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The Watches

Vulcain Revisits Cricket Nautical 

Vulcain introduces a version of its Cricket Nautical dive watch with a new design that echoes the original from 1961. The new model retains the Nautical’s pioneering alarm and dive-time display but adds a sapphire crystal to the 42.2mm steel case. 

The newest Vulcain Cricket Nautical.

As one of the first dive watches with an alarm, the Cricket Nautical extended the independent watchmaker’s primary claim to fame as a premier Swiss manufacturer of alarm watches.

The new Cricket Nautical makes it a simple task to read the dial indications underwater with two superimposed dials. One of the dials is fixed and the other rotates (via a crown at 4 o’clock) to calculate diving decompression times.

Vulcain’s proprietