This one is back at NIC watches. One of my customers bought an upgrade out of my portfolio, so I bought it back. Rolex Sea-Dweller 1665 with rare Single Red Dial, SN: 299XXX, from 1971, first sold in 1972 by Bucherer, Switzerland.
Originally equipped with a Double Red Mark III dial, the former owner gave it away to Rolex for service and it came back with an Rail dial and an exchanged caseback– the guy was, of course, not amused about this fact and he was looking out for a Double Red dial to get it back to it’s former original condition. Well, finally he didn’t succeed to find a Mark III dial, but he found the even rarer flawless Single Red Mark V (other sources call it MKVI) dial. Only a handfull of these are known, making it the rarest dial available for the plexi Sea-Dweller. These dials originate from a service dial of the „Great White“ with an very bright and vivid red overprint on the Sea-Dweller writing. Lume is Luminova.
Also 100percentpassion.net and others mention this in their 1665 reports.
https://100percentpassion.net/2014/02/03/die-rolex-sea-dweller-double-red/
„Die ersten Ersatzblätter, die im Rahmen von Servicearbeiten in die DRSD verbaut worden sind waren Blätter der „Great White“, bei denen der Schriftzug „SEA-DWELLER“ rot überdruckt worden ist. Diese Blätter sind extrem selten. Mir sind nur zwei Uhren mit einem solchen Blatt bekannt. Eine Quelle spricht von einer Uhr, die ca. 2006 ein solches Blatt während eines Service bekommen hat.“
Case appears to be polished once in the past, but all bevels left, hence case is still in a very good fat condition. Has signs of prior use, but no deep impacts or abuse. I refrained from having it polished once again as these signs of wear didn’t bother me at all, I leave this decission up to the new owner.
Serial and reference are clearly legible between the lugs. The original superdome acrylic together with the Long 5 inlay and tritium pearl make this watch really looking cool and it has been tested for waterproofnes up to 5 bar recently. All gaskets have been changed and watch is running in COSC specs. Watch also has a very good 93150 bracelet with moderate stretch and divers extension.
A 1665 MKIII in the full set is actually priced around 10000 to 15000 Euro higher, despite the single red dial is the far rarer piece, but fully wearable and usable. Also you don’t have to worry about breaking an old vintage dial. You’ll get a great watch for a fair price, even better if you have a MKIII dial in your collection.
This watch is delivered as a full set including original punched and stamped papers, box, carton cover box with 1665 sticker on it.
Differential taxation §25A UStG.