Important Collectors Watches, Pocket ...
Geneva, Mar 29, 2009
LOT 352
COMEX Everest 1997 Gmt-Master Rolex, ?Oyster Perpetual Date, GMT-Master, Superlative Chronometer, Officially Certified?, case No. T665617, Ref. 16700, used by a member of the COMEX ?Everest 1997" team. Made in 1997. Fine and historically important, two time zones, center seconds, self-winding, water-resistant, stainless steel chronometer's wristwatch with date, special blue and red 24-hour bezel and hand and a stainless steel Oyster bracelet and Fliplock deployant clasp. Accompanied by the original guarantee (now void) and fitted box, several photocopies of COMEX documents and newspapers articles relating to the project and the expedition.
C. Three-body, polished and brushed, screw-down case back and crown, graduated bi-directional revolving blue and red bezel for the second 24-hour time zone, crystal with cyclops lens. D. Black with luminous steel round, baton and triangular indexes, outer minute/ seconds divisions, aperture for the date. Luminous steel skeleton hands. M. Cal. 3175, rhodium-plated, oeil-de-perdrix decoration, 31 jewels, straight-line lever escapement, free-sprung monometallic balance adjusted to temperatures and five positions under a bridge, self-compensating Breguet balance spring, Microstella regulating screws, hack mechanism. Dial, case and movement signed, Case back engraved ?EVEREST 8848 m COMEX 1997?. Diam. 40 mm. Thickness 12 mm. Approx. overall length 170 mm.
| Grading System | |
|---|---|
Grade: |
|
Case: 2 |
Very good |
Movement: 2* |
Very good Overhaul recommended, at buyer's expense |
Dial: 1-01 |
As new HANDS Original |
Notes
In 1997, the Comex (Compagnie maritime d?expertise) company conducted an experiment that virtually simulated the conditions of a Mount Everest climb. In Operation Everest III (Comex '97), eight volunteers went though decompression in a hypobaric chamber, with a decompression profile simulating the conditions that prevail during a Mount Everest climb, to the altitude of 8,846 meters. Various scientific experiments were carried out during the experiment, to assess cardiac and other bodily functions under laboratory conditions. The present watch was worn by one of the participants in this experiment.