As per tradition, Rolex generated much of the watch-media buzz at Baselworld 2018, primarily for the release of its new GMT-Master II in a steel case. But that was not the only big news coming out of Rolex this year; fans of the brand’s extreme-depth divers’ watch, the Oyster Perpetual Deepsea Sea-Dweller, were treated to a revamped model with new lugs and bracelet and a new “Superlative Chronometer” movement.
The Rolex Deepsea has been revisited with a new case design, bracelet and movement.
The most recent version of the Rolex Deepsea debuted in 2014. Water-resistant to an astounding 3,900 meters and sporting Rolex’s first “D-Blue” gradient dial, it was a smaller, consumer-friendly version of the specially built Deepsea model that famously became the first watch to descend to a depth of more than 10,000 meters in the Mariana Trench, on an 2012 expedition sponsored by Rolex and the National Geographic Society and manned by filmmaker James Cameron. For the 2018 version, Rolex redesigned the lugs of the 44-mm Oystersteel case for greater comfort and better integration with the new, wider bracelet, while retaining many of the predecessor model’s attributes. Among these are the patented Ringlock case construction that enables the timepiece’s exceptional water resistance, which combines a 5.5-mm-thick sapphire crystal, a nitrogen-alloyed stainless steel ring positioned in the case middle, and a steel and grade-5 titanium cas...