ROLEX – Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA Challenge RLX Titanium

 

ROLEX – Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller DEEPSEA 50mm Challenge RLX Titanium 2022

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OYSTER PERPETUAL DEEPSEA CHALLENGE, THE DIVERS’ WATCH THAT DEFIES THE LIMITS

Geneva, 1 November 2022. Filmmaker and explorer James Cameron unveils the Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Challenge. 

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Inspired by the experimental watch that accompanied him on his historic 10,908-metre (35,787 feet) descent into the Mariana Trench on 26 March 2012, the Deepsea Challenge represents a new milestone in the world of Rolex divers’ watches. 

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Guaranteed waterproof to a depth of 11,000 metres (36,090 feet), crafted from RLX titanium, and equipped with a helium escape valve and the Ringlock system, it is capable of accompanying divers in any environment – during freedives, submersible dives or in hyperbaric chambers. 

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A watch designed to turn pressure into an ally in any situation, and an invitation to expand yet further the horizons of the deep.

THE SPECTRUM OF ROLEX EXPERTISE IN AN EXCEPTIONAL DIVERS’ WATCH

The ultimate watch of the deep, the Deepsea Challenge is a diver with unprecedented credentials, designed to withstand extreme pressure. Years of research were required to overcome the watchmaking and manufacturing challenges that its fabrication presented.

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While the experimental watch of 2012 was attached to the manipulator arm of James Cameron’s submersible, the Deepsea Challenge is designed to be worn on the wrist. From the production of the case to that of the bracelet, every element of this 50 mm watch has been crafted with everyday use in mind. 

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A watchmaking accomplishment made possible by using a grade 5 titanium alloy selected by Rolex: RLX titanium. Thanks to this robust and particularly lightweight metal, the new watch is 30% lighter than the experimental model of 2012. 

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To create a timepiece of harmonious and ergonomic proportions, modifications were made to some of the components – the crystal, for instance, was slimmed down. 

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The Deepsea Challenge is distinctive among the Professional watches for the particularly visible grain in its satin finish and the polished edges of its lugs. The bracelet extension systems – Rolex Glidelock and the Fliplock extension link – allow the watch to be worn over a diving suit up to 7 mm thick.

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The Deepsea Challenge incorporates the full spectrum of Rolex’s expertise in divers’ watches. It includes all the major innovations developed by the brand over many years: the Ringlock system, a patented case architecture that enables the watch to withstand extreme pressure; the helium escape valve, which allows surplus gas to escape from the watch during a diver’s decompression phase in a hyperbaric chamber, reducing the pressure inside the case which could otherwise damage the watch; 

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the Triplock crown, with three sealed zones; and the Chromalight display, whose long-lasting luminescence provides exceptional legibility. 

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To test the waterproofness of each Deepsea Challenge, Rolex specially developed, in partnership with Comex (Compagnie Maritime d’Expertises), an ultra-high-pressure tank capable of reproducing a test pressure equivalent to that exerted by water at a depth of 13,750 metres (45,112 feet).

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At the heart of the Oyster case is calibre 3230, a movement entirely developed and manufactured by Rolex. A consummate demonstration of technology, this self-winding movement contains several patented components: the Chronergy escapement and the Parachrom hairspring, insensitive to magnetic fields, as well as Paraflex shock absorbers. 

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Thanks to its barrel architecture and the escapement’s superior efficiency, calibre 3230 offers a power reserve of approximately 70 hours. Like all Rolex watches, the Deepsea Challenge carries the Superlative Chronometer certification and boasts chronometric precision of the order of –2 /+2 seconds per day.

A HOMAGE TO EXPLORERS OF THE ABYSS

The 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, in 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.

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The design of the watch that accompanied James Cameron’s dive presented a sizeable challenge for the brand in a short production time. Tested to withstand a depth of 15,000 metres (49,200 feet) and 17 tonnes of pressure on the crystal, it was developed in only a few weeks, thanks to the extensive experience of the Rolex teams in the domain of deep-sea divers’ watches. 

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Throughout the seven-hour dive, three hours of which were spent at the bottom, filming and collecting samples, this experimental watch flawlessly withstood the tremendous pressure, as the 1960 watch had also done.

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Today, the Deepsea Challenge marks a new milestone in the human and technical adventure that Rolex engineers and deep-sea explorers have shared for decades.

ROLEX: THE INCESSANT QUEST FOR WATERPROOFNESS

Since the very start, waterproofness has been a fundamental pillar of Rolex’s watchmaking expertise. In 1926, the Oyster case was unveiled – a completely hermetic construction in which the bezel, case back and winding crown screwed down against the middle case. 

