Today, Steef notified the Dutch RolexForum members about a website that covers diving watches and diving stories. The owner of the website, Michael O’Leary, military and commercial (COMEX) diver, is also a watch aficionado. Most interesting is his story about the Rolex COMEX ref.16600 Sea Dweller and the fact that he dives with his Double Red Sea Dweller (ref.1665) from 1972. It all started with his Rolex Submariner ref.5513 that he got for his 21st birthday in 1978, and from there on, he built this impressive collection of (vintage and COMEX) Rolex watches.

Be sure to visit Michael’s website at: https://diving-watch.net/.

I remember a conversation I had with fellow watch nut Zeger while we were on our way to a watch fair in D?ɬºsseldorf/Germany.

We were discussing the fact if it was ‘ justified’ for a [regular] person to have a COMEX watches, while these watches clearly need to be deserved (read Michael’s story about his). Would I feel comfortable wearing a COMEX Sea Dweller while bumping into a group of COMEX divers wearing theirs? I wouldn’t want to explain why I am wearing a watch of one of ‘them’, while the only water my watch have seen is that of a swimming pool and the shower.

On the other hand, the COMEX Rolex must have gotten into the circuit of watch traders at one point. Who’s to blame? In the meanwhile, I am the happy owner of a regular [neo vintage] Rolex Sea Dweller with a tritium dial and pin holes in its lugs.

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