Space – the final frontier. These are the tales of the infamous Rolex ‘Space-Dweller’ whose strange existence is shrouded in mystery, whose story boldly went where no other has gone before. Essentially a relabeled Rolex ‘Explorer’ Ref. 1016, around 13 pieces are known to exist today. One of these peculiar watches just sold for mind-boggling USD 190,500 at auction. Legend has it a small batch was made for the Japanese market after John H. Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962, was sent to Japan to assist with the communications network for the Mercury flight of L. Gordon Cooper in May 1963. As so often with this kind of stories, the deeper one digs, the more the supposed mystery turns into the usual mysery that has befallen the world of watches. As a matter of fact, many of the pieces known today can be traced back to loose ‘Space Dweller’ dials offered to dealers beginning of late 1990s onwards. Ask Ben Clymer, the trusted super watch expert of the gullible. His very own ‘Space-Dweller’ has a fascinating story to tell.
–

A lot has been written about the ‘Space-Dweller’ but most of it is just a regurgitation of unsubstantiated information found online. To understand what the ‘Space-Dweller’ is really about, look no further than Hodinkee founder Ben Clymer’s personal example. A foundational part of his collection since 2014, according to the celebrated watch expert’s own words, interestingly, when his popular watch blog published the extensive article ‘A Comprehensive Collector’s Guide To The Rolex Explorer I’ in February 2022, instead of showcasing his own watch, they used someone else’s watch instead. A rare picture of Clymer’s own watch, however, was published years earlier in the Hodinkee Magazine Vol. 3 from November 2018. As one can imagine, I usually do not read anything Hodinkee. It is all about hype and not upsetting the status quo. My premise is and always was, if you truly want to learn about watches, forget about content produced by people who want to sell you something, be it Hodinkee, Mondani or Montanari.

Anyway, the lume on these galvanic gilt dials was applied by hand, making each dial absolutely unique. No two dials are identical. In 2008, Sotheby’s Geneva sold four loose ‘Space-Dweller’ dials, two in May (Lot 59 & 61) and another two in November (Lot 107 & 108). The origin of these dials, including dozens of fake Paul Newman ‘no-step’ dials (Texas dials), some of which were sold at the same auctions, was the liquidation stock seized by the Swiss government from Patek Philippe specialist Eric Tortella who had just been criminally convicted and sent to prison for misappropriation of millions of dollars.

Auction links: Search results for ‘Space-Dweller’ (Sotheby’s)

Clymer’s dial is a perfect match with Lot 61 sold at Sotheby’s in May 2008, making clear the watch was put together using a loose dial.

Auction link: Lot 61 – Rolex ‘Space-Dweller’ dial, circa 1965 (Sotheby’s)

Clymer’s watch is not the only ‘Space-Dweller’ that can be traced back to the loose dials sold at Sotheby’s in 2008. Another prominent watch sold or offered in recent years by well-known watch dealers is a piece with a 0.901 million case number from early 1963. Now, 1963/64 was a transitional period in which radium was substituted with tritium. The first tritium dials were so-called ‘exclamation point’ dials which still featured an old-fashioned chapter ring. These were then replaced by ‘exclamation point’ dials without chapter ring and later with so-called ‘underline’ dials. The dial type the ‘Space-Dweller’ dial belongs to was only introduced around 1965. You see, a 0.901 million case number for the ‘Space-Dweller’ makes not much sense.

As you can see, here we have another perfect match. This watch was definitely put together as well. The hilarious thing about this particular piece is the fascinating story that it came directly from the son of a Japanese ambassador to Venezuela. You gotta love watch dealers. One more thing, if we look at the dial condition today, there is some extensive oxidation going on around the edge. In 2008, the dial looked flawless. Is this a natural occurrence or maybe a failed attempt at forced patina?

The third watch that was created from one of the loose Sotheby’s dials (Lot 107) belongs to @watchistry. It has a case number in the 1.7 million range from 1967. Watchistry discovered this fact himself some time ago and is very open about it as you can see in the following video he uploaded to Youtube.