For nearly a century, Rolex has developed ever more advanced systems –  such as the Twinlock and Triplock crowns, and the Ringlock system – to protect the inside of its watches.

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To meet the needs of deep-sea diving professionals, in 1953 Rolex released the Submariner, which was guaranteed waterproof to 100 metres (330 feet) and subsequently to 300 metres (1,000 feet). 

 

In 1967, the brand launched the Sea-Dweller, a divers’ watch fitted with an automatic helium release valve and guaranteed waterproof to 610 metres (2,000 feet), then to 1,220 metres (4,000 feet). 

 

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The Rolex Deepsea, presented in 2008, is a watch made for the challenges of the deep. Equipped with the Ringlock system, it can resist the pressure exerted at 3,900 metres (12,800 feet). 

 

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With the Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Challenge, whose waterproofness is guaranteed to 11,000 metres (36,090 feet), the deepest depths open new horizons.

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TECHNICAL DETAILS

Category:  Professional watch

 

Model:  Oyster Perpetual Professional DEEPSEA Challenge

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Reference: M126067-0001 

Case
Material: RLX titanium
Diameter: 50 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Bezel:RLX titanium/ceramic, unidirectional rotatable bezel
Unidirectional rotatable 60-minute graduated, scratch-resistant Cerachrom insert in ceramic, numerals and graduations coated in platinum
Glass: Domed 9.5-mm-thick scratch-resistant sapphire with anti-reflective coating
Triplock winding crown in RLX titanium, screw-down, triple waterproofness system
RLX titanium caseback, solid, screw-down with fine fluting
Water-resistant to 11,000 metres (36,090 feet) helium escape valve
Dial and hands
Highly legible Chromalight display with long-lasting blue luminescence
Intense black, matt, fine satin finish
Hour markers in 18 ct white gold, highly legible Chromalight (long-lasting luminescence, blue glow)
Hands in 18 ct white gold, highly legible Chromalight (long-lasting luminescence, blue glow)

Movement
Calibre 3230, Manufacture Rolex
Mechanical movement with bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor
Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring • Rolex overcoil • Large balance wheel with variable inertia
High-precision regulating via four gold Microstella nuts • Traversing balance bridge • High-performance Paraflex shock absorbers
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Number of jewels: 31
Power reserve: 70 hours
Functions/Indications
Centre hour, minute and seconds hands
Stop-seconds for exact time setting
Helium valve
Strap and buckle
Oyster RLX titanium bracelet, satin finish, ceramic inserts
Oysterlock folding safety clasp
Rolex Glidelock extension system (approx. 20 mm in increments of approx. 2 mm)
Fliplock extension link (approx. 26 mm)

🔴 Price : MSRP💰

• EUR 25'750
• USD 26'000

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Press release – 2022
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www.facebook.com - Rolex
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Christopher Ward – C1 Bel Canto Automatic Edition

Christopher Ward – Limited C1 Bel Canto Titanium Automatic Edition 2022

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The art of sound
C1 Bel Canto: the chime is now

Creating a chiming watch is one of the greatest challenges in watchmaking – and one that Christopher Ward has passed with the limited-edition C1 Bel Canto.

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Meet the extraordinary C1 Bel Canto.

Limited to just 300 pieces, it marks the debut of a brand new in-house calibre, FS01. In the metal, it feels utterly alive, marking each hour with its cheerful, reassuring internal chime. And it sees CW assert its horological ambitions like never before.

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Christopher Ward has always pushed the creative envelope. It’s this philosophy that produced in-house movement Calibre SH21, and was responsible for the legendary JJ calibres (named after our first master watchmaker Johannes Jahnke) – unique modules piggybacking on existing movements.

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Today, the key to the C1 Bel Canto is FS01, a new chiming movement named after current technical director Frank Stelzer. In all horological history, little has tested the watchmaker like creating sound, so it’s no wonder Bel Canto took three years of tortuous development.

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Bel Canto is what’s called an hour chime, or – more romantically – a Sonnerie au Passage complication, which translates as ‘Passage of Time’.

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“Bel Canto is an extrapolation of the C60 Concept, in that we’re taking the best hand-finished components and putting them within reach of many,” says Jörg Bader Junior, head of product at CW’s Biel atelier. “But in terms of technological challenge, it’s taken us into uncharted territory. We had to figure everything out for ourselves.”

The layered dial plays host to a floating time-telling sundial

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With each JJ calibre, the desire wasn’t just to produce a complication, but to do it in a fresh, efficient way. Ten years ago, JJ01 was designed to offer the most accurate jumping-hour function possible and, by spreading the load over an entire hour, Johannes managed it. This success became one of the starting points for FS01.

