Report: Underwater

A selection of diving watches introduced in 2021

An enduring relationship with the ocean

Can the enduring infatuation of watchmakers with the ocean deep be explained by the commercial boom in the sport-chic segment? Is it the nostalgia evoked by these models? Or the mysteries that our oceans continue to conceal, providing a never-ending source of inspiration for the human imagination?

Carl F. Bucherer Patravi Scubatec Maldives

Since 2017, the Lucerne-based brand has approached the marine world through the lens of ecology. This is expressed through its partnership with the Manta Trust organisation, which is committed to the protection of manta rays. This new iteration in the Scubatec line aims to support the creation of a floating research station in the Maldives. Water-resistant to 500 m (50 bar), the model features a luminous blue dial embellished with lacquered waves, an imposing 44.6 mm case and a unidirectional rotating bezel with blue and white ceramic inserts.

Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic

For the first time, Rado presents its diving model in its favourite material: high-tech ceramic. Why “high-tech”? Because it is scratch-resistant, hypoallergenic, smooth, light and above all... beautiful! Housed in a 43 mm case, the new model is available in four versions, all equipped with the Rado R734 calibre with a Nivachron^TM balance spring, offering an 80-hour power reserve and water resistance to 30 bar (300 m).

Tissot Seastar 2000 Professional

Under its attractive blue dial with a wave pattern, this new 46 mm proposal from Tissot incorporates a number of professional technical features: water resistance to 600 m, helium valve, ISO 6425 certification, 80-hour power reserve. The Powermatic 80 calibre fitted to the Seastar 2000 Professional is also equipped with a Nivachron^TM balance spring made from a titanium-based alloy that is insensitive to magnetism.

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300

While the sporty-chic style dominates the sector, this is the year of the great revival for the twelve-faceted diving model, forty years after its birth. Rather than going for a complete revolution, TAG Heuer has undertaken several subtle aesthetic and technical adjustments: fluted bezel facets, date magnifier, wider hour hand, slimmer case and water resistance increased to 300 metres. Four new references have a case diameter of 43 mm, and three more measure 36 mm. A limited edition “Tribute to Ref. 844” model has also been introduced.

Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton

At the meeting point of diver’s watch and skeletonisation, this 44 mm “fusion” model, produced in a limited run of 175 pieces, is distinguished by the characteristic X on its elaborate dial. Water-resistant to 200 metres, it is equipped with a concave inverted rotating bezel protecting a domed sapphire crystal. Its calibre is the UN-372, whose barrel cover at 12 o’clock is coated with blue Carbonium^®, like the bezel. This subtle piece plays with different levels of dial depth.

Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba Automatic

With a diameter of 43 mm, the Khaki Navy Scuba is inspired by the style and functions of classic diving watches. Water-resistant to 300 metres and firmly attached to a black rubber strap or steel bracelet, it is available with a ceramic bezel ring in black or blue to match the dial. On the bezel, a Super-LumiNova^® dot at 12 o’clock keeps track of the dive time. The H-10 automatic movement features a Nivachron^TM balance spring.

Glashütte Original SeaQ

The German brand is expanding its SeaQ diving line with a new two-tone model, inspired by Glashütte Original’s very first diver’s watch, the Spezimatic type RP TS 200 from 1969. Certified by the rigorous DIN 8306 and ISO 6425 tests for professional diving watches, it houses the self-winding manufacture calibre 39-11. Water resistant to 20 bar.

Seiko Prospex 1986 Quartz Diver’s 35th Anniversary Limited Edition

In 1986, Seiko launched one of its most important diving watches. It combined the brand’s legendary 1975 design and the 1,000 metre water resistance required for saturation diving with a quartz movement that delivered high accuracy. Today, 35 years on, this classic Seiko Diver’s watch is reborn with new design features and upgraded professional dive watch specifications. The watch is equipped with Seiko’s tried and trusted quartz calibre 7C46. Limited edition of 1200.

Mido Ocean Star Tribute

With its glassbox-type sapphire crystal, the new Ocean Star Tribute is directly inspired by the spirit of the diving watches of the 1960s. Thirty years earlier, in the 1930s, Mido was already renowned for its work on water resistance, and was even dubbed the “King of Waterproof” at the time! The 40.5 mm model comes in a khaki colour and is equipped with the Calibre 80, featuring an autonomy of up to 80 hours, coupled with water resistance up to a pressure of 20 bar.

Panerai Submersible Bronzo Blu Abisso

After making its official debut in 2011, bronze has become an essential element in the Panerai collection. For the first time, it is the centrepiece of a 42 mm model: the Submersible Bronzo Blu Abisso. The matt blue of the dial elegantly complements the warm tone of the metal. The model is driven by the P.900 automatic movement, the first of its diameter and thickness to combine a date function with a three-day power reserve. Limited production of 1000 pieces a year.

Blancpain Tribute To Fifty Fathoms No Rad

Blancpain is reinterpreting an emblematic model from the mid-1960s, a version of which equipped the German Navy’s Combat Swimmers: the Fifty Fathoms “no radiation”. This logo stamped on the watch indicated that Blancpain did not use radium-based luminescent materials, a distinctive sign that subsequently forged its success with collectors. The steel case, water-resistant to 300 metres, measures 40.3 mm, a diameter exclusive to Fifty Fathoms watches in limited editions – in this case 500 pieces.

Mühle-Glashütte S.A.R. Rescue-Timer Lumen

This model has accompanied the marine rescue workers of the German Maritime Search and Rescue Service on their missions since 2002. The lighting on sea rescue cruisers is often turned down to an absolute minimum to ensure the best possible visibility at sea. Hence, the “Lumen” has to permit clear time readings during night-time rescue missions. With its face completely covered in Super-LumiNova^® (which provides a perfect backdrop to the black-coated skeleton hands), this new version of the S.A.R. Rescue-Timer does just that!

