Possibly the rarest Rolex sports watch in recent history. The ROLEX DEEPSEA CHALLENGE EXPEDITION 2012 WATCH was made to commemorate the historical film by legendary film producer, explorer and environmentalist James Francis Cameron. Warranty card is signed and dated by ROLEX AUSTRALIA 2012.

Rolex made a very limited number of these pieces for select members of the cast and crew of the Deepsea Challenge Expedition 2012. To find one in UNWORN “New Old Stock” Condition still with factory stickers attached is almost impossible! 

On 26 March 2012, film maker and explorer James Cameron made a record-breaking solo dive 10,908 meters (35,787 feet) below the surface of the Pacific Ocean in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible vessel to reach the world’s deepest frontier. The inspirational DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition paved the way for a new era in scientific exploration of the ocean floor, the least known area of the planet.

No human being had returned to such depths since 23 January 1960, the date the first manned dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench by the bathyscaphe Trieste. On both of these historic dives, Rolex was present.

A HISTORIC DIVE 

Challenger Deep was named after the 1858 British Royal Navy ship, HMS Challenger, the first vessel to sound the depths of the trench. Many years later, in January 1960, Swiss oceanographer  Jacques Piccard and the U.S. Navy Lieutenant Don Walsh manned the 150-tonne bathyscaphe Trieste for the first journey down to Challenger Deep. James Camerons DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition marked the first time in 52 years – and only the second time in history – that another human made the trip to the world’s deepest known point.

HIGH TECHNOLOGY TO SERVE SCIENCE 

The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible (designed and built in Australia by Sydney based company Acheron Project Pty), is 7.3 meters (24 feet) tall and shaped like a vertical torpedo, but during the near seven-hour dive, Cameron could barely move from a near-foetal positioning the 109-centimetre wide (43 inches),pressure-resistant metal sphere that formed his life-sustaining cockpit. To cope with the extreme conditions in the deepest parts of the ocean, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER incorporated innovative, cutting-edge features and materials that have helped advance the field of submersible design, including Isofloat synyactis foam for the buoyant hull, pressure-resistant battery packs and the dedicated compact video system capable of capturing High-Definition 3D footage of the world’s deepest sea floor.

Unlike the Triest, which spent only 20 minutes on the ocean floor and had no research or camera equipment, the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER was designed as a science platform and was able to remain at the bottom of the Mariana Trench for three hours, an ability that remains unprecedented.

INTO THE ABYSS 

In the deepest reaches of the ocean, at the depths at which no light penetrates, the waters still hold many secrets. As the last trickle of light from the surface disappears into the abyss and the deep blue fades to pitch black, the ocean becomes a realm less known to man than the surface of the moon.

The DEEPSEA CHALLENGE shed new light on the deep, providing high resolution 3D images and collection valuable samples for the scientific community that have led to the identification of at least 68 new species.

The expedition included a team of scientists aboard the support vessel who helped to collect and analyse the samples and imagery that Cameron collected on his dives. In August 2014, James Cameron released a feature documentary, DEEPSEA CHALLENGE 3D, tracing the expedition from its beginnings until the last of its 13 dives in the pacific. The film serves as a reminder to us of how much of this planet remains to be discovered.