Diving into the underwater market
A robust, reliable watch is just as important as a snug, watertight wetsuit for professional divers prior to jumping into the ocean.
As critical underwater tools, diving watches are used to indicate dive time and for calculating oxygen levels and decompression stops. Accordingly, they need to be accurate and readable, with clear displays.
Swiss brand Oris plunged into this category in 2006, and became the official watch partner of Venezuelan freediver Carlos Coste, who has been honoured in limited edition chronographs.
Launched in 2011, the Aquis range is a functional watch series that extends its sporty look to everyday wear, besides being an underwater accessory.
Latest models include a new version of Aquis Depth Gauge and Aquis Date, with luminous yellow and orange elements on the dial, and striking straps in these two colours.
The bright colours, while making a fashion statement, are for better readability.
Yellow, orange, and green are the most conspicuous colours through water, according to Perception And Performance Under Water, a seminal 1974 study by John A Adolfson and Thomas E Berghage.
They found that in clear water, where most recreational diving takes place, fluorescent green and yellow are most visible at long distance, and fluorescent orange at short distance.
The new 46mm Aquis Depth Gauge thus has been redesigned in yellow. The original model was introduced in 2013 as the first mechanical model, dubbed the “watch with a hole”, as it measures depth by allowing water to enter the timepiece.
Oris patented depth gauge function has, at the 12 o’clock position, an inlet that allows water into a channel milled into the outside edge of the sapphire crystal covering the dial.
Air inside the channel is compressed as water pressure builds during a dive, letting water in. The resulting watermark corresponding to yellow depth gauge indications marked on the crystal gives the diver a clear readout to a depth of 100m.
Gaskets between the crystal and the case make the watch water-resistant to 50 bar (500m).
The second version of the Aquis Depth Gauge comes in a steel case with a resilient, sporty black DLC finish, and a unidirectional rotating bezel inlay made of tungsten, a material as hard as emerald.
It is presented in a waterproof case with yellow and black changeable straps, featuring a safety anchor preventing the strap from breaking loose, and a sliding sledge clasp enabling easy adjustment.
The smaller 43mm Aquis Date is not only orange in the hydrophobic rubber strap; there is an orange 15-minute scale on the bezel insert, and applied indices and nickel hands in a dark orange Super-LumiNova® for better underwater readability.
The orange elements are designed for maximum contrast against an unidirectional rotating bezel with a black ceramic inlay, a black dial and a gun-metal grey stainless steel PVD-coated case.
Water-resistant to 30 bar (300m), the case features a screw-in crown protected from knocks by a protecting device.
With a 38-hour power reserve, both new timepieces are fitted with an automatic movement as Oris only makes mechanical watches, with diving as one of the four themes, the other three being culture, aviation and motorsport.