. indefinitely.