DLC DSSD Prohunter/Pro-Hunter/Jacques Piccard – making sense of it all

[thorne]

As there does not seem to be a thread dedicated to the DSSD Prohunter variations, hopefully the following details will be useful.

 

In case anyone is unaware of the Prohunter line, this was the brainchild of a vintage Rolex dealer, well known in gen Rolex forums. The older members will know who I’m referring to.  Let us refer to him as ‘KC’ since including his name in this thread may provide this as a search result in any search engine for anyone typing his name. And I certainly don’t want to attract unnecessary attention to a rep forum. I’m sure most of us know that the gen fora know rep forums exist, however I don’t see the need to frantically wave a red flag in their direction.

 

So….one fine day, KC decided that DLCing certain Rolex models (SD,DSSD,Daytona,etc) and charging a 30-40% markup over the MSRP would make good business sense, and people would be lining up to buy these ‘modded’ Rolexes. Well, he was right. 100 models of each line were created (I can find no references stating there were more than 100 in each case) and sold, presumably to people who had more money than they knew what to do with. Keep in mind, these models are not warrantied by Rolex – as soon as the base Rolex model was modded by applying the DLC coat, this was considered to be out of Rolex warranty terms and conditions. So these Prohunters can no longer be sent in to Rolex for service/repairs, Rolex won’t work on them.

 

Ok, enough history, back to us.

 

Now in this thread I will focus on the DSSD model. You are fully entitled to ask why I should focus on the DSSD only, of course.

Well because:
A. I like the DSSD Prohunter.  A lot. No, seriously.
B. Because Charlize Theron has a DSSD. And I like Charlize. A lot. Drool.

 

 

Now where were we, ah yes, the DSSD Prohunter. With no offense to any DSSD owners, I love the size and look of the DSSD, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy the SS rep because I can’t stand the OGEV/RLS script. It just doesn’t work for me, maybe I’m funny that way. So when the factories released the Prohunter version – where the script is present but practically invisible thanks to the DLC coating, it was a no-brainer.

 

The gen DSSD Prohunter was made in a run of 100 watches. There are always questions on the dials offered by the rep factories – is the single red version correct? Should I have bought the double red, was it more authentic? Are all of the rep versions fantasy models? Will my DSSD Prohunter rep look like a 1:1 to the gen?

 

Let me try to answer some of the questions to some extent. First: Will my DSSD Prohunter rep look like a 1:1 to the gen?
Short answer: At present, no (more on this anon). Long answer: Considering the gen was made in a run of 100, and has at least 6 different dial variations that I have found (and there may be more), that means each gen dial version exists in a set of about 16, assuming 100 watches/6 dial versions. So in the long run, if the factories correct all the errors, you will have a 1:1 rep to a gen of which no more than 16 exist in the entire world (considering nothing tragic has occurred to any of them). May the force be with you while walking down a dark alley.

 

I have found the following dial versions for the gen DSSD Prohunter. The dials range from a single line in red (Sometimes DEEPSEA, sometimes PROHUNTER), double line in red, and even three lines in red. Also, on some dials, Prohunter is shown as PRO-HUNTER, whereas on others is shown as PROHUNTER. I imagine KC and team decided that having the same dial on a 100 watches wouldn’t make sound business sense if you wanted it to be unique, no.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Phantom (fancy name for stealth IMO) DSSD Prohunter also exists:

 

 

I could not get a pic of the gen DSSD Prohunter caseback, but it should be similar to the gen Milgauss Prohunter caseback shown here:

 

 

Another company (completely unrelated to the Prohunter company) in collaboration with the family of Jacques Piccard also released a DLC version of the DSSD, of which 86 were made. Here is a pic of the gen. Note that the JP DSSD does NOT feature the word Prohunter on the dial.

 

 

And here is the gen Piccard caseback which is familiar to all those who own the rep DSSD Prohunter:

 

 

Phew, with all that out of the way let’s talk about the rep versions available.

 

The rep factories released the Prohunter in two dial versions: one with a single line (DEEPSEA) in red as follows, this is a correct gen dial version:

 

 

And the other with two lines in red as follows, also a correct gen dial version:

 

 

So BOTH versions of the rep have the correct dial. The caseback however is another story altogether. This is the biggest flaw on the rep watch (both versions), as it comes with the Jacques Piccard caseback, which is unrelated to the Prohunter as I mentioned earlier. However I suppose this can be remedied to some extent by replacing the Piccard mid caseback with the grey mid caseback from the SS DSSD.

 

I have not seen a PVD DSSD with the word Deepsea in red and no Prohunter on the dial – that would be the correct dial for the Piccard.

 

I hope this was of some help.

 

Cheers,
T

[GenTLe]

It's a very nice one.

But to me a bit too black.

 

Yesterday I pulled the trigger for this one, let's see it next to the gen (in the 2nd picture):

  

 

Major flaws is the coating: the gen is much more matt. But the gen producer says that it comes in 3 styles: "original, matt and stealth". I can't say the differences as there're no pictures indicating the style used...

Second thing is the GMT hand: on the gen is OVER the hour hand, on the rep is below it. This is valid for all rep GMT, and personally I don't care much :-)

Finally I also purchased a black Nato strap for mine, and while the gen (Nato is optional too) has the "Pro-Hunter" written on the tang buckle, mine obviously doesn't.

But 75$ for a gen nato strap are a bit too much. And also mine has SS rings in it because I don't want to worry about the PVD getting faded off.

 

Cheers, GenTLe