Tavannes Watch Submarine 1917

During World War I, the Tavannes Watch Company was approached by the British Royal Navy to develop a specific watch for the use of their submarine officers. After two years of development and construction, the first pieces were delivered to the British Royal Navy in 1917. To celebrate this milestone, the brand has relaunched a contemporary version of the timepiece, the 41 mm Submarine 1917.

Doxa SUB 300 Carbon COSC

In 1967, Doxa launched the SUB, often considered the first truly “mainstream” professional diving watch, famously appreciated by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. It included for the first time a unidirectional bezel with a double indication relating the diving time to the depth, to ensure an ascent without decompression stops. Its orange dial also made a lasting impression. More than 50 years after its launch, the SUB 300 is now available in carbon for the first time, in a non-limited version and a choice of six colours.

Tutima Glashütte M2 Seven Seas

The latest models in the German brand’s M2 Seven Seas titanium series feature striking colours with dials in bright orange and yellow, to guarantee optimal legibility underwater. Also, for the first time in the series, a two-component wristband made of rubber and Kevlar is available as an additional option to complement the pure titanium bracelet. A screwed crown, threaded back and 3 mm-thick sapphire crystal over the dial contribute to the watertightness of the solid titanium case, which can withstand pressures up to 50 atm.

Oris Aquis Depth Gauge

Oris has unveiled the second generation of its Aquis Depth Gauge, an innovative high-performance diver’s watch. Nicknamed “the watch with a hole”, it uses the scientific principles of the Boyle-Mariotte Law to create a gauge that clearly measures depth during a dive. The patented system works by allowing water through a hole cut into the sapphire crystal at 12 o’clock and into a channel milled around the outer edge of the crystal. This creates a watermark that corresponds to a gauge indicated in yellow on the dial.

Yema Navygraf Marine Nationale

An official partner of the French Air Force since 2020, the brand is now also an official partner of the French Navy. In this context, it has designed a timepiece for professionals in the maritime world. The Navygraf is dressed in the colours of the French Navy while retaining its vintage signature. It is available in four different versions, including a GMT complication in a limited run of 1000 pieces.

Milus Archimèdes Silver Storm

Taking over the codes of the Milus Super Compressor 20 ATM from the 1970s, this new 41 mm model, rated water resistant to 300 m, is equipped with a discreet helium escape valve in the caseband at 9 o’clock and a signature dual crown. The case alternates brushed surfaces and polished accents, and is topped by a highly domed sapphire crystal. The watch’s stunning vertical brushed silver dial features a bi-directional circular brushed inner diver bezel with royal blue accents.

The Longines Legend Diver Watch

It was in 1937, when water resistance was starting to become a quality criterion, that Longines developed a case with water-resistant pushers for its legendary calibre 13ZN. Subsequently, the brand launched its first civilian diver’s watch in 1958 and, during the 1960s, several other models of this kind. In 2007, the Longines Legend Diver Watch, an emblematic piece of its Heritage line, was launched. It is now available in elegant new 42 mm steel versions, in blue or brown.

Omega Seamaster Diver 300m Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo Olympic Games may have been disrupted by the pandemic, but that did not stop Omega from releasing a dedicated edition. And, who knows, perhaps these vicissitudes will make the model more desirable over the long term, in the eyes of collectors, who are often fond of these kinds of “dissonant” historical models. Displaying the colours of the event as well as the emblem of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in a decal on its sapphire crystal window, this 42 mm Seamaster is powered by the Co-Axial Master Chronometer 8800 calibre certified by METAS.

Titoni Seascoper 600

With the COSC-certified Seascoper 600, the independent brand introduces a whole new generation of diver’s watches. Water resistant to 600 m, it is equipped with the in-house developed calibre T10, a milestone launched in 2019 by Titoni, and is offered in three dial and bezel colour variations, including a bicolour edition. Key features include large luminescent indexes and hour markers, a crown protector, a helium valve, an extendable buckle and a unidirectional rotatable ceramic bezel.

Certina DS Action Diver Sea Turtle Conservancy

The brand with the turtle shell logo (symbolising its DS – Double Security – concept) has dedicated a special new 38 mm edition to its partnership with the Sea Turtle Conservancy, whose work it has supported since 2017. Water-resistant to 300 metres and meeting every requirement of the ISO 6425 standard, this two-tone model offers strong added value at a price of less than 800 francs. Another noteworthy feature is that its packaging is made entirely of sustainable materials, a first for Certina.

Delma Cayman Field

The Field is an extension of the Cayman collection, based on a Delma dive watch from the 1970s. The model features luminous numerals on a black dial, as well as a red 24-hour track in a 42 mm stainless steel case with domed sapphire crystal. Available in automatic (water-resistant to 500 metres) or quartz (water-resistant to 200 metres) versions.

Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver Military

Released in 2017, the brand’s first square diver’s watch became a collection in its own right and has since continued to expand. Bell & Ross presents a new khaki green “camouflage” version inspired by military codes and made entirely of ceramic. Water-resistant to 300 metres and equipped with a photoluminescent coating and anti-reflective finishes, it meets the three fundamental principles defined by the international standard ISO 6425: water-resistance, legibility and reliability.

Tudor Black Bay Ceramic

This model opens a new era for Tudor, as its first watch certified “Master Chronometer” by METAS. This certification requires, among other things, a maximum variation interval of 5 seconds per day (0 / +5), i.e. 5 seconds less than the COSC, and resistance to magnetic fields of 15,000 gauss. Its matt black monobloc ceramic case features a sandblasted surface with ground horn bevels for a striking contrast. The model is equipped with the Manufacture Calibre MT5602-1U in an all-black version, in line with the watch’s overall appearance.