The Deep Sea Special is touted as the MOST important dive watch ever designed by most authorities in the dive watch industry. There really isn’t any doubt to this claim due to the many innovations stemming from the successful testing of this watch that have trickled down to other dive watches.
Jacques Piccard with the Triestre in the background
There were two separate dives made with this watch, one in 1953 and another in 1960 by Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh with the watch strapped to the outside of the Trieste Bathyscaphe submarine. The first dive in 1953 was done to 3150m off the coast of Ponza Island near the city of Trieste, Italy and the second in 1960 to 10,908m was done to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. To commemorate these two dives, a display version was also made and used as a marketing display model in travelling exhibitions. Hence there were actually 3 different versions of this watch with different characteristics.
Only document showing the drawing of the DSS which is what was used for the Antiqua homage
The main differences between each version is in the height of the glass and the crown tube design. The Deep Sea Special used in 1953 (DSS1953) and Deep Sea Special used in 1960 (DSS1960) shared a very similar case design with gold accents, although the crown tube and glass heights were different due to the difference in the depth that was to be achieved.
The Deep Sea Special that went on exhibition/ display (DSSD), had a totally different case design that had no gold accents, a different crown design, a different dial with underlined alphabet and a glass height that was in-between the DSS1953 and DSS1960. The crown tube on the DSS1953 and DSS1960 were similar in that an o-ring was visible between the case and tube, although the tube was smaller on the DSS1953. The DSSD had a different crown structure that utilised a double/ canteen crown structure where a larger crown which waterproofed the structure screwed over the smaller crown which was used to set the time.
Image montage showing the variation in glass height
The exact production numbers for each variation is unclear as these were not commercially available. However through exhaustive examination, the following is a very good estimate. We think that there were 2 pieces of DSS1953s that were ever made. They were engraved with No 1 and No 2. The DSS1953 No 1 which had a black dial was sold by Christie’s in 2005 for CHF 322,400.00.
Image showing the white dialed DSS 1960 No.3 which was the actual watch to be used for the dive.
The exact number of DSS1960s is also debatable, but a guess would be 6 pieces as the first DSSD was engraved with the No 9 and since the first two in the series were DSS1953s, it can be deduced that only 6 pieces were DSS1960s. DSS1960 No 3 which was the actual watch that was used for the dive was special in that it had a white dial. It is on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. A black dialed DSS1960 No 5 was sold by Christie’s in 2000 for $ 113,853.00.
Image of the DSS1960 No.5 that was auctioned.
The DSSDs started with No 9 and the latest production number seen at auction was No 35. However it is unclear whether more were ever made. DSSD No 31 was sold by Christie’s in 2005 for CHF 322,400.00, Antiquorum sold No 32 in 2003 for 124,500 CHF and DSSD No 35 was put to auction but didn’t sell.
Image showing a DSS that was used for display.
Image showing the No. 35 DSSD that went on auction but was never sold. This one was a variation with gold endlinks and centre bracelet links.
Antiqua decided to produce the homage to the DSS1960 as it was the deepest dive watch at the time. The DSSD was also made as it was the most identifiable and modern version of that watch. However in order to make them more wearable, both watches were made in titanium to reduce their weight and the bracelet structure was modified to also be able to accommodate leather/ nato straps. Only 5 pieces of each were created making them more rare than the originals!
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