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DrStrong
[Rolex Moderator]
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Rolex Comex Submariner 5514 - An Underwater Treasure

Like people, some watches are very special: they are not only rare models, but have a history that make them unique, an aura that definitely makes the difference for a collector who likes the concept of “toolwatch”.

In late 2010, I was lucky enough to buy a Submariner 5514 from the original owner. Being able to meet the first owner of such a watch, to discuss with him during several hours and getting full documentation is really a rare experience for someone who is interested in the history of Rolex and in the extreme use of their vintahe sports models.

In the 1970's, the man has worked as a crane operator and diver for the French companies Foramer, GTM Entrepose and E.T.P.M. (Entreprise de Travaux Publics Multiples), that used to install pipelines all over the world for the oil companies

(Photo: ETPM)

(Photos: private collection)

He was mostly assigned to the 1601 barge, whose lifting performance was 1600 tons.

(Photos: private collection)

He has worked on projects in Qatar, Gabon, Congo, Iran, Abu Dhadi, Argentina, Mexico, etc...

(Photos: private collection)

From the late 1970's to the mid 1980's, he worked as a free-lance diver for Comex. He was given his Submariner ref. 5514 in 1977 and has used it for all his saturation dives up to -300m in the cold water of the North Sea. This is quite remarkable for a watch whose water tightness is only supposed to be 200m ! But that’s not the first time I hear such a story, which explains why Comex only needed so few Sea Dwellers (600m waterproof) until the end of the 1970’s.

(Photo: private collection)

He used to perform 12 hours long dives in order to check underwater pipelines and then had to stay for three weeks in the decompression chamber with his collegues.

He has worn the watch continuously for more than thirty years, until 2009 when it stopped working.

He then had it serviced by J. Bianchi in Marseille, the watchmaker that used to service all the Rolex and Omega watches for Comex.  When he was told the value of the watch, he decided to sell it.

The reference 5514 was manufactured especially for COMEX and its divers and never sold by retailers. It was delivered after the successful testing of the 5513 with Helium Escape Valve and COMEX made a special order of these watches.

There are three different batches of 5514’s that were delivered to Comex through the 1970’s, each batch being composed of watches with serial numbers very close to each others and sharing the same characteristics in terms of caseback engravings.

You can see that my watch has been used and abused and still has the scars from it’s adventurous life: a little bit of tritium is missing on each index of the dial, probably the effect of sun, temperature changes or moisture. The bezel has completely faded from black to grey for similar reasons.... and also because of salted water !

I like the caseback engraving, the details of the dial...

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