How Rolex Tests Its Most Extreme Watch

HOW ROLEX TESTS ITS

MOST EXTREME WATCH

By DANNY CRIVELLO

 

“Pressure makes diamonds.”

Gen. George S. Patton 

United States Army.

  

The timepiece Rolex unveiled a month ago surprised the watch community and industry experts. The new Deepsea Challenge is not only the first all-titanium example offered by Rolex, but it’s also the highest depth-rated watch ever to be commercialized, having undergone pressure testing to 25% more than the deepest point on the planet. Some say it is the most extreme watch. General Patton would have called the Deepsea Challenge a great example in gemology.

 

Still, Rolex's announcement it had unveiled a new diver in its collection was half the story, I felt. The other half was about Rolex's ability to rate a watch to a depth very few people had ever gone. In short, how do you build and test the ultimate watch of the deep from Switzerland, a country with ski slopes and lakes?

When I reached out to Rolex and asked about the pressure tank that was built to test the new Deepsea Challenge, I noticed the tank was referred to by employees of the brand as la cuve UHP.   

Top of UHP tank has the same engravings as the watch. 

 

Rolex's first Ultra High Pressure tank was built ten years ago, when it tested the experimental watch that would be strapped onto James Cameron's submersible in his record-setting solo dive in 2012. When the watch came out of the tank unscathed and perfectly ticking, the Rolex watchmakers and design engineers who were involved in the project burst into applause. 

The brand updated la cuve UHP to test the highest depth-rated watch ever to be offered to the public. As it’s the case for other Rolex divers, the new Deepsea Challenge had to be tested to 25% more than the advertised rating; so, 25% more than the deepest point known on Earth. The tank had to be built big enough to accommodate more than one watch at a time to make large-scale production possible.

 

The tank alone is a feat of engineering worth writing about. The pressure chamber inside the UHP tank is less than 4 inches in diameter but can hold 3.5 liters of water (though less water is required for the test, Rolex told me). It can test up to 10 watches at a time, and it is completely built in grade 5 titanium to avoid any potential problems with magnetic fields.

 

When the tank was first developed with Comex's help, it was designed to sustain a mind-boggling pressure of 2,510 bars, or 25,100 meters of water depth. That's more than twice Mariana Trench's depth. For safety reasons, the tank was derated to 1,750 bars and equipped with an automatic relief valve. The support structure used for closing the pressure chamber can sustain a pressure of more than 100 tons when the watches are being tested, according to Rolex.

 

Watchmaking is all about attention to details. And so is watch testing. Rolex uses water that has been deionized when it conducts the pressure test. Deionized water, I learned, doesn't leave stains on the watch. All the testing is done at the site of Rolex world headquarters in Acacias, central Geneva. 

A Rolex representative once told me that when the brand unveils a new collection each March, it always tries to show expertise not only as a watchmaker but also as a gem-setter — from the simple floral-motif Datejust 31 to the pavé-dial rainbow Daytona. 

You could argue Rolex did it again this November with the Deepsea Challenge. The watch has undergone so much barometric testing, General Patton would have certainly called it a diamond.

Read also:

Why the Deepsea Challenge is Rolex's Moonwatch

Rolex Photo of the Day: Deepsea Challenge

 

...ROLEX PHOTO OF THE DAY...

NEW DEEPSEA CHALLENGE

Winter is coming. For Diracpoint who lives in Canada it's definitely here. He took this rad picture of the brand new Deepsea Challenge which looks completely at home in the snow as it does in the water apparently. Highly legible and super resistant, I'd say it looks perfect with a coat and thick snow gloves. 

Thoughts on the 2022 Deepsea Challenge

MY FINAL THOUGHTS ON 

ROLEX'S NEWEST RELEASE

Why the Deepsea Challenge Is Rolex's Moonwatch

What makes explorers brave is not just the decision to volunteer for a risky mission, but to press on when things break, danger mounts, and aborting the mission is a justifiable option. 

During Apollo 11's powered descent to the moon, in 1969, there were a total of five unexpected computer alarms in the last 12 minutes. These alarms all indicated that Eagle’s computer system was overloaded, with the last of these alarms less than three minutes before landing, at 500 meters above the Moon. 

The computer was guiding the spacecraft towards an unsafe touchdown point in the rugged, boulder-filled surface. With low-fuel-indicator lights flashing, Neil Armstrong took manual control and flew to a safe landing spot beyond the crater. 

On opposite ends, U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard, in 1960, were landing on the deepest spot on the planet, Challenger Deep. Challenger Deep is more than 35,000 feet below the Pacific Ocean, at the southern end of the Mariana Trench. 

They were descending through depths no humans had reached before when suddenly the cabin of their bathyscaphe violently shook and a loud cracking noise was heard. 

They turned off everything on board that made a noise, as they attempted to discover the origin of the crack. The plexiglass viewport that was used to enter the sphere had cracked in several places. But they pressed on for another 3,000 feet and completed their mission to land on Challenger Deep.

 

When Rolex released a new Deepsea Challenge on Nov. 1, carrying for the first time a commemorative caseback engraving (two dates referring to the first two dives to the Mariana Trench), the watch immediately reminded me of the Omega Speedmaster Moonwatch whose caseback engraving links the watch to space missions.

