COMEX
« La mer donnera à chaque homme des raisons de rêver. » Christophe Colomb
The 1960s, also known as the Sixties, are synonymous with political revolution. This period is marked by several major upheavals: the student revolution of 1968, the women's fight for their rights (thanks to contraception and access to higher education), and the Cuban revolution. The Iron Curtain between the former USSR and the United States, illustrated by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, symbolizes the division of the world into two blocs.
Against the backdrop of global domination, the space race and the development of offshore oil companies, which had become a major source of energy since the 1950s, reflect this quest for power. These trends greatly benefit the communication strategies of watch brands.
It is in this context that Henri-Germain Delauze founded the Compagnie Maritime d’Expertise (COMEX), revolutionizing underwater diving, associated with the development of watches among the most sought-after in the world of collectors and enthusiasts.
An engineer by training and passionate about the sea, Delauze participated in speleological diving missions in the 1950’s with Commander Cousteau and the OFRS (French Office of Scientific Research), while working as a compressed air engineer for the Spiros company. In 1959, he was invited by the US State Department and in 1960 obtained a Master of Science in Underwater Geology from the University of Berkeley under the direction of Albert Einstein's son. During this period, he carried out numerous dives as a geological consultant for offshore oil in California. Observing the rise of American startups and convinced of the future of underwater oil, he created COMEX in 1961.
The company brings together professional divers to develop deep-sea diving through scientific and oil research. Thanks to the latter, it benefits from essential financial support for its progress.
To understand COMEX’s advances, one must grasp the physical phenomena of diving: breathing a gas adapted to the high pressures of the depths and adapting to depressurization during ascent.
At the time, deep saturation diving was made possible by Commander Cousteau's "houses under the sea." Adopted by all offshore oil companies, known as "Pré continents" in France and "Sealab" in the United States, the system consisted of a pressurized habitat at the working depth’s pressure conditions, allowing divers to enter and exit the habitat throughout their mission and to undergo only one phase of decompression at the end of their stay.
SEALAB II in 1965 before being submersed 62m under the surface, credit from RACE TO THE BOTTOM: ROLEX AND OMEGA'S FIGHT OVER COMEX” on the A Collected Man
COMEX developed an alternative: saturation diving in a surface hyperbaric habitat. Unlike the "houses under the sea," the pressurized chamber/habitat is kept on the surface (on a boat or barge), and the comings and goings to depth are made in a pressurized diving bell.
From 1963 onwards, Comex established the Hyperbaric Experimental Center with the goal of testing the effectiveness of different gas mixtures to ensure they are the least harmful to humans when diving at great depths. Among the various experimental programs, we can mention JANUS (1968-1977), which allowed for testing the operational capabilities of divers at great depths (between 150 and 501 meters) while performing tasks.
For nearly twenty years, saturation dives have been conducted using helium-based breathing mixtures, but its limits were reached at 610 meters depth. In 1968, Delauze led HYDRA 1, a test based on a hydrogen gas mixture at a depth of 255 meters, which failed due to equipment that could not withstand the cold. This program resumed in 1982 with improved equipment.
Among the equipment, divers were equipped with watches designed to withstand extreme conditions.
Two watch brands, Omega and Rolex, collaborated with COMEX to test and improve their watches under these conditions.
Omega, already a NASA partner, participated in the HYDRA 1 mission in 1968. However, following the failure of this operation, their collaboration ceased in 1971, leaving the field open to Rolex.
It is interesting to note the totally antagonistic approach of Omega and Rolex in their work on pressurization and desaturation, which led to completely opposite designs.
For Omega, it was about creating a watch specifically for COMEX, designed according to the divers' needs.
This resulted in a fairly large and robust dial, large wide hands, and a dark dial with clear indexes. Carved from a block of steel, the Seamaster 600 Ploprof was designed to prevent helium from entering the case.
A communication from Omega on the robustness of this watch, the Seamaster 600 professional, credit from RACE TO THE BOTTOM: ROLEX AND OMEGA'S FIGHT OVER COMEX” on the A Collected Man
In contrast, Rolex relied on prototypes it had already experimented with.
Under the direction of André Heiniger, the watchmaking house provided Submariners and Sea-Dwellers to COMEX for free in exchange for detailed reports on their performance. Contrary to popular belief, the Sea-Dweller was not developed exclusively for COMEX. The first Sea-Dweller reference 1665 was marketed before their collaboration and was tested by the US Navy between 1968 and 1971, during deep saturation dives with the “Sealab” system. Its name was actually given by the military divers of these missions.
