I Finally took the plunge! Two additions to my stable of Divers´ watches.

[Subexplorer]

Hello! I wish to share with my Forum fellow members, my new adquisitions.
Last Sunday I posted here my experience seeing and trying for first time a DSSD, at a local AD that same afternoon.
Here are some of my writings and inicial thoughts about this awesome watch from that post:
” … I took advantage of this sunny Sunday here in Baires, to pay a little visit to a local AD at a mall, which I know is open on Sundays too.
My main objective was to see if any Submariner no date (14060m) was available, specially a non COSC (inscription free dial!) version.
I asked about the Sub no date, and the lady told me no one was in stock, and fairly difficult to get them, as Rolex was not importing them, and she guessed that it was no longer in production (which of course I know, it´s not the case)

This is what I was after… but…



Anyway, the lady was very nice, and invited me to take a seat, and showed me a Sub date, and then she told me that as it was evident I was a Rolex enthusiast, judging for my Daytona on my wrist, and that she was going to show me the latest Divers watch from Rolex.
She also asked me if I knew the new SDDS model.
I answered that only by pictures and magazine and Internet reports, but never "in person".

Well, there it was: a shining brand new SDDS, in my hands, which the lady graciously invited me to try in my wrist, in place of my Cosmograph.
This I did very pleased.
After some trying, close observation and chatting with this nice lady, I left the store with the promise of thinking a little more about its purchase, and also telling her that the new Rolex watch was very nice indeed.

Now, I must confess that this watch produced some mixed emotions on me:
(of course, what follows is a very personal point of view)





First feeling: this is not a watch I personally would like to use daily. I find it very heavy, and big.
I mean, the problem is not its diameter, but its height. I feel I would keep banging it everywhere. My God! it really stands out of my wrist!





I also guess I wouldn´t use it for scuba diving either, being the standard Sub
(date or no date) a more reasonable size in my opinion.
Depth rating of regular Submariners, being more than adecuate for a sport diver, and also for a saturation diver pro.
Before any of the nice forum members who also happen to be owners of a SDDS start throwing me some heavy objects, I wish to tell the other second feeling:
I liked this watch very much!.
It´s a superb piece of machinery, shows the great workmanship, finish and detail that we can expect from a Rolex product.
I was greatly impressed with it, and got very enthusiastic with the perspective of buying it in a near future.
I love well made machinery, and this watch is beautifully made indeed…
…Let me add that just the Glidelock clasp alone is a marvelous piece of engineering, and a wonderful example of the making of a rather complex and utilitarian piece, which is only a part of a wristwatch. This alone would make me enthusiastic about the purchase of this watch.
I would buy it just for the pleasure of owning it, fondling it, taking looks of its high quality in all angles. Isn´t that the name of the game anyway?
May be it won´t be my daily use watch, and it´s also possible that I´d be actually using it in very few occasions, just for the pleasure of it, having other more "logical" watches in my collection.
It surely kept "clicking" in my mind all the afternoon, after my visit to this AD, and I think that this will be my future purchase during the second half of this year, and inspired me to write these lines to share my thought with all my nice fellow members at TRF… “

End of my previous post.

Fact is that the mental picture of that SDDS kept ticking in my head all Sunday afternoon, and then during all Monday, trying to decide what to do, and balancing the pros and cons of this watch from my point of view. And also making some calculations about the contents of my pockets to afford its purchase!!

Tuesday morning, I was decided. I phoned my friendly AD, whose owner is a an old friend from whom I bought several watches, and asked him about the availability of both the SDDS, and the 14060m.
The store owner told me he had no one at his store, but was checking with Rolex Argentina, about the stock of those models.
Some 30 minutes later, he phoned back with the answer:
Sub no date was no problem, plenty of stock of the new model with COSC.
SDDS, only one example remaining in Rolex premises. No more expected to be impoorted in the following months, and a price increase very posible in next batch. Rolex also informed that very few examples remained in other local AD stores in my Country, if any.

This panorama speeded my decisión, and I requested to order the two watches inmediately, alter getting an special deal from my firendly AD.
I should mention that this AD store is located some 60 miles from Buenos Aires, so it took a little time for them to get the watches from Rolex, and then to ship them to my office in Buenos Aires on Thursday night…





I´m now wearing my new Sub no date as I write these lines, and I´ll be enjoying and discovering the new SDDS during this week end.
It´s really big! It surely wharfs my Sub, and I presently don´t know wether it will ever be a daily user.
But it surely is a very special piece of high quality and precision machinery, very worth to keep in ones watch collection, showing the craftmanship and finís one expects of a product bearing the Rolex brand.
Regarding size there is no problem with its diameter as it looks similar to my Panerai 111 on my wrist, but it is its height what I find rather akward.



What a great face!!





Lume shot



A Family shot: Deep Sea, old 1680 Sub Date (1977) and new Sub no date COSC (14060m)



Face to Face!! Deep Sea & Sub Date (1680)



Helium valve of a hefty watch





Hope I can post a better review in some time. Thanks for reading my long speech!
Kind regards, Abel