COMEX, Rolex, Omega: Race for the Ultimate Dive Watch
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- Опубліковано 26 лип 2020
- COMEX (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertises) pioneered deep-sea diving with missions from the 1960s to the 1990s from their base in Marseille. Alongside their intrepid divers came the most extreme, cutting-edge dive watches including the Rolex Submariner, Rolex Sea-Dweller and Omega Seamaster Ploprof. In today's video, let's follow this complete and remarkable story of the conquest of the seas.
#rolexseadweller #omegaseamaster #ploprof #watchchronicler
Read full articles and listen to podcasts at www.watchchronicler.com
Links:
Perezcope articles on the Rolex Sea-Dweller (the best researched I have read):
perezcope.com/2020/05/27/the-...
perezcope.com/2020/06/28/the-...
A phenomenal authority on the Omega Seamaster PloProf:
www.omegaploprof.com/
www.omegaseamaster1000.com/
Information (& a 3-D tour) about the SAGA Submarine:
lescompagnonsdusaga.org/2020/...
For any questions or business enquiries, please email me at: enquiries@watchchronicler.com
Music:
Blue Danube (by Strauss) by Strauss
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by FreeMusic109 / freemusic109 - Навчання та стиль
Thank you for keeping this video devoid of distracting background music. Excellent research and presentation as always!
Love that picture of Cousteau and his crew at 3:25, with a bottle of Ricard and two bottles of wine, plus half of them holding a cigarette. Talking about physical conditioning for deep sea diving...
+Johnny Guitar: I know, it's a absolutely priceless. That being said, if you can handle your drink and a smoke at that depth, it can't be going too badly. Another great one is of Cousteau working during Conshelf II whilst lighting his pipe.
A fascinating and well researched account! Thank you for taking the time to elucidate this subject - it must certainly help to be fluent in French when researching COMEX. I know you were dealing with Rolex/Omega, but I've always been intrigued to know the chronology of PloProf vs Seiko's monobloc Pro Diver '68. It seems the two companies arrived at a similar solution (ie doing away with the caseback) at a very similar time (as with Doxa/Rolex and the He escape valve). Not believing in coincidence, I wonder who was first? I think they both had problems with the design, but only Seiko really persevered with it, developing the Tuna and later the monobloc Marinemaster line. As you say, Omega abandoned it for the re-released PloPfrof and Rolex always stuck (successfully) to variations of a screw down case.
Wow, those pictures take me back to my childhood, when I firmly believed I'd be living under the sea like JC (though maybe minus the Gauloises!). As the Americans abandoned the idea of space stations with the loss of Skylab (that the sub-sea bases were analogues for) and the problems of extended sub-sea living became known, the future of undersea living was largely abandoned. It seems the French kept faith longest, with the COMEX experiments into the '90s, until increasingly sophisticated ROVs and Health and Safety legislation made saturation diving too costly. Today, I believe there is still an annual French competition for undersea architecture and there is a degree of renewed interest in the idea.
Fascinating, informative and supported by superb pictures. Now my favourite watch channel.
Fantastic history lesson that clarifies some misconceptions and debunks some myths, embelished with some heart stopping photograps !
INVALUABLE !!!
Awesome video, thank you. Got a felling I'll be watching it again and again.
Thank you for posting another excellent detailed video sir! Cheers
Brillant video. Thank you.
Great video.
I worked with Comex Diving many years ago and would have loved to own a Comex Rolex but they are very expensive. The Comex divers I worked with said they were presented with a Rolex by Henri Delauze, one of the divers was involved with the technical deep dive of Marseille
Wow great video. It's fun to see just what these watches were made for. I have four divers the last added last week the Pelegos rated to 500 meters with me who takes my divers to the pool wondering if 500 meters wss good.
Informative video. But where does that leave us with Doxa? Rolex and Doxa worked on the helium escape valve together. Doxa was the first to offer it on a watch available to the
general public. (Rolex holds the patent)
+ Calsurf Lance: That's a difficult one. Whilst it is widely reported that Doxa co-developed the helium escape valve, there isn't (to my knowledge or that of any of the seriously respected authorities) any documentation suggesting that this actually happened. Also, given that, whilst the Doxa Sub 300T is fairly common, the Sub 300T Conquistador with the valve is unbelievably rare and only produced up until around the point Rolex's patent came into force, I wonder if they stopped production specifically because they didn't have a legal leg to stand on. This is, of course, unproven but it seems the most likely explanation.
@@ArmandTheWatchGuy
There is an excellent book day Dr. Peter Millar documenting The Doxa dive watches from the beginning to the present. Doxa uses a leaf spring on the helium escape valve as opposed to the coil spring on the Rolex, so perhaps the patents are different. I know a gentleman who was a scientist aboard Cousteau’s ship, the Calypso is the late 60’s. Perhaps I could reach out to him and see if he has any input on the subject. I also know Jean-Michel Cousteau and he wears a Doxa to this day. I could also ask him at some point.
I was recently at my local Rolex AD, and saw for sale a prototype Submariner with the helium escape valve. It was not marked with the Comex brand, and was in unworn condition. $130,000! Now that is a grail watch!!
@@calsurflance5598 Wow, what a wonderful resource to have access to an individual so closely linked to Cousteau's exploration! If you have access to any information which I have overlooked, by all means prove me wrong! Regarding your point about the spring type, the Doxa construction might actually be more similar to 'single-red' Rolex Sea-Dwellers. These used a flat, razor-blade shape spring for the valve which, originally produced from iron, was very prone to corrosion.
@@ArmandTheWatchGuy
Interesting about the iron spring. Hope they switched to stainless as I have a sub6000t.
I will reach out to these gentlemen and see what they remember. I do remember looking at Jean-Michel’s Doxa (I think it was a Sub600t) and he was checking out my watch. His was about 15 years old at the time and showed much use. I’ll see what info I can come up with. Do you have a good E-Mail.
Love your videos!
1st - another interesting video
Planet Ocean or Sea Dweller? Which is the better made watch?
Rolex Sea Dweller... there's no Omega with COMEX dial. Another choice should be a Doxa Sub 300T with He Escape valve!
Currently? The Planet Ocean. Better movement, a-magnetic, dual barrel. Both good watches. Rolex gave Comex free watches, that is why Comex used them. Not because it was better.
Where do we stand on the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms?
Right!
You mean the Cadillac of divers. I image he will say they are great. Watching the video I think their 300 meters is more than enough for mere mortals like us. The kitchen sink and the kiddy pool are covered.😊
Nowhere on its case.
And Jaques Cousteau went with Doxa because why?
...because he likes orange color?
His son Jean-Michel still wears a Doxa.
Ripping darts on a submarine lol