I've decided to sell my Rolex Sea Dweller. It's a K series that I rate at 88-90%. I don't know the service history but it's keeping good time. It comes with everything shown, no papers.

Crystal is perfect. Bezel action is perfect, and bezel teeth are nice and "sharp". Bracelet is tight

Many references. Nice Sea Dweller

The replica Sea-Dweller that I purchased is considered to be high end because of the following specifications: it has a solid stainless steel case, a sapphire crystal and uses a genuine Swiss ETA 2836-2 movement. As can be seen in the photo above, on first looks it resembles the genuine Sea-Dweller quite accurately. I gave the replica and the genuine watch to many of my friends and asked them to identify which was the real one. Most were unable to do so. That in itself is not particularly frightening, but what is scary is the fact that there are many unscrupulous people who advertise fake watches for sale as genuine and people pay top dollar for them unaware that they are buying a fake. It is my hope that this review will allow people to know what to look for when they are buying a Sea-Dweller.

On initial inspection the dials of the replica and genuine SD look to be exactly the same, but closer inspection shows that there are subtle differences. First the size of the luminous hour markers is different. On the genuine dial the markers are smaller and the outer rings not so thick. Next is the actual positioning of the markers. On the genuine dial the minute graduations do not touch the metal rings of the luminous markers. As can be seen on the photo, there is a small gap (about 0.3mm) between the minute graduation and the metal ring of the luminous hour marker.

Staying with the front of the dial, the next difference is the hands. On the genuine SD the Mercedes symbol is slightly larger and the sweep second hand extends further to the outside of the dial. The fake sweep hand just touches the minute markers whereas the genuine second hand extends to almost the end of them. The luminous coating on the hands and the hour markers is well applied and has the same colour and look as that used on the genuine watch. I don't know what luminous material they use on the replica but it does not glow anywhere near as well as that on the genuine Sea-Dweller.

Over the years and the many generations of fake Rolex Sea-Dwellers and Submariners, the things that was probably easiest to fix and a definite give away are the crown guards. Yet surprisingly even with the new "high quality" replicas, the crown guards are still not right. The replica crown guards are thicker and have a slightly different recess. Many people who buy the replica Sea-Dwellers modify the guards to make them closer to the shape of the real ones.