Sea-Dweller Stainless Steel - Yellow Gold / Black

In Context

At 43 mm it is a large watch — well above this catalogue’s 40 mm median, and enough to dominate a narrow wrist. The case back is closed, so the movement stays out of sight, and the sapphire crystal will resist everything short of deliberate abuse. 1220 m is a professional diving rating, far past any demand a wrist is likely to make of it.

The movement winds itself from the motion of your wrist. 70 hours of reserve is enough to set it down on Friday evening and find it still running on Monday. At 28,800 vph the seconds hand advances 8 times a second.

126603-0001 stands on its own in this catalogue — no other reference here shares its base number. It pairs a black gloss dial with a yellow gold, stainless steel case. Introduced in 2019.

The 3235 is Rolex's current three-hand movement with a date, the successor to the 3135. It was introduced in 2015 with the Chronergy escapement and a 70-hour reserve. It powers 251 watches in this library. The Chronergy escapement is a redesigned lever escapement, thinner and made of a nickel-phosphorus alloy that magnetism does not affect, and it returns around fifteen per cent more energy to the balance than the 3135's; with a new barrel that gives 70 hours against 48. The blue Parachrom hairspring and Paraflex shock absorbers carry over, the beat stays at 28,800 vph, and the movement is 28.5 mm across with 31 jewels. It is a Superlative Chronometer, tested to two seconds a day after casing. The [3135-to-3235 piece](/blog/rolex-3135-to-3235-what-changed) compares the two in detail. It first appeared in the Pearlmaster 39 in 2015 and the Datejust 41 in 2016, and in the library it powers 168 [Datejust 36](/brands/rolex/datejust) references of the 126xxx generation, all 50 [Datejust 41s](/brands/rolex/datejust-41), 10 [Yacht-Masters](/brands/rolex/yacht-master), 10 [Sea-Dwellers](/brands/rolex/sea-dweller), 7 [Submariners](/brands/rolex/submariner) of the 2020 generation and 5 [Pearlmasters](/brands/rolex/pearlmaster). The [3230](/calibers/rolex-3230) is the same movement without the date, the [3255](/calibers/rolex-3255) the Day-Date version, and the [3285](/calibers/rolex-3285) the GMT derivative.

250 other watches in the library run the Rolex 3235.

Rolex

Datejust 41 Rolesor Yellow Fluted / Jubilee / MOP - Diamond

126333-0018 · 41 mm

Rolex

Datejust 36 Stainless Steel - Fluted / Green - Palm - Diamond / Oyster

126234-0056 · 36 mm

Rolex

Datejust 36 Stainless Steel - Yellow Gold - Fluted / Champagne - Fluted - Diamond / Jubilee

126233-0045 · 36 mm

Rolex

Datejust 36 Stainless Steel / Fluted / Black / Jubilee

126234-0015 · 36 mm