Dive Watches · Page 89

Pre-Owned Picks: A German Dive Watch, A Limited-Edition TAG Heuer Dato, And A Zenith Made For The Rolling Stones

A curated selection of what the Hodinkee Shop has to offer.

The Three Watch Collection for $5,000: Reader Edition – D.O. Kasdan

Editor’s Note: In this edition of the 3 Watch Collection for $5,000, reader D.O. Kasdan brings us a collection we appreciate for its straightforward, no fuss approach and willingness to embrace options off the beaten path. Each of these watches are as capable as they are stylish and unique, with plenty of options for customization. If you’d like to submit your own 3 watch collection for $5,000 can you do so at the form right here.  My collection spans from regular G-Shock to GO, with plenty of oddities from Piaget, Omega, and Seiko, amongst others. While I would probably never get down to just a three watch collection, this is a good exercise in figuring out how to cover all the bases and still feel like you have something interesting to offer. For this group, I wanted to make sure it maximized functionality with some style. Damasko DC82 – $2,300 This is a rugged chronograph that does not require reading glasses to use effectively. Beyond the Damasko technologies and design, it is very wearable and can be brightened up with straps or custom ordering for hand color and bezel configuration. Grand Seiko SBGP015 – $2,350 Dressy but not formal, this HAQ with jump hour hand adjustment is great for travel, business, or even casual wear with sufficient 200M WR. The ceramic bezel might not be for everyone, but it works with the angular case and bracelet to give a glimpse of the many things that Grand Seiko can do in one coherent package. Wolbrook/Douglas Skindiver Automat...

Dive into Adventure with Maurice Lacroix Lidija Lijić x Pontos S Diver

Isotope Celebrates their Seventh Anniversary with a New Logo and a Limited Edition Collaboration with Seconde/Seconde/

Isotope has unveiled a new limited edition, made in collaboration with Seconde/Seconde/ to celebrate the former’s seventh anniversary. I’ve become a pretty big fan of the Isotope design language over the years – brand founder José Miranda has a good eye for color, and is one of only a handful in the industry who dares to inject a bit of humor into his watch designs. Seconde/Seconde/, of course, is all about the jokes, so when I heard there was a collaboration in the works, I was pretty excited to see what would come of it. The end result, the Hydrium Seconde/Seconde/, is surprisingly subtle, but better for it.  The high level brief here is “a Memento Mori watch, without a skull.” That, in and of itself, is kind of funny, at least if you’ve been tracking recent watches that take the Memento Mori as design inspiration. Why a death obsessed watch for a seven year anniversary? Isotope has retired their old logo, and just like life itself, the end of a logo is inevitable. The new logo takes the focus from Isotope’s “i” hand and shifts it toward the lacrima, the tear shape that has become a defining characteristic of the design of every watch they’ve made. The new logo is bolder and more sophisticated to my eye, so yeah, good riddance to the old. A fresh start never hurt anyone.  The design itself makes a few small changes to the familiar Hydrium dive watch platform. The (new) logo now reads “OTOPSIE” (autopsy) rather than “ISOTOPE,” with arrows sh...

Arken Introduces their Second Act with the Dual-Time Equipped Alterum

There was a time a couple years back when the integrated steel sport watch craze had hit peak levels. Seemingly everywhere you looked, each brand had their very own version of an integrated system. For Arken to make their debut in a completely saturated environment with an  integrated sports watch of their own was pretty gutsy, but the Instrumentum wasn’t your typical integrated arrangement. On paper, the diver had one welcome surprise after another: a Grade 2 titanium build overlaid with hardness coating, a depth rating of 300 meters, and a startling $500 pre-order price tag. After you account for its strikingly fierce aesthetic on wrist, Arken’s inaugural timepiece offered up an incredible value proposition that was impossible to ignore. Fast forward to the present day, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of 2023 and yet another industry trend, otherwise known (and self-proclaimed) as the Year of the GMT. Although the industry got off to a scorching hot start with an array of GMT watches released in all sorts of styles, prices, and various movements at the beginning of the year, it has quieted down a bit, even with Watches & Wonders in our rearview mirror. That is until now, because Arken has returned for their second act with a titanium dual-time travel watch they’re throwing into the GMT ring called the Alterum. At first glance, the Alterum is more refined in nature, but its core design language remains. With the aggressively-styled bezel no longer a part ...