A watch with the fourth Sotheby’s dial (Lot 59) has not been seen in public yet. Besides the three watches mentioned above, at least another five watches were sold by auction houses, the first one being auctioned off in 2002. That is right, before 2002 not a single ‘Space-Dweller’ ever graced the auction world! A further five pieces were sold privately which brings the total of known examples to 13. The case numbers of all of these watches are all over the place. There is no clear pattern to be seen.
–

‘Space-Dweller’ Trademark

According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the ‘Space-Dweller’ trademark was first registered in Switzerland on February 16, 1966.

Interestingly, that was just 16 days after the ‘Sea-Dweller’ trademark. The applications for both trademarks, ‘Sea-Dweller’ and ‘Space-Dweller’, were filed in the United States on the very same day, January 30, 1968. Both trademarks were officially registered on November 19, 1968.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is a connection between the two. Perhaps when Rolex decided to create the Sea-Dweller for saturation divers, they thought why not create a special watch for astronauts as well. Interestingly, the first ‘Sea-Dweller’ dials for the so-called Single Red ‘Sea-Dweller’ were made in the second quarter of 1967 (April – June 1967). The 40 or so produced pieces have all case numbers in the 1.602 million range, making clear this was a specially produced batch. However, these had modern matte dials with white and red printed features on a matte black background. The ‘Space-Dweller’ dials on the other hand are old-fashioned galvanic gilt dials which by 1967 had been discontinued. As a matter of fact, with very few exceptions which can probably be attributed to using up old dials (or manipulation by dealers), the vast majority of Ref. 1016 watches in the 1.7 million case number range have matte Mk 1 dials featuring the so-called ‘frog foot’ coronet. Taking all of the above into consideration, I believe that ‘Space Dweller’ dials, if real, must have been produced in 1966.
–

The ‘Space-Dweller’ Dial

Except for the model designation, ‘Space Dweller’ dials were made in the exact same way as Ref. 1016 ‘Explorer’ galvanic gilt dials. While the model designation ‘Explorer’ was done with the same galvanic procedure as the rest of the inscriptions and is naturally slightly recessed, ‘Space Dweller’ was printed in silver colour on top of the finished dial and is raised instead.

If real, ‘Space Dweller’ dials must have been a special run and not just modified ‘Explorer’ dials. The question is, why was ‘Space Dweller’ not applied in the same fashion as ‘Explorer’ but silver printed instead? If the dials were made on purpose it would have been easy to apply the model designation in the same fashion. This little difference leaves the door open for speculation. Could it be that the dials were found without any model designation and ‘Space-Dweller’ was applied by a third party to create a new mysterious model after they came across the ‘Space-Dweller’ trademark registration?
–

Distinct ‘Space-Dweller’ Dial Patina

It is interesting to note that some of the ‘Space-Dweller’ dials have developed a distinctly hard-edged tropical patina around the edge in the area of the minute track. So far I have not seen the same effect on regular ‘Explorer’ labeled dials. Those tend to turn tropical more evenly over the entire surface and not just around the edge.

The dial of this particlar watch is Lot 107 sold at Sotheby’s in November 2008. It appears that the majority of patina developed only in the past 15 years. An interesting bit of information related to this came from a watch dealer I have spoken to who bought two ‘Space-Dweller’ dials from an American parts dealer in the late 1990s. He recalled a cracking around the edge once the dials were seated in the cases. Could the lacquer have been too thick around the minute track, hence the tropicalisation once the dials were installed?
–

Overview KNown Serial Numbers

As you can see in the following list, the known pieces are case number wise all over the place. One watch is said to be from 1961, others are from 1963, some from 1965 and two even from late 1967 when gilt dials had been discontinued. The serial number or production periods of one existing watch is unknown.

