The Rolex That Survived the Deepest Place on Earth

In 1960, an experimental Rolex watch did something no other timepiece had ever done — it traveled to the deepest known point on Earth, the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Attached to the outside of the deep-sea submersible Trieste, the Rolex Deep Sea Special endured crushing pressure over 35,800 feet (about 11,000 meters) below sea level. That’s roughly the height of Mount Everest… flipped upside down and buried in the ocean. The watch wasn’t protected inside the vessel either. It was strapped to the outside of the hull, exposed to the full force of the deep. Against all odds, the Rolex survived, completely intact and still ticking. That single moment became a defining flex for the brand’s engineering. It wasn’t about luxury or showing off; it was about pushing the limits of what’s humanly and mechanically possible. Today, this story is the backbone of the Rolex Sea-Dweller and Deepsea collections. While most of us won’t be diving into ocean trenches anytime soon, it’s wild to know that the watch on your wrist might be overbuilt enough to survive a pressure cooker seven miles underwater.