(Library pics from flickr and added by Classics Curator)

GREAT Single Red Seadweller, Ultra rare, stunning provenance and therefor high, very high in price!

At first, MANY thanks for posting!!!!!

BE prepared that you email will explode with questions if
you're going to sell it! As Forum was down for a while, I
did myself also, just in case

The famous Canadian diver Robert Palmer had one...



There's one published in Auro's / John Goldberger Rolex book with 1.820.177 serial

What is your serial number?


RG.Philipp

Tektite I

On February 15, 1969, four U. S. Department of Interior scientists (Ed Clifton, Conrad Mahnken, Richard Waller and John VanDerwalker) descended to the ocean floor in Great Lameshur Bay in the U. S. Virgin Islands to begin an ambitious diving project dubbed "Tektite I".[1] By March 18, 1969, the four aquanauts had established a new world's record for saturated diving by a single team. On April 15, 1969, the aquanaut team returned to the surface with over 58 days of marine scientific studies. More than 19 hours of decompression time were needed to accommodate the scientists' return to the surface.[3] The United States Office of Naval Research coordinated Tektite I.

Much of the research for Tektite I centered around humans in this new environment. Topics investigated would include: biology (blood changes, sleep patterns, oxygen toxicity),[4][5][6] decompression and decompression sickness,[3] microbiology[7][8] and mycology.[9]


--->http://www.stjohnhistoricalsociety.org/Articles/Tektites40thAnniversaryFete.htm

-->http://www.sciencemag.org/content/168/3932/659.long

and a fantastic retirement plan, keep it and your old days will be smoother )

You just made my (sun)day

Best, D

......great watch.......fantastic.....big thanks for sharing

cheers
Marcus

We all want it!!!



---Perpetual Knowledge---

Please have it slightly Serviced, I am sure Geneva will Be very helpful.I think Rolex Even did the Casebackengraving then!
Then please lock it away and keep As a Family treasure!
Best
stephen

http://www.doubleredseadweller.com/drsd_mark_00.htm

hey woodie

you aint got one of these what you waiting for mate

Hello,
Let me start by saying I am a passionate Rolex collector for over 30 years.
The single Red Sea-Dweller you have is extremely rare. There maybe only 5 known watches like yours that are known in the Rolex watch collectors world. The dial is the key. The value of this watch may be somewhere around $250,000.00 US. Today we are in a economic recesion and a lot of the people that were going crazy and dropping the big bucks back in 2007 to 2008 are not spending like they were at this time. It's just a matter of time until the collectors return and start paying the big bucks again. The fact that it was your fathers is the cherry on top of the cake.The provenance is awesome.
I love and appreciate the rareity of your Rolex and in time I feel certain the monetary value will go back up into the stratosphere of upwards of $250,000 to $300,000.
That Rolex is not only a rare Rolex but a piece of Rolex history that helps with the timeline of the Evolution Of the Rolex Dive watch ---Sea-Dwellers.
Awesome Rolex. Wear it and enjoy it.
Matthew Green

.

What a watch you've got Brett!!!

This is a master piece of Rolex history and a dream for all collectors here!

A simple service (gaskets, oils and cleaning) but no more. It doesn't need more as it is in good shape.

As some said before your watch has a very high value, but following the story it would be sad to sell it...

Congratulations and welcome on board


Mehdi

otherwise fantastic watch!!!!!!!!!!



many congrats
dieter

It's magnificent. Don't do a thing to it other than giving the mechanism a cleaning from a "best" vintage Rolex artisan... Bob Ridley or my favorite, Rolex Service, San Francisco.

Wear it in good health.

Ron

...wonderland still exist, thanks.

Keep it safe, its a monument

Stainless steel regards

Its great to see such a rare and historic piece surface. Its even more special when such a piece belongs to a family member. Thank you for sharing it with us! Keep it and enjoy it.
Godspeed
Andres

The hour and minute hands should be replaced or repaired, tritium loss might affect the dial, and that would be something bad for the piece's integrity and value!

Of course this watch should not go to any regular watchmaker but a qualified man like Bob Ridley. I wouldn't know who is the right guy in the Florida area.

Awesome watch you have, I'm so glad this surfaced on VRF.

i think the right watchmaker in florida area for that watch is Miami beach watch repair(SonnyDewan)

I would start there. Such a piece calls for highest possible "official" level.

I love it. You have a real treasure. Very rare

great historical watch, and your father seems like a helluva a guy.

here is another one sold on ebay several years ago, and purchased by BJS.

btw, I will lock it up somewhere very safe now that you made it public, and your watch is quite a fortune.

http://bjsonline.com/watches/articles/0012_1.shtml

Sold this guy 2 years ago. Still miss it today....

....wow, this is one extremely rare piece but even better: it has such a fantastic provenance,,,,!

Thank you very much for sharing !

Best,
mark

Mr. Waller,

I had the pleasure of attending the 40th anniversary of Tektite I in Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI with many of your father's former peers and colleagues, and of making a dive to the former site of Tektite I with many of these folks on my visit. I wore my modern Sea-Dweller on this dive.

One of the gentlemen in attendance was given an early Sea-Dweller much like your father's watch, and we had a long conversation about it. He asked me what it might be worth, and I gave him the same figure you have been given here, only slightly higher because this gentleman set a record for staying at depth in Sealab II in 1965 and he is well known for this and other accomplishments. Despite the high value, I advised this gentleman, who is quite elderly now, to give the watch to one of his sons. Like your father, he's an old Navy man who is not big on telling stories, so I am sure his sons will appreciate the story his was watch will tell after he is gone.

Incidentally, I have a Sea-Dweller Mk. II that was owned by a retired Navy SEAL. Like your father, he served in the UDT during Korea and later in SEAL Team 2, from which he retired as a Captain. We had the same conversation that I had with the gentlemen in St. John, and I gave him the same advice. Unfortunately, his sons did not want his watch when he offered it to them, so he gave it to me. I promised him I would someday give it to my son. In my opinion, watches like your father's Sea-Dweller have value that cannot be measured in dollars or euros. When you look at this watch, you may have a chance to relive that lunch or some other memories of your father that will not be triggered after the money is spent. Just my two cents...

Happy holidays,

David

Hi David. Did they let the older gentleman make the dive? If so, did they make him take a physical? Many of my fathers dive partners were refused dives even though they past all medical tests. It was unfortunate they got these refusals. The fellows we in their 80s at the time.

This particular gentleman was only a few days away from his 84th birthday. He did not dive in Lameshur Bay, but he came out on the dive boat. Another gentleman who was in the same line of work later in the 1960s and was 79 at the time did make the dive. This scenario repeated itself on a trip we made to the Bahamas in 2010. There was a doctor on board the dive boat on both occasions.

Although he owns a few Rolex dive watches, the first gentlemen is more closely associated with Breitling. He normally wears a Breitling when I see him. The second gentleman is normally associated with Omega.

for the info. My father loved the sport as well and did many open water and cave dives. Although they did not get as much press, their paleontology work in Florida can be found in museums and such. They used their Rolex divers many times a week and these types of stories are an enjoyable read. Thanks again.

Congratulations on being the custodian of your father's incredible Rolex Sea-Dweller!

Even in its "used" state, it is a fantastic looking watch, and I would be inclined to leave it exactly as is. Historic watches deserve to be kept original!

Thank you for sharing your father's watch, and its history, with us here on VRF!

Mike Wood