Case number	Reference	Caseback date	Dial Origin	Sold by
n.a.	1016	(1961)	unknown	Sotheby’s 2002
901190	1016	(1963)	Sotheby’s 2004	Antiquorum 2008
901xxx	1016	I.63	Sotheby’s 2008	Private dealers
1040737	1016	(1965)	unknown	James Dowling book
1041729	1016	IV.65	unknown	Christie’s 2006
1054xxx	1016	(1965)	unknown	Private dealer
n.a. (Ben Clymer)	1016	(1965)	Sotheby’s 2008	Private dealer
1284906	1016	VI.65	unknown	Christie’s 2020
1589xxx	1016	VI.66	unknown	Private dealer
1733xxx	1016	(IV.67)	Sotheby’s 2008	Private sale
1734971	1016	IV.67	unknown	Phillips 2023
n.a.	1016	(1968)	American parts dealer	Private dealer

The Japan Narrative

A lot has been written in the past about how these watches were made for the Japanese market after John Glenn spent a couple of weeks in Japan in 1963. If the watches were indeed produced for the Japanese market, there would be specific marketing material, advertisements, etc. in existence. There would also be a number of watches offered in early 1990s Japanese watch magazines but there are none. Prior to 2002, not a single ‘Space-Dweller’ appeared on the auction market, at least not to my knowledge.

After announcing this article a few days ago on Instagram, I was contacted by James Dowling aka @misterrolex who besides being a watch dealer also published several books about Rolex watches. He informed me that John Read, the head of Rolex Japan at the time, was instrumental in the production of the ‘Space-Dweller’. Dowling said, “John definitely confirmed the existence of these watches, so there are real ones.”

I think it is safe to say this is where the Japan story originates from. Now, I do not want to go into specifics but I have a hard time trusting dealers further than I can throw them. As you will see in the following, by analysing the watches sold at auction one by one, the official becomes more and more untenable.
–

‘Space-Dweller’ Watches at Auction

As we have learned, legend wants us to believe that ‘Space-Dweller’ watches have been around humans since the 1960s. I reckon they must be equipped with some kind of Romulan cloaking device as it was not until the early 2000s that the first contact was established.
–

2002, May 6 – Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Lot 257

Case number: unknown – Caseback (1961) – Price fetched: unknown

The first time a ‘Space-Dweller’ decloaked itself at an auction was on May 6, 2002 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. The interesting thing about this first example is that the catalogue essay recounted how the ‘Space-Dweller’ was introduced to the Japanese market in 1963 but the auctioned watch itself was listed as being from “circa 1961”. Sotheby’s completely lost in space!

Introduced into the Japanese market in 1963, this version of the Explorer model takes its name as an honor to the men of the Mercury space mission, including John Glenn, who visited Japan just prior to the Rolex Space Dweller’s release. Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963, Project Mercury was the United States’ first man-in-space programm. The watch was never a major seller, in Japan or abroad, and thus, very few exmples are known.

If this watch was indeed from 1961 as described by Sotheby’s, the original dial would have been a galvanic gilt dial with chapter ring and more importantly, radium lume. ‘Swiss – T <25’ tritium dials were only introduced in 1964 after radium was definitely banned. It can therefore safely be assumed that the very first example to materialize in front of our eyes was a Frankenstein watch made-up from a loose ‘Space-Dweller’ dial.

By the way, Sotheby’s used to have one of the best online auction databases but a few years ago they updated their system and lots of crucial information and images went lost. A great loss for researchers and collectors. What a shame!
–

2004, March 31 – Sotheby’s London, Lot 333

Case number: (1988) – Price fetched: unknown

The second example to emerge from the hyperspatial express route was a peculiar one. Said to be from “circa 1988”, there was no mentioning of the Japan story at all in the catalogue.

The bracelet of this watch looks like a modern one with solid links. Also the hands appear to be modern ones judging by the colour of the lume. If this was indeed a 1988 watch, it goes without saying that the second ‘Space-Dweller’ to appear on the market was just another made-up Frankenstein watch base on a loose dial.

