Monday, October 30, 2017

In Search Of Bob Barth & SEALAB



In Search Of


Bob Barth

&

SEALAB

The U.S. Navy SEALAB Aquanaut Who Developed The Helium Release Valve with Rolex for The SEA-DWELLER

Jose from Perezcope and I have been collaborating for a long time now on diving deeper into the U.S. Navy SEALAB Rolex history, which I first uncovered in 2008 when I interviewed SEALAB Aquanaut Scott Carpenter

Bob Barth pictured above in October 2017 still wearing his trusted Rolex SEA-DWELLER




Bob Barth pictured above in SEALAB Press Interview wearing either a Submariner or his Rolex SEA-DWELLER Prototype

I introduced Jose to Bob Barth a while ago, and we interviewed him together. Jose recently completed his amazing timeline poster named, "History Of The Rolex SEA-DWELLER. Rolex's Conquest Of The Ocean" which can be seen below. 



Jose gives away the poster as seen below for free, so anybody can download a high-resolution version. Jose also sells printed versions, which are large prints, and he just had Bob Barth sign a limited edition of 50 numbered prints. Jose traveled half-way around the world just to meet with Bob Barth so he could interview Bob and have him sign the limited editions poster.

Bob Barth is a famous U.S. Navy SEALAB diver who dove on all three SEALAB missions. Bob also helped develop the SEA-DWELLER with Rolex. In particular, he was responsible for the concept of the helium release valve on the SEA-DWELLER, as well as testing Rolex SEA-DWELLER prototypes for Rolex during SEALAB.




Jose is pictured above on the right at the SEALAB Museum in Panama City, Florida below with Museum Director Jim McCarthy, who was part of the team on SEALAB 3.



The image above is a painting of the U.S. Navy SEALAB that Jose took while in Panama City, along with the photo below of the SEALAB team posing with a 'Tiltin Hilton' sign. Scott Carpenter is pictured in the center of the photo with fellow SEALAB divers, and they are all wearing Rolex dive watches.




Jose is working on producing a video interview with Bob Barth, as well as his trip to SEALAB, which should be fascinating. In my opinion, one of the most interesting pieces of history Jose discovered was this letter from Jacques-Yves Cousteau to William Culpepper, who was involved in the SEALAB II project.



Jose is pictured below standing in front of SEALAB 1. To learn much, much more about Jose's fascinating adventure to visit Bob Barth, and the SEALAB Museum, head over to his story on Perezcope.com.


On a side note, Jose in many ways has picked up where I left off back on my SEALAB research. He is diving deeper than I did, and Jose is an amazing horological forensics expert, with some serious eagle eyes. Jose and I are working on some other REALLY cool projects that we will be publishing in the future!