To be sure, Rolex watches have gone to space multiple times as recorded in these pages. Rolex GMT-Masters often adorned the wrists of prominent astronauts including Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Michael Collins who was the third man in the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Still, Rolex has never claimed a stake in the space conquest. (Rolex's webpages about the GMT-Master still refer to Pan Am and Concorde pilots, but eschew any mention of astronauts.) 

After giving myself a week to ponder this latest release, I realized Rolex wanted to claim the greatest depth on Earth, Challenger Deep, as its own the way Omega has claimed the moon. And it must be important enough for Rolex if for the first time ever it decided to engrave the caseback with historical references.

 

Rolex wants you to know it was part of the first expedition to go to the deepest spot on the ocean floor. And it was also part of James Cameron's expedition when he broke the record for first solo dive to Challenger Deep.

The deep-sea exploration and the space program both include building and testing crafts that go into virgin and inhabitable worlds. In both cases, crew members sit cramped inside a module untethered from any human rescue possible, staring through a window into a dark, black emptiness in an environment as strange and hostile as any to be found on other planets.

 

The picture of Lt. Don Walsh sitting in the confined bathyscaphe holding a U.S. flag while at the bottom of the ocean floor looks like a picture that could have been taken in a space capsule. It's also the picture equivalent of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary atop the Everest.

In my research for this article, I found a 1960 newsreel, which is using a U.S. Department of Navy footage of the bathyscaphe's return to the surface. 

You can hear the old-timey, staccato voice of the reporter saying: "The mission recorded in these event's Department films is as great a feat, and as important a scientific breakthrough, as will be the first trip of man to the moon."

Jake shared with me the vintage ad below, which dates back from the 1960s, showing how Rolex tied the ocean to "inner space" (as opposed to outer-space). The ad is for a Submariner, but the Sea-Dweller is a Submariner variant.

Following their successful mission, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard were invited by President Eisenhower to the White House, the way astronauts would be greeted by Presidents in years to come. 

Lt. Walsh received the Legion of Merit and Mr. Piccard the Distinguished Public Service Award. "As President of the United States, I extend the nation's recognition and gratitude for your resourcefulness, courage and devotion to duty and your contributions to our country and to all free men," President Eisenhower's citation read. "I offer my personal congratulations."

As of today, only 22 people have visited Challenger Deep, a number that only recently exceeded the number of people who have walked on the moon.

In my article about Rolex's new Deepsea Challenge, I mentioned this year's release by Omega, the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep, the brand's highest depth-rated watch available for sale. 

  

But I realize now I've picked the wrong watch for comparison. Or at least the wrong Omega. The Deepsea Challenge is Rolex's Moonwatch. 

The New 2022 Rolex Deepsea Challenge in Titanium

NEW 2022 RELEASE

DEEPSEA CHALLENGE

...A New Rolex in Titanium

to Explore the Abyss...

"Explorer, this is Cab Three, starting our descent along the umbilical.

- Roger that, Cab Three. Good luck.

- Luck is not a factor.”

—The Abyss (1989)

"Luck is not a factor" is probably something Jean-Frédéric Dufour, CEO of Rolex, could say on the immense success his company has had under his tenure. After Omega released the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep in March, and Apple in September introduced us to the Apple Watch Ultra, it's now Rolex's turn to give us their most extreme watch ever offered to the public. It enlisted the help of filmmaker extraordinaire James Cameron.

Rolex released today a new Deepsea Challenge in all-titanium, touting the highest depth rating ever on a watch available for sale. At less than two months from the holiday season, this surprise drop feels very much like a Steve Jobs’s “One more thing.” 

Every year when I click through Rolex's website on release day, and perfect renderings of their nouveautées fill my screen, I have to admit, my pulse quickens a bit. As I click on each picture, I am probably making the same wide-eyed face as Mr. Cameron did on March 26, 2012, when he piloted a submersible alone to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest-known place on this planet. I am discovering something new — the birth of the next-level Rolex watch.

It's highly unusual for Rolex to make a second release event the same year; I can't find any such example in the past decade. So this is something very special. Or it's something we might see done more often in our digital world.

But today's drop can handle the pressure on its own. What we are seeing here is pure Rolex: the narrative is about ocean, dive, adventure, milestones and an Oscar-winning film director turned record-breaking oceanic explorer. He is presenting a watch with the highest depth rating ever to be available to the public: 11,000m (36,090ft). Straight from the headquarters of the most reputable brand in the world.

Water resistance has defined Rolex for almost a century. And, except for the Cellini, the word “Oyster” is now printed on all its dials, indicating your watch has a bezel, case back and crown that are hermetically screwed down against the middle case. Then we heard words like “Twinlock” and “Triplock” crowns, and the “Ringlock” system, innovations to protect further the inside of your watch.

The Rolex Deepsea Challenge unveiled today pays tribute to two historic dives into the Mariana Trench: that of oceanographer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh aboard the Trieste in 1960; and James Cameron’s solo descent in DEEPSEA CHALLENGER in 2012. Both expeditions took experimental Rolex watches with them.