This watch, or at least its dial, would later re-emerge at another auction.
–

2006, April 12 – Christie’s New York, Lot 252

Case number: 1041729 – Caseback: (3.64) – USD 22,800 (incl. premium)

A third object was sighted in April 2006 at Christie’s New York. With case number 1041729, this watch most certainly had a caseback stamped 3.64 which is an indication for a production in the third quarter of 1964, at least of the caseback. In the online catalogue, the watch was described as being from “circa 1956” which of course must be a typo. The auction house specialists probably meant to say 1965.

The lot essay reads like a copy-paste of the 2002 Sotheby’s essay:

“Rolex introduced the Space Dweller model to the Japanese market in 1963. The name of the model honored some ultimate explorers, the men of the Mercury space mission, such as John Glenn, who made a visit to Japan prior to the release of this watch. Unfortunately at the time, the Space Dweller never found a large audience, making production limited and examples appearing on the market very unusual.”

In the 1.04 million case number range, most Ref. 1016 watches were equipped with transitional ‘Underline’ tritium dials. Some pieces can be found with the earliest T <25 tritium dials were the lume is placed in recessed numerals and markers. The ‘Space-Dweller’ dial type is a later one.

Auction link: Lot 252 – Rolex ‘Space-Dweller’ (Christie’s)
–

2008, April 17 – Antiquorum New York, Lot 95

Case number: 901190 – Caseback: (1.63) – USD 48,000 (incl. premium)

In April 2008, Antiquorum New York lauched a fourth ‘Space-Dweller’. This example had case number 901190, probably featuring a caseback stamped 1.63 (production in first quarter of 1963). Bearing a 1963 case number, it makes no sense for this watch to have a T <25 tritium dial. 1963 was a transitional year in which radium was discontinued and tritium gradually introduced with so-called ‘Exclamation Point’ and ‘Underline’ dials.

The lot essay stated basically the same as the 2002 Sotheby’s auction:

“The ‘Space Dweller’ was first introduced on the Japanese market in 1963, just after a visit to Japan by the Project Mercury astronauts. Initiated in 1958 and completed in 1963, Project Mercury was the United States’ first man-in-space program. The Space Dweller was made to honor these men, who were (at that time) seen as the ultimate explorers. The watch was not a major seller, either in Japan or elsewhere, and very few of the ‘Space Dweller’ watches have surfaced.”

A closer look at the dial of this watch reveals it is highly likely the same as the one from the 2004 Sotheby’s auction. The lume on these dials was painted by hand, giving each dial unique features, almost like a fingerprint. No two dials are the same.

However, the hands and the bracelet are clearly different and since I do not believe the specialist at Sotheby’s would mistaken a 1988 case number (probably R-series) for one from 1964/65, I assume the consignor installed the dial in a more appropriate case to fit the established narrative.
–

2020, July 13 – Christie’s Hong Kong, Lot 2346

Case number: 1284906 – Caseback: 4.65 – Circa USD 137,000 (incl. premium)

Following the two infamous 2008 Sotheby’s Geneva auctions in which four loose ‘Space-Dweller’ dials changed hands it took 12 years for another ‘Space-Dweller’ to visit the parallel universe of auctions. On July 13, 2020, at the midst of the ‘Covid-19’ pandemic, a never before seen ‘Space-Dweller’ hovered over Christie’s Hong Kong and caused a massive anomaly in the space-time continuum, the size of USD 137,000 (HKD 1,062,500).

Bearing case number 1284906, the caseback is stamped 4.65 which is equivalent to a production in the fourth quarter of 1965. The lot essay was basically a regurgitation of the same ol’ story without bringing anything new to the table.

Auction link: Lot 2346 – Rolex ‘Space-Dweller’ (Christie’s)
–

2023, December 9 – Phillips New York, Lot 23

Case number: 1734971 – Caseback: 4.67 – USD 190,500 (incl. premium)

The latest ‘Space-Dweller’ to grace the Earth immediately set a new record with a space bending maximum speed of USD 190,500. This watch comes with two Rolex service receipts from Rolex Japan, something that according to the auction house specialists “adds a much desired level of credibility to this example.”

