ROLEX SUBMARINER REF. 1680 "COMEX Steel wristwatch,... - Lot 81 - Maison R&C, Commissaires-Priseurs Associés

ROLEX SUBMARINER REF. 1680 "COMEX Steel wristwatch, matte black dial, "Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date" at noon and "COMEX / 660ft=200m / SUBMARINER", minute track with white lines, tritium index, "Mercedes" hands, date at three o'clock on a silver disc magnified by cyclops, "SWISS - T'25" mention. Bidirectional bezel, tritium ball. Signed screw-down crown, three points for Triplock technology. Case with engraving reference 1680 and serial number 57891**. Steel case back signed ROLEX 5048 COMEX on the outside, signed Rolex reference 1680 on the inside. Mechanical self-winding movement signed Rolex reference 1575 (signed 1570 on the bridge, common anomaly to all references 1680), numbered D767153. Solid steel Oyster bracelet reference 93150 pieces of end 580, folding clasp Fliplock late signed Rolex, blade extension. Watch functional at the time of the expertise, without guarantee of future operation and condition of parts. Accompanied by another older Fliplock buckle dated 1990 with a link, missing its safety clasp. Scratches to the glass, partially damaged tritium ball on the bezel, some marks to the case and case back. Circa 1979 Diameter 40 mm The Rolex Submariner reference 1680 COMEX is one of the rarest references of the Rolex COMEX family. The first Rolex Submariner 1680 references were delivered to the COMEX in 1978 and according to records, only 60 pieces were produced, and this for recreational diving and training purposes, for the simple reason that these references were not equipped with a helium valve allowing saturation diving. While divers of the famous diving company were already using the reference 5514, known for its helium valve allowing saturation dives, and began to receive the Sea-Dweller 1665 reference also equipped with a helium valve. It should be noted here that the development of helium valves on Rolex diving watches is inseparable from the links maintained with COMEX. The rarity of the Rolex Submariner reference 1680 delivered to COMEX is also due to the fact that out of the 60 pieces supposedly produced for the company, many pieces have received services over the years where the COMEX dials were replaced by normal dials, their owner finding them nicer. This is a far cry from what is widely believed today. The pieces that have kept their original COMEX dials are therefore extremely rare. Our example presents its beautiful dial signed COMEX with its tritium indexes color "eggshell", a normal fact with the degradation of tritium over time, its original hands which we perceive the first cracks of luminescent material, its original brushed silver date disc, its original bezel whose black color begins to turn slightly to gray. An example which beyond its natural rarity presents beautiful qualities of conservation and its original parts. - COMEX, or Compagnie d'Exploitation Maritime, is inseparable from the great men who made its worldwide reputation. It was founded by Henri Germain Delauze in 1962 and specialized in underwater engineering. In the early 1960s, so-called "professional" diving was limited to unadventurous public works that hardly exceeded 30 meters in depth. But the 1960s, known for the search for important offshore deposits, will need the brains and arms of men, professional divers, to support this development at depths well beyond 50 meters. We owe all the important developments that followed to COMEX between 1965 and 1975. From caissons to specific diving vessels, not to mention decompression tables to rely on. To develop all this, COMEX created its Hyperbaric Experimental Center (C.E.H) in 1964 with a limit of 365 meters, and a little later in 1968 a new site in Marseille with a double objective: on the one hand to develop underwater technologies in a 300 meter hyperbaric unit, and on the other hand a saturation unit adapted for saturation diving under hydrogen and up to 800 meters. The COMEX, beyond the divers, is also and above all an army of doctors, including doctors Xavier Fructus and Maurice Comet, scientists and engineers. With activities starting in the middle of the 1960's and lasting until the beginning of the 2000's, we note the impressive figures of 5300 operations, 1000 divers and 2700 experimental dives.