Vintage Rolex: Sea-Dweller 1665 Double Red Unboxing | What’s in the Box Ep. 16

This week, the spotlight is on the vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 with a Mark II tropical dial. Shop pre-owned luxury watches: www.bobswatches.com
NAVIGATE THIS VIDEO
Each week on ‘What's in the Box,' the team unboxes a different timepiece from our latest arrivals. Watches featured in this series are available in the links below.
WRIST CHECK
Justin’s Wrist: Rolex GMT Master II Ref. 126720VTNR “Sprite”
Find the Rolex 126720 for sale here: www.bobswatches.com/rolex-gmt...
Emily’s Wrist: Rolex Cellini Ref. 5115
Find the Rolex 5115 for sale here: www.bobswatches.com/pre-owned...
Brandon’s Wrist: Vintage Rolex Submariner Ref. 5512
Find the Rolex 5512 for sale here: www.bobswatches.com/rolex-vin...
FEATURED WATCH: Vintage Rolex Sea-Dweller Ref. 1665
Find the Rolex 1665 for sale here: www.bobswatches.com/rolex-sea...
Ref. 1665 is the inaugural Rolex Sea-Dweller, coming to market in the late 1960s and bowing out of production sometime in the 1980s. Rolex released many iterations of the Sea-Dweller ref. 1665 during its production run, including the fascinating Mark II dial Rolex featured in this week’s edition of What’s in the Box.
The Sea-Dweller builds upon the success of the Submariner, featuring a similar design and substantial water resistance. However, while the Submariner only has a waterproof screw-down crown, the Sea-Dweller also sports an innovative Helium Escape Valve. As a result, it offers increased waterproofness up to 600 meters/2,000 feet.
SINGLE RED
Early prototypes of the watch had a red Sea-Dweller logo, and the rest of the text was white. Those models were produced for a short time and are incredibly rare. They are often referred to as the “Single Red Sea-Dweller.”
DOUBLE RED
What is a Rolex Sea-Dweller Double Red? For the second iteration of the ref. 1665, the “Submariner 2000” text is also red, hence the name “Double Red Sea-Dweller” or “DRSD.”
Rolex produced reference 1665s with two lines of red text for about a decade, during which many variations came to market. Each iteration differs from the next in very subtle ways that might not be easily recognizable to the untrained eye, whether it be the spacing of the text or the way the red paint is applied.
The dial variations are categorized as Marks O to 7, with the last three being service replacement dials.
GREAT WHITE
Rolex eventually switched to all-white text for ref. 1665, around 1977. These models were dubbed “Great White” Sea-Dwellers and remained in production for a few years before being discontinued to make way for the ref. 16660.
MARK II SEA-DWELLER REF. 1665
The featured Rolex this week is a Mark II Sea-Dweller circa 1972. It sports a desirable Mark II tropical dial, distinguished from other dial variations by the smaller hole in the base of the Rolex coronet and some white text showing underneath the red paint.
Mark II dials are also known to go tropical, a term used in watch collecting to describe dials that have changed in color over time. The original black dial has changed to brown on this model due to how the original lacquer reacts to UV light.
Many collectors gravitate towards these dials because of their rare and unique appearance.
The color change on our example is particularly prominent around the edges of the date window. Additionally, the hands and hour markers have developed a patina, and the Tritium luminescent material exhibits a nice, even yellow color.
It also sports a clasp with the error diver’s extension. These clasps have a typo, reading “PATETED” instead of “PATENTED.” Small details like this one make this ref. 1665 even more collectible.
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[@JoleneLin78]

I'm wearing my vintage Rolex Yachtmaster 29mm two tone! Love vintage pieces.

[@bobswatches]

What a great wrist check!

[@JoleneLin78]

@@bobswatches haha thank you! 😄

[@AndreaDoesYoga]

Amazing unboxing, the Sea-Dweller 1665 is a classic! 🕰️

[@bobswatches]

So true!

[@dslaughter-tv1op]

Watchless right now but wore Breitling Colt auto today. I prefer 1680, because I like the date magnifier. Love the comment at 3:55 about getting both for different weather conditions. Oh how the other half live! I enjoy the videos and appreciate the commentary by Emily and Justin. Keep ticking..

[@bobswatches]

+1 for the 1680 "Red" Submariner. Thanks for your kind note. We'll keep ticking!

[@coolloupblanc7]

1665 drsd: a grail

[@bobswatches]

So much so!

[@jsusna1972]

Wearing my GMT Master II, Coke bezel. Did manage some wrist time with my GS Katana over the weekend. I know people are anticipating a ceramic Coke bezel to be shown at Watches & Wonders, but I'm kinda on the fence about it. That SD actually wore well on Emily's wrist. My brother modded his SD by adding a cyclops and swapping for a green bezel. Looks like a Kermit sub until you notice the helium escape valve on the side,

[@dslaughter-tv1op]

Love to know which dial color your GS Katana is. Love the light blue dial color.

[@bobswatches]

Hello to you this week! Thanks for the wrist check and thoughtful comment. Hope the no news of a new Rolex Coke is a happy moment for you.

[@jsusna1972]

@@bobswatches Only in that my Coke bezel GMT becomes more rare as time goes on. I don't plan on selling it, but with no ceramic Coke (for now) the price should continue to rise ever so slightly. I am a fan of the aluminum bezels as their metallic sheen appeals to me.

[@jsusna1972]

@@dslaughter-tv1op The Katana (limited edition of 500, US only) comes with the red dial, which is more of a dark burgundy than red. In some light it's chocolate. The finish really is extraordinary, and luckily enough for me I was able to get the bracelet sized correctly. It has no micro-adjustment, just links and half-links that have to be removed or added.

[@dslaughter-tv1op]

Love it. Thank you for sharing keep ticking!!!

[@jh-il5sb]

wearing my pepsi 126710blro in anticipation of it's discontinuation???.......I agree right hand drive sprite is what's referenced in the rolex teaser

[@bobswatches]

The world is so close to seeing what they've been planning!

[@ty5967]

Bob Watches tend to polish all their watches. Wonder if they will be polishing this one next.

[@bobswatches]

Not true. Also, never vintage watches.

[@ListenToPowerViolence]

Rolex dive watches are just dive watches like Mountain Dew Code Red is just a soda. They are tops, gang.

[@fergulator7297]

Wearing Schaumburg werewolf

[@bobswatches]

Fun wrist check from you!

[@nach8998]

I love how this chick adds nothing to the conversation at all but talks for most of the video.

[@bobswatches]

Thanks for watching. We like our host.

[@nach8998]

@@bobswatches Yeah, someone has to i guess

[@dslaughter-tv1op]

Kind of rude to refer to a person as a chick.

[@nach8998]

@@dslaughter-tv1op dslaughter has strong feelings about the word chick lol