As usual, the lot essay is parrotting the known claims:

“Horological lore tells us that after the Mercury manned-spaceflight missions in the early 1960s, those astronauts visited Japan on an international goodwill tour to immensely positive reception in 1963. Hoping to capitalize on this publicity, it’s believed that Rolex introduced the Space-Dweller shortly thereafter in limited quantities for the Japanese market. This initial run of reference 1016s with one slightly different line of text did not gain traction, however, and Rolex abandoned “Space-Dweller” as a model name going forward – perhaps there was not enough to differentiate the “Space-Dweller” from the regular Explorer.”

The interesting thing about this particular piece is that in its 1.7 million case number range, Rolex had already moved away from galvanic gilt dials towards a more modern and simplified approach of creating watch faces. Keep in mind, the ‘Space-Dweller” trademark was registered parallel to the ‘Sea-Dweller’ name. If we look at the earliest ‘Sea-Dweller’ dials with the model name printed in red, so-called “Single Red”, watches which were produced in the second quarter of 1967 (caseback 2.67) bearing 1.602 million case numbers, these were already modern matte dials.

Auction link: Lot 23 – Rolex ‘Space Dweller’ Ref. 1016 (Phillips)
–

Other known watches

The following four watches found on Instagram were sold by private dealers. None of the dials match with any of the dials auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2008. The serial numbers of two watches are known and listed in the table above. One watch is said to be from 1968. The owner of the missing watch was contacted but did not reply.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @vinontre

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WATCHESINROME (@watchesinrome)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Eric Ku (@fumanku)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Brevet Plus (@brevetplus)

And last but not least, the example bearing case number 1040738 published in 1996 in the book ‘Rolex Wristwatches’ by James Dowling and Jeffrey Hess.

–

Thoughts

When Rolex produced special batches, the case numbers were usually sequential. Take the first 40 or so ‘Sea-Dweller’ watches for instance. The ‘Sea-Dweller’ is the perfect example as the trademarks were registered parallel to each other. The case numbers of the known pieces range from 1602902 to 1602931. Same with the Milsubs or Comex watches. Another great example are the Rolex 5512 ‘Submariner’ watches selected for the U.S. Navy SEALAB 2 mission. The case numbers of the known ‘Space-Dweller’ examples on the other hand are all over the place. There is no clear pattern, just total chaos. Hands of all sorts can be found, long, short, you name it. Some watches are from 1963, some from 1965 or 1966 and some even from late 1967 when galvanic gilt dials had already been discontinued which in my opinion is simply laughable. Four loose dials were sold at Sotheby’s in 2008. I think this fact tells the whole story of the ‘Space-Dweller’. They were probably just loose dials, extracted from Rolex in whatever fashion (possibly stolen) and offered around beginning of the late 1990s. I have first-hand accounts from a number of watch dealers who were offered these dials by a certain American dealer who specialized in watch parts. The Japan story? My Japanese friends tell me they have not found clear evidence to support the story. We will have to wait for Rolex but my gut feeling tells me the story is a fabrication.

However, the dials look real. There may be more to the story than meets the eye. Considering the timing at the height of the space race and that the trademark went hand in hand with the ‘Sea-Dweller’ for professional saturation divers, what if the ‘Space-Dweller’ was orginally meant as a tool watch for astronauts? As a relabeled ‘Explorer’ the ‘Space-Dweller’ makes no sense but add a 24-hour hand and a fixed 24-hour bezel, suddenly we are getting closer to a proper space watch that can tell day from night in the dark depths of space. Sure, the date is missing, something that was crucial for saturation divers who spent weeks under water. What if the ‘Space-Dweller’ was a precursor of the ‘Explorer 2’? Does the ‘Explorer 2’ not look like the ultimate space tool watch?

At the end of the day it sure looks like these were just dials, all sold by the same American ‘Face Seller’. The ‘Space-Dweller’ project probably failed to take off in its early stages, disintregrating on the launch pad and sending debris here and there.

Thank you for your interest.