Rolex Deepsea 136660«James Cameron»

Imagen: Rolex, web oficial

The storyWhy this reference matters

In 2008 Rolex pulled a disproportionate number out of the hat — 3,900 metres — and a new way of reaching it. The Ringlock system inverts the logic of a dive watch: instead of thickening the case, it puts a compression ring of nitrogen-alloyed steel inside to take the load. The domed sapphire crystal, 5.5 millimetres thick, bears on that ring from above; the titanium case back bears on it from below and gives just enough to spread the force. The outer steel barely works at all.

In March 2012 James Cameron went down alone to the Mariana Trench, 10,908 metres, with a Deepsea Challenge prototype bolted to the submersible's arm. Two years later Rolex returned the favour with a dial: deep blue at the top, black at the bottom, the exact gradient of light dying away as you descend. That is the D-Blue dial, and it carries DEEPSEA printed in green after the colour of the Deepsea Challenger submersible.

The reference 136660 arrived in 2022 and is an exercise in millimetres. A narrower bezel, a slightly bigger date window, a case back now explicitly identified as RLX titanium, and one absence divers spotted at once: the Fliplock extension has gone from the bracelet. The calibre stayed the 3235, with its 70 hours and its Chronergy escapement, inherited from the 126660 of 2018.

SpecificationsThe numbers, in one table

IdentificationHow to tell it apart

Forty-four millimetres across and nearly eighteen tall. That is not a number to read, it is a number to try on: it will not go under a shirt cuff. The bracelet starts at 22 mm and tapers fast, which is the only thing that makes the whole business habitable.

Against the earlier 126660, look at the bezel: the one on the 136660 is thinner, so the dial looks bigger without having grown a millimetre. The date window is also slightly larger. And there is no folding Fliplock link on the bracelet: all that is left is the Glidelock in the clasp.

The D-Blue runs from blue to black with DEEPSEA in green; the black-dial version has that text in white. On the flank at nine, the helium escape valve. And the case back is engraved RLX titanium: if the back is steel, you are not looking at a Deepsea.

CollectingWhat collectors check

Here the condition matters less than the wrist. It is the hardest Rolex in the catalogue to wear every day, and a fair number of second-hand examples come up with very little use for exactly that reason: the seller got tired of the thickness, not of the watch. Before you negotiate, wear it for a whole afternoon.

What to check: the edge of the ceramic bezel, where the chips appear; that the Glidelock runs cleanly through all its positions; and that the titanium back shows no marks from being opened with a generic tool. The proper one is required, and a badly seated gasket on a 3,900-metre watch is a ruined watch.

The D-Blue is in more demand than the black, and the market asks for it by nickname even though inside it is the same watch. If you are after one, ask for photographs in daylight rather than flash: the blue-to-black gradient flatters itself with suspicious ease in listing photos.

Common questionsWhat people ask us about this reference

Keep readingWhere to go from here

Close relativesThe ones it gets confused with