With vintage Rolex, anything red is literally red hot. Few things get collectors as excited as a Red Sub, a Big Red Daytona, and, of course, the legendary Double Red Sea-Dweller.

By the 1960s, Rolex had earned its spurs as one of the premier makers of tough and trustworthy toolwatches. With the advent of deep-sea diving for commercial and research purposes, Rolex partnered with the French diving company COMEX to produce a waterproof watch to withstand the extreme pressures at such depths. The resulting watch, the ref. 1665 Sea-Dweller, was introduced in 1967. Unlike its older sibling, the Submariner, the Sea-Dweller could be taken much further underwater due to a thicker case and crystal as well as a critical invention: the helium escape valve.

The ref. 1665 was in production in various iterations until the early 1980s. Those made in the first ten years of the Sea-Dweller’s production run are the most coveted among the collectors. These watches feature dials with two lines of text (“Sea-Dweller” and “Submariner 2000”) printed in red, earning them the nickname ‘Double Red Sea-Dweller’.

This ref. 1655 from 1973 features a so-called third-series (Mark III) execution double-red dial. The matte black dial is in stellar condition with creamy tritium indices. The original black bezel, meanwhile, has faded to a wonderful blue color.

The case is in remarkable condition as well—with thick lugs, sharp chamfers, and a deeply engraved caseback—and comes with an excellent double-folded Oyster bracelet.