In 1967, Rolex introduced a helium escape valve to prevent the crystal from popping out during depressurization. The phenomenon is explained by the pressure pushing helium molecules inside the case due to their extremely small size, despite the seal’s tightness, or simply when the crown is manipulated by divers. This has no impact on the watch’s accuracy during the dive, but during decompression, the helium molecules expand, according to Boyle’s law, creating positive pressure inside the case that pushes the crystal outwards. To remedy this, Rolex patented this escape valve that triggers when the internal case pressure reaches a certain level.
This technical invention continued to be developed thanks to the collaboration with COMEX.
A communication from Rolex on the functionality of the Sea-Dweller, credit from RACE TO THE BOTTOM: ROLEX AND OMEGA'S FIGHT OVER COMEX” on the A Collected Man
THE COMEX REF. 1665 - Only Vintage By Corrado Mattarelli
Despite the appearance of the Sea-Dweller a few years earlier, specifically designed for saturation diving and already tested to descend to 600 meters depth, Rolex also provided Submariners to divers, starting with the reference 5513, nicknamed the « PRE COMEX » tested to descend to 200 meters depth, with the diving company name engraved on the case back.
It was only later in their collaboration that Rolex began to feature the COMEX logo on the dials of the supplied watches and created a Submariner model reference 5514 specifically designed for the company. Featuring the same characteristics as the 5513, it was also equipped with an escape valve.
THE COMEX REF. 5514 - Only Vintage By Corrado Mattarelli
However, there are very rare models of 5513 equipped with the helium valve or bearing the COMEX logo on the dial. Similarly, some very rare pieces of reference 5514 do not bear the COMEX logo.
Rolex supplied Submariners and Sea-Dwellers for nearly three decades. There are about a few hundred examples produced for each reference. Due to their history and function, many pieces have been damaged or destroyed. Originally supplied as real tools for the company’s divers, the watches were given to COMEX employees at the end of the collaboration, in gratitude and commemoration of this fruitful collaboration. It is important to remember that these watches were absolutely not intended for the general public. Rolex had numbered the pieces supplied to employees to keep track of them, with these numbers engraved on the case back.
THE COMEX REF. 1665 - Only Vintage By Corrado Mattarelli
It is clear that, given the history of each piece, personalized with the diving company’s logo and engraved with a unique number, these watches are exclusive, historical pieces highly sought after and prized by collectors.
The collaboration ended in 1997 with the Sea-Dweller model reference 16600. It allowed Rolex to achieve numerous records and performances in the depths, while playing a significant role in the history of underwater exploration. Although Rolex continues to break records today by accompanying personalities such as James Cameron to 10,908 meters depth aboard the Deepsea Challenger, the watches no longer benefit from the same aura as the COMEX. Associated with both a part of history and the exploration of the underwater world, the watches that accompanied them are true witnesses to a nostalgic, bygone era.
Regarding Henri-Germain DELAUZE's company, its offshore oil subsidiary was sold in 1992 to the Stolt Nielsen group due to its founder's age, who no longer found the necessary support to advance his projects in the face of ever-increasing demands and depths. Nevertheless, it remains active in nuclear, scientific research, robotics, oceanography, and underwater archaeology.
To conclude, if you ask Mr. Delauze about the future of underwater exploration, his answer is clear: it is much easier to explore space than the ocean depths, where human adaptation to pressurization is much more constraining than weightlessness. As for underwater work, there is no other mission than to eradicate plastic pollution from the oceans. Oil is not an inexhaustible energy source, but science is, and the oceans remain a vast world to discover and study while preserving marine fauna and flora.
—
Small Reference Guide
Among the Submariner references provided to the COMEX:
* 5513 (200m.)
* 5514 (200m.), special Comex = with the helium escape valve, Comex logo
* 1680 (200m.), Comex logo
* 16800 (300m.), Comex logo
* 168000 (300m.), Comex logo
* 16610 (300m.), Comex logo
Among the Sea-Dweller references provided to the COMEX:
* 1665 (600m.), Comex logo, helium escape valve
* 16660 (1220m.), Comex logo, helium escape valve
* 16600 (1220m.), Comex logo, helium escape valve
Author: Fiona Galati