The recently restored “Mesoscaph” submarine, designed in 1963 by Auguste Piccard, is the largest civilian submarine and also one of the newest attractions at the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne. It is the centerpiece of a new exhibition dedicated to three generations of a family of explorers (Aguste, Jacques, and Bertrand).
Another new reason to visit the Museum is one of the very few stainless steel versions of the famed Rolex “Deep-Sea Special” watches on exhibit. Usually, you will find bi-color versions on display in other museums, such as the International Museum of Horology (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds and the Beyer Watch and Clock Museum in Zurich; for more on these and other “must-visit” watch museums, click here). The watch is accompanied by the original Swiss flag that reached the floor of the Mariana Trench on January 23, 1960, and an illustration displaying how much pressure the watch and submarine had to withstand.
The Rolex “Deep-Sea Special” is the first and also the only watch to have reached a depth of more than 35,000 feet twice (although the second time was on the inside of James Cameron’s submarine, the Deepsea Challenger, in 2012). Check out the photos below. And click here for more on the original Rolex Deep-Sea Special and other historic Rolex dive watches.
