Rolex Just Made the Deepest Dive Watch You Can Buy

There is a lot of horological showing off in this picture. Willy is likely to wave if you will. If it can't have the deepest-traveled watch, it wants the deepest- capable watch. Competition pushes manufacturing techniques forward.

A new ultra-high-pressure tank was developed by Comex, the French specialist in submersible technology, in order to put the Deepsea Challenge through its pace. To be certified to 11,000 meters, a watch must be subjected to a pressure equivalent to 13,750 meters.

The Deepsea Challenge is large, with a diameter of 50 millimeters, which made the watch taken down by James Cameron unwearable. This new watch is made from Grade 5 titanium, the same metal used in aeronautical engineering, which boasts extreme lightness coupled with strength to match that of steel, as well as high corrosive and temperature resistance. It's 30 percent lighter than the prototype.

The watch is one of the best of its kind in the world. The face elements of the watch are annotated extensively. The ringlock system, a reinforced structural element of nitrogen-alloyed steel within the watch's architecture, ensures the watch keeps its form under extreme pressure.

The helium escape valve, first introduced in 1967, is a method to release helium gas that can build up inside the case of a watch, and would otherwise blow the crystal off the watch.

The Deepsea Challenge is more than just the ultimate underwater tool, it's a reassertion of primacy by the company that invented the Oyster case in the 1920s.