1984 Rolex 16660 Tropical Comex Dial Sea-Dweller

Description:  There are certain watches out there that have a reputation or lore to them. Comex for most vintage Rolex watch collectors is the equivalent of what Rennsport or the letters “RS” are for Porsche fanatics. Based out in Marseille France, this dive company has been co-developing dive watches with Rolex since the 60’s. They are often considered the NASA of the deep sea. Their collaboration with Comex has resulted in the creation of the Sea-Dweller and subsequently allowed their professional divers that work under water the ability to dive deep and crucially keep track of time.

Comex divers were issued serialized watches over the years, and these watches were engraved on the caseback as well as had their company logo stamped onto the dial of their watch. You could not buy a Comex Rolex without being a diver at Comex. However many Comex divers did not care for their Comex labeled dial as they did not want people to associate their Rolex having been issued by their company, rather than something they purchased themselves. As a result, many of these dial over the years were swapped for a regular dial that did not sport the company logo.

This dial in particular was pulled off by a watchmaker at some point and made its way into a non Comex watch. If it had the Comex caseback it would likely sell in the high 70’s-80k USD. This watch however only sports the dial and what a dial it is. To put this in racing car terms, this is a 911, with a 911 cup car motor swapped in. Is it correct? No. but it sure is cool as hell and a lot cheaper than the full cup car.

Now the goal would of course would be to find a Comex case that is missing this dial and complete the watch, however, for the price that this is, I look at this case being a caretaker for this dial until that day comes.  And if it never comes, one would be quite content with the way it is.

Dial: Tropical Comex dial

Insert: Black 16660 Insert

Hands: Original hands

Case: Appears lightly polished but in excellent shape

Bracelet: Oyster