Rolex watches, particularly the Sea-Dweller, were standard equipment for Comex. They were the only watches the firm’s elite divers fully trusted on their saturation dives to great depths – when precise timing is of vital importance at every stage.

In 1988, members of the Hydra VIII mission set the world open-sea diving record at a depth of 534 metres (1,752 feet), in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille. Four years later, French diver Théo Mavrostomos became the first person to reach –701 metres (–2,300 feet) in a hyperbaric chamber. Both records set by Comex still stand today.