[Video] Hands-On: the Aera D-1 Ocean Diver

Aera Instruments is a brand based in the UK that just unveiled their second collection, consisting of incremental updates to their D-1 and P-1 diver and pilot watches. The D-1 Ocean Diver is a blue version of the black watch that debuted last year, and it has a couple of small less visible refinements that improve the overall experience Aera is providing. The choices they made – what to update, and what not to update – reveal something about where the brand might be heading, and what they deem important. I had a chance to briefly handle the initial D-1 and P-1 releases last year, and while I thought they were completely fine, they didn’t linger in the mind the way some watches do. I’ve been wearing the D-1 for about a week now, though, and find myself really enjoying the subtly complex design choices and distinctly contemporary vibe of this dive watch.  $1600 [Video] Hands-On: the Aera D-1 Ocean Diver Case 904L Steel Movement Sellita SW200-1 Elabore Grade Dial Blue Lume Globolight markers Lens Sapphire Strap Rubber Water Resistance 300 meters Dimensions 40 x 49.8mm Thickness 16mm Lug Width 22mm Crown Screw down Warranty Yes Price $1600 Notable Specs and Features  Looking through the spec sheet, the number that will likely jump out at most people right away is the D-1’s diameter: a healthy 44mm. And that’s not the only large number you’ll find when you take your calipers to the case. The lug to lug is 49.8mm, the lug width is 22mm, and the case height (to th...

The Certina DS Action Diver takes a trip to the darkside

The Certina DS Action Diver is now available in a stealthy black finish. The 43mm case is tamed by the black PVD and a 13.1mm thickness. It’s powered by the Powermatic 80, with an 80-hour power reserve. The growth of Certina’s catalogue in the last couple of years has been especially fun to watch as … ContinuedThe post The Certina DS Action Diver takes a trip to the darkside appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Hands On: Tudor Black Bay 54

Just launched at Watches & Wonders 2023, the Black Bay 54 is the latest step in the evolution of Tudor’s mainstay line of dive watches. Inspired by the brand’s first dive watch of 1954, the Black Bay 54 is clearly vintage-inspired. But more notably, it is the most compact dive watch in the Tudor catalogue at just 37 mm in diameter, making it one of the brand’s most wearable offerings. Though scaled down in terms of size, the Black Bay 54 still possesses all of the characteristics that define Tudor watches, namely a high-spec in-house movement (with a 70-hour power reserve no less) and affordable price tag. Initial thoughts As I mentioned in the article introducing the watch, the BB54 is perfect for anyone wanting a wearable dive watch that pairs vintage style with corresponding vintage proportions. The minimalist approach is evident not just in the size, but also details like the bezel insert, which has been simplified to feature just five-minute markers.  Despite the familiar vintage aesthetics and clean line that define the Black Bay, the Black Bay 54 (BB54) is compelling. For one, it catches the eye for being noticeably smaller on the wrist than its Black Bay siblings. While it is certainly compact, maybe even small by contemporary standards, the BB54 doesn’t look diminutive on the wrist. Perhaps because of the stark, functional design and “gilt” dial, the BB54 has more presence than its 37 mm would imply. I like the watch very much as it is, but if there w...

Hands-On: Just In Time For A Summer Swim, The New Nivada Antarctic Diver

It's shaping up to be the summer of great skin divers

Aquastar Returns to Their Origins with New Model 60

In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh made their record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench within the Trieste bathyscaphe, a feat not equaled until 2012 by James Cameron in the Deepsea Challenger. The story of the Trieste is the stuff of legends, the watch brand we generally associate with the trek is of course, Rolex, who’s experimental Deep Sea Special survived the crushing 10,916 meters of depth strapped to the exterior of the vessel (something they did again with the Deepsea Challenger). Enthusiasts are likely also aware of the Lognines stopwatches aboard the Trieste (as well as Piccard’s own 13ZN Chronograph), but there is another watch tied to this story, and this is the JeanRichard Aquastar 60 worn by Don Walsh. A watch that’s being honored in the release of a new Model 60 by Aquastar this week.  The Aquastar 60 was designed by the brand’s founder, Frédéric Robert in 1958, and represents the earliest design DNA of the storied brand. The new Model 60 captures the spirit of the original in many of the right ways, while carving a new path all its own in the process. The watch falls very much into throwback territory which, these days, has a very blurry boundary between modernity, it seems. Whatever the case, the Model 60 is a simple, sharp diver that embodies many of the base design codes of the genre in the best ways possible. The newest Model 60 gets a lovely skin-diver-esque 37mm steel case with square lug design that places all emphasis on the bus...

