Watches: divers’ delights
Three reinventions of the classic diver’s watch. By Ben Oliver
It’s only been three issues since we last featured a new crop of diver’s watches on this page, but they’re hard to avoid. This one very specific activity has had a greater influence on watch design than any other, despite only being practised by a tiny minority of customers. Not that the car industry can criticise: every issue of this magazine features a new SUV that won’t be used off-road. These three are all wholly deserving of inclusion, though – interesting, great value, and not from the usual big Swiss brands.
01 I Seiko 5 Sports 2021 Limited Edition £260
Seiko invited fans to create a new watch for its 5 Sports range, and this won. It’s a keenly priced mash-up of the gold dial and ‘Pepsi’ bezel from the Seiko worn by Colonel William Pogue on the Skylab space station, and the 4 o’clock crown from the Seiko diver’s watch Martin Sheen wore in Apocalypse Now. seikowatches.com
02 I Ball Engineer II Skindiver Heritage £1750
The design of Ball watches can be fussy, but this version of its Engineer II at first seems more restrained with its black titanium carbide finish. Then at night – or at depth – tiny tubes filled with triatomic hydrogen light up brighter than any other type of luminescence in six candy colours (as seen on the right of the photo). ballwatch.com
03 I Alsta Nautoscaph IV £675
A classic diver’s watch with its 300m water resistance, brushed marine-grade 316L stainless steel construction, SuperLumiNova luminescent markings and simple dial. Best-known for appearing on Richard Dreyfuss’s wrist in Jaws, Alsta made dive watches in the ’60s and ’70s before being revived by Scottish entrepreneur Angus MacFadyen in 2017. alstawatch.com