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It’s a little known fact that Christopher Ward creates watches for Meistersinger, the German specialist in single-hand timepieces. A few years ago Frank made a new model for them, the Bell Hora, a Sonnerie au Passage. Would it be possible to do something similar for Christopher Ward?

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“The Bell Hora was a stepping stone,” says CEO and co-founder Mike France. “But with Bel Canto we wanted to bring the striking mechanism to the front, so the wearer could watch it in action. The question became: could we make a chiming watch both look and sound beautiful at the same time?”

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“Finding a way to split out the components so they felt balanced across the entire face, took years,” says CW watch designer Will Brackfield. “Each time we moved one piece, it had a knock-on effect on the others. The platine – the blue module plate behind the important elements – would have a gorgeous sunray finish, so we needed to find a way to hide minor components behind that too.”

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Frank began with a Sellita SW200-1 automatic base movement paired with JJ01, which charges incrementally over an hour to then make a single movement. But his modifications would eventually involve the creation of 50 new components, and become a race against time once an on-sale date of Autumn 2022 was confirmed.

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“One of the great challenges was striking the right balance between note and loudness,” says CW’s head of product design, Adrian Buchmann. “We soon learned that the case would have to be made of Grade 5 titanium, a material we’d never used before, with lots of empty space and resonance points. It’s a very dense metal – and creates a sound cage with the best possible vibrations.”

So, what exactly does the chime sound like? “Elegant,” says Mike. “Luxurious,” says Will. “A long, high-pitched note,” says Adrian.

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No one can quite define it – it is more like a xylophone, or a hotel bell? – but all agree that it’s delightful. Technically, it turns out to be a D, also known as Re (“a drop of golden sun”) on the fixed do solfège system, familiar from The Sound Of Music.

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“One thing everyone comments on is how the bridge structure towards the bottom looks like a bird,” Mike says. “The red ‘beak’ is actually the on-off mechanism, controlled by a pusher at 4 o’clock, and moves to indicate whether the chime is on or off, while the hammer is its tail. Bel Canto means ‘beautiful singing’, so there’s whimsical humour going on which seems very Christopher Ward.”

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Other details are equally as ambitious. The dial consists of intriguingly stacked layers, rising from the platine through the bridges to the time-telling subdial and finally the twin-flags logo, printed on the lower surface of the sapphire crystal, while the 41mm Light-catcher™case has been given a subtle sporty makeover.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO Of course, CW couldn’t do this alone, and the C1 Bel Canto is also a tribute to many brilliant suppliers and partners, all noted specialists in their fields. Perhaps the most famous is Armin Strom, maker of high-end open worked watches, which contributed the platine, but Chronode (the bridges, hammer and gong) and Viquo Deco (the special wheels required) were also crucial.

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It goes without saying that the C1Bel Canto is far more affordable than any comparable watch. Chopard’s LUC Strike One costs £54,000 for a similar mechanism and finish, while others are twice that or more. And Bel Canto? On a leather strap it’s £2,995 | $3,595 | €3,895 and on the titanium bracelet, £3,305 | $3,975 | €4,295.

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Quite simply, no brand anywhere has made the art of sound so accessible, or opened up the possibility of owning such high horological art to so many. Hearing really is believing.

#ChristopherWard #C1BelCanto  

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Model: C1 Bel Canto Automatic Edition

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Case
    Material: Grade 5 Titanium
    Size: 41mm
    Dial Colour: Rhodium
    Platine Colour: Azzuro blue
    Height: 13.0mm
    Lug-to-Lug: 48.0mm
    Case Weight: 53g
    Water Resistance: 3 ATM (30m)
Movement
    Calibre FS01
    Power Reserve: 38 hours
    No of Jewels: 29
    Complication Type: Passing chime
    Vibrations: 28,800 p/hr (4Hz)
    Timing Tolerance: +/-20 sec p/day
    Lume: SLNC1X1BL
Strap
    Size: 22mm
    Material: Italian leather and Titanium bracelet
    Leather Strap Colour: blue or camel

Features

•     Swiss made
•     Limited Edition of 300 pieces
•     Self-winding 29 jewel movement with FS01 module that chimes on the hour
•     Floating time display with fully visible mechanism
•     Hand finished bridges, gong and hammer
•     On/Off pusher at 4 o’clock with red on/off indicator
•     38-hour power reserve
•     Brushed and polished case in titanium grade 5
•     Deep stamped caseback with soundwave motif
•     Push-down crown with twin flag motif
•     Anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal
•     Raised and polished indexes
•     Eco-friendly luxury presentation case and owner’s handbook 

Limited to 300 pieces

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Press releases - 2022
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www.ChristopherWard.com