The Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner holds a special place in the history of diver’s watches – and for good reason. An indisputable reference for professional and leisure divers, at the time of its creation in 1953, this icon was the first diver's wristwatch with a water-resistance rating of 100 metres. The advent of this watch is inseparable from the history that links Rolex to the world of exploration, more particularly to the underwater world. As early as 1926, the brand with the coronet logo became famous with the Oyster Perpetual, whose patented system of screwed-in bezel, caseback and crown ensured waterproofness at all times. That year, the Oyster Perpetual successfully crossed the English Channel in ten hours on the wrist of swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, without any malfunction. In August 1953 Rolex took up a major challenge by sending an experimental watch, the Deep Sea Special, to a depth of 1,080 metres aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste. A record dive that confirmed Rolex's supremacy in water-resistance. When the first Oyster Perpetual Submariner left the workshops of the Manufacture in 1953, it was an immediate success. Heir to previous experiments conducted by Rolex, it appealed to professional diving pioneers, as evidenced by the testimony of Dimitri Rebikoff, a French engineer who specialised in underwater research. In a 1953 document, the latter praised the Submariner's performance: "We can confirm that this watch has not only given us complete satisfaction in particularly difficult and often fatal diving conditions for the equipment used, but that it has also become an essential accessory for any dive with independent equipment.” In addition to its undeniable technical performance, the Submariner combines all the classic aesthetic codes of the diver's watch: a wide bidirectional rotating bezel with Arabic numerals, markers and a triangular mark; a black dial with "candle" type hands for hours and minutes and a "lollipop" type hand for seconds. This emblematic aesthetic soon acquired star status on Sean Connery's wrist in the 1962 film Dr. No. While the very first version of the Submariner is still a reference, this watch, designed as an underwater survival instrument, has undergone many technical and aesthetic changes. Its water-resistance has been increased to 300 metres. The Oyster case has been subtly redesigned. The Triplock crown, equipped with a triple waterproofing system, is firmly screwed onto the case. To ensure perfect readability in the dark, the large hour-markers and hands are enhanced with Chromalight luminescence. For increased strength, the ratcheted unidirectional rotating bezel is equipped with a Cerachrom insert. Superlative Chronometer self-winding Calibres 3130 and 3135, with a Chronergy escapement that is unaffected by magnetic fields, power the Submariner and Submariner Date models respectively. This guarantee of precision is teamed with the reliability of the Oyster bracelet equipped with an Oysterlock safety clasp to prevent accidental opening. Not to mention the Glidelock system that enables tool-free adjustment of the wristband over a wetsuit. A new Submariner collection debuted in 2020, with models in Oystersteel with a black dial and black Cerachrom bezel, and Submariner Date models in Oystersteel, Rolesor (steel and yellow gold) and white gold with a Cerachrom bezel in blue or green. On both models, the case has been slightly enlarged to 41mm and the bracelet redimensioned.

• Diver’s wristwatch, water-resistant to 100 meters, bidirectional rotating bezel