Maurice Lacroix Resurrects the Fan Favorite Pontos S Diver

Maurice Lacroix dropped some surprising news this week by announcing that the Pontos S Diver will be making a return. First released 10 years ago, the Pontos S Diver was short-lived once the brand decided to move their focus to the Aikon watch, which has taken a number of forms in the intervening years. The Pontos S Diver always hit a bit differently, though, and we’re thrilled to see it making a comeback in a very similar fashion to what it once was (for better or worse), as there’s never enough good looking internal bezel divers out there.  The new Pontos S Diver gets a familiar design right out of the box, which is a good thing in many ways, though perhaps a hindrance in others. The simple dial gets long hour and minute markers reaching into the dial against a set of straight hands with a slight taper, framed by the internal rotating bezel which gets the only numerals in sight outside of the date aperture at 6 o’clock. There’s not much to it, but Maurice Lacroix gets the proportions of everything just right, capturing the timeless appeal of this look. The internal bezel can be adjusted by the crown at 2 o’clock on the case, which appears to stick out a touch further than the original design, but the contrasting ring at the base of the crown remains. Unlike the original examples, the date disc has been color matched to the dial. The steel case measures 42mm in diameter, shedding a single millimeter from the original’s size, and comes in a hair thinner as the...

Maurice Lacroix presents the new Pontos S Diver in proper Mediterranean fashion

Maurice Lacroix releases a new version of the Pontos S Diver after discontinuing the 2013 model Three dial colourways available: Grained Black, Lacquered White & grained Deep Blue This new version is thinner, smaller and more refined, making it more versatile than before Maurice Lacroix just released their new Pontos S Diver in the best … ContinuedThe post Maurice Lacroix presents the new Pontos S Diver in proper Mediterranean fashion appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

Rolex Milgauss Guide

Rolex, as always, made news at Watches & Wonders Geneva back in April with many of the new watches it will be releasing this year (we covered many of them here), but the Swiss luxury brand generated nearly as much buzz with an announcement about a watch that it won’t be making anymore. Back in March, Rolex announced that the Milgauss, a model it had been making continuously since 2007, with roots that go back even further, would cease production this year. The news was not necessarily a shock to everyone - the Milgauss was not on a par with Rolex’s most popular models, waiting-list mainstays like the Daytona, Submariner, and GMT-Master - but it was a disappointing splash of reality to the subgroup of Rolexistas who love the cult-classic antimagnetic watch, while also serving as a call to attention for watch-market speculators who rarely find a Rolex shortage that they aren’t eager to monetize. What makes the Milgauss such a niche favorite in the Rolex portfolio? Read on. Rolex founder Hans Wisdorf (above) could be described as many things: a visionary entrepreneur, a brilliant marketer, a founding father of the modern watch industry. But at his true core, Wilsdorf was essentially a problem solver. Just about every contribution that he and his company made to horological history sprang from a dedication to fixing or eliminating some issue that plagued watch wearers. Too tedious to wind your watch every day? Here’s the Perpetual movement (below). Your watch isn...

Hands-On: All It Took Was A New Dial To Make The Black Bay GMT Stand On Its Own

After years of standing in the shadows of its big brother, the Rolex GMT-Master, Tudor steps out into the spotlight.

Hands-On: The New Aquastar Model 60

A faithful retooling of a classic of the skin diver era.

The Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver Chronograph Sets Sail

Introducing: Grand Seiko's Latest Diver – The Evolution 9 5-Day Diver 'Ushio' SLGA023 (Live Pics)

Ride the tide with the brand's latest Spring Drive diver.

Introducing: Formex Reef Radiant Bronze COSC 300M For Collective (With Live Pics)

A handsome, modern, and feature-rich limited dive watch with a striking bronze dial.

Introducing: Aera Expands With New Colors And Upgraded Movements

The Ocean Diver and the Moon Pilot join the young brand's growing lineup.

Introducing: Omega Announces Three New Options To The Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer Line (Including Titanium)

Lasers, ceramic, and travel – these watches have it all.

Introducing: The Doxa Sub 300T Clive Cussler Special Edition (Live Pics)

Inspired by shipwrecks and the ever-adventurous Dirk Pitt, this diver is an artifact to the legacy of the famed author and explorer.

Two Rolex Daytonas owned by Paul Newman and a full-set Comex Sea-Dweller headline Sotheby’s Important Watches auction on June 9

Some people think you need to wait for Watches & Wonders to see new watches, but this June in New York, there are dozens of pieces seeing the light of day for the first time in decades. Over at Sotheby’s New York, two auctions are bringing out some heavy-hitting heroes. In the Important Watches Sale … ContinuedThe post Two Rolex Daytonas owned by Paul Newman and a full-set Comex Sea-Dweller headline Sotheby’s Important Watches auction on June 9 appeared first on Time+Tide Watches.

New: Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer 2023

Omega releases three new worldtimer watches to update their 2023 Seamaster Aqua Terra collection. One in titanium and two in steel cases.

Introducing the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Worldtimer 2023