The new Deepsea Challenge is engraved with the words “Mariana Trench” as well as the dates “23-01-1960” and “26-03-2012” on the case back. This is the most a Rolex design has ever paid tribute to its history. Sure, we’ve had “Air-King” in the old-style font or “Sea-Dweller” written in red letters, shy nods to the past. But never had Rolex engraved the case back with a historical reference. It is joining Omega in reminding the world of a watch’s professional accomplishments.

Omega released a watch earlier this year based on an Omega watch that went down to the Mariana Trench with Victor Vescovo in 2019. But the model available for sale to the public does not have nearly the resistance to make a trip down the deepest point on Earth, missing about 5,000m of water resistance. This is why the new version of the Rolex Deepsea Challenge is such a game changer. As Jake phrased it to me, it's the return of the King of the Deepsea. 

But while the Deepsea Challenge attached to the manipulator arm of Mr. Cameron’s submersible in 2012 was rated to an eye-popping 12,000m, I noticed the rating of the 2022 model had been reduced by 1,000m, to 11,000m. I asked Rolex the reason for the change. “The depth of 11,000 meters was chosen to be consistent with that of the Mariana Trench,” Rolex told me. “This choice also made it possible to ensure that the watch would have a reasonable size and guarantee its comfort to wear.” 

Rolex was able to reduce size and thickness to make it more wearable. The new Rolex Deepsea has a size of 50mm, a reduction of 1.4mm from its 2012 experimental version. 

While Rolex never publishes watch thickness on its website or brochures I was able to get the data straight from Geneva: The thickness of the Deepsea Challenge was reduced from 28.5mm to 23.3mm, or 18%, when compared to the 2012 experimental version.

Rolex also reminded me that the Deepsea Challenge was tested to an additional safety margin of 25%, meaning that it is subjected to a water pressure equivalent to 13,750m. (To test the waterproofness of each Deepsea Challenge, Rolex called an old friend, COMEX, and developed together the ultra-high-pressure tank.)

 

But the most glaring difference between the old and new version is the absence of a date window on the dial. This is the first watch from the Sea-Dweller family without a date complication. Rolex is using the 3230 calibre with the standard precision of –2/+2 seconds per day. I applaud the symmetry of the dial and more-professional look of the new watch, something I had argued for in September. 

Before I get to the most important part of this release — the alloy used to make the case — I want to quickly mention a design detail in the lugs I have not seen since the five-digit references: chamfers. Chamfers are the polished edges of a lug, and they have been absent in Rolex modern cases. 

Rolex said because this Deepsea in titanium has a particularly visible grain in the satin finish on the case, it made the decision to chamfer and polish the top edges of the lugs to highlight the lugs’ curved profile. The Deepsea Challenge is now the only watch in the Professional line to have chamfers. Will we see more of them in future Rolex models?

The 2022 Deepsea Challenge is the first Rolex available to the public made in titanium, making the watch 30% lighter than the experimental model of 2012. Rolex admitted the experimental watch posed a wearability problem due to its weight, as it was made from 904L. Both case and bracelet of the new Deepsea Challenge are made in grade 5 titanium.

 

The 2022 Deepsea Challenge reference number is 126067, with the “7” indicating RLX titanium. The last digit of a six-digit reference always indicates the case material, and until today, we were missing a number. Rolex had left the “7” space blank.

0 – Stainless Steel

1 – Everose Rolesor (Stainless Steel and Everose Gold)

2 – Rolesium (Stainless steel and Platinum)

3 – Yellow Rolesor (Stainless Steel and 18k Yellow gold)

4 – White Rolesor (Stainless Steel and 18k White gold)

5 – Everose

6 – Platinum

7 – RLX Titanium

8 – 18k Yellow gold

9 – 18k White gold

A year ago I spotted competitive sailor Sir Ben Ainslie wearing a titanium Yacht-Master prototype and contacted Rolex and Sir Ainslie about it. But I was disappointed to see no titanium Rolex announced in the following Watches & Wonders. Today’s drop from Rolex was so important and held so many firsts the Maison did not want to dilute it with other releases. Watches & Wonders 2022 was about the air — the Air-King and the GMT-Master II with the crown on the left. 

Mr. Cameron is a month away from releasing the long-awaited sequel to “Avatar,” which heavily features underwater scenes. “Avatar: The Way of Water” is due in theaters Dec. 16, 2022, 13 years after the first installment. 

Why did he take him so long? Mr. Cameron told The New York Times he was "blowing off the movie for a few years while indulging his passion for deep-sea exploration." That's when he went down to the Mariana Trench, in 2012. Sigourney Weaver, one of the main characters in "Avatar," said she and the rest of the cast were concerned for his safety though maybe for selfish reasons. 

“We kept thinking, ‘I hope he survives to make a new movie,’” she told the Times. 

If Mr. Cameron is nominated for an Oscar, we'll see him again in March at the 95th Academy Awards in a familiar pose: A trophy in one hand, a Rolex on the wrist. 

Rolex told me the 2022 all-titanium Deepsea Challenge will be available for sale at launch and carry a price tag of $26,000.