We’re back with another installment of Vintage Vault, where we take a closer look at the rare Comex Submariner 16610. Shop the 16610 collection: [ Ссылка ]

What is a Comex Rolex? To learn more about one Rolex’s rarest collections of watches, check out our ultimate review and comprehensive guide here: [ Ссылка ]

Comex is a French commercial diving company founded in 1961 to explore the ocean and its mysterious depths. As one of the most innovative and recognized dive watch companies in the world, Rolex seemed like a natural partner for the diving company, and, in 1970, the partnership was formed.

Their goals were the same: to explore the ocean further and increase their ability to stay below the surface for longer periods. That’s where Rolex, with its ever-increasing arsenal of professional series dive watches came in.

Rolex agreed to supply Comex with dive watches in exchange for real-time data and other information surrounding the performance of their watches and their components. For example, many of their innovations were tested on Comex first, including the Helium Escape Valve. The Rolex/Comex partnership is solely responsible for many advancements made to Rolex’s dive watch series.

That collaboration lasted until 1997 and eventually included nine different variations of Rolex’s most successful dive watches. Those include:

Submariner ref. 5513
Submariner ref. 5514 – Exclusive to Comex
Sea-Dweller ref. 1665
Submariner ref. 1680
Sea-Dweller ref. 16600
Submariner ref. 16610
Sea-Dweller ref. 16660
Submariner ref. 16800
Submariner ref. 168000

Each of these references is distinguished by the Comex logo on the dial and special Comex engravings on the case back added by the company for identification purposes. Some were given to Comex in the same configuration as the standard production models, while others were outfitted with additional features.

One such example includes the Comex Submariner 5513, which was supplied to the company in both its standard form as well as with a Helium Escape Valve. If you aren’t already familiar with the Submariner series, it does not include this feature in normal production examples. Additionally, some Comex Submariner 5513 watches include the Comex logo on the dial, and others do not.

Ultimately, any Rolex/Comex watch with both logos on the dial is the most prized and valuable as it is incredibly rare to see any Rolex with dual logos on the dial. Comex Rolex watches are also rare because they were never part of Rolex’s normal production.

In fact, they were only produced for Comex, and it is believed that only a few hundred examples of each reference exist. Of those watches, many were destroyed or lost, leaving very few quantities left in existence and making them the holy grail of rare Rolex watches.

The Rolex Submariner is one of the most iconic dive watches in the world. Is it your ultimate grail watch too? Shop our inventory of certified pre-owned Submariner Rolex watches here to add one to your collection now: [ Ссылка ]

Comex Rolex 16610
That brings us to the topic of our video, the Comex Rolex Submariner ref. 16610. Reference 16610 was released to the market in the late 1980s and is considered by many collectors as both the gateway to the modern Submariner as we know it today and one of the brand’s most iconic iterations of the Submariner.

Examples produced for Comex date to as early as 1986, a few years before Rolex officially released the beloved reference 16610 to market. Rolex continued to produce Comex 16610s until 1997. Additionally, it was the very last Rolex to feature the Comex logo on the dial and was identical to the standard-production 16610s.

It features such modern amenities as a uni-directional bezel (instead of the bi-directional bezel), glitzier white gold-trimmed hour markers and Mercedes hands, sapphire crystal, water resistance up to 1,000 feet, and the beloved high-beat cal. 3135 Perpetual movement.

By the time the Submariner 16610 hit the market, Comex no longer solely relied on Rolex dive watches to keep time as they worked beneath the ocean. Instead, Comex Rolex watches were primarily issued to high-ranking employees and are generally found to be in better condition than older-reference Rolex Comex watches.

Rolex Comex Submariner Price
Compared to other references produced for Comex, the Submariner 16610 is among the most affordable. Although, it is still far beyond the reach of many budgets and is still considered to be just as rare as other Comex Submariner models. Currently, there is a very nice example listed for sale on our site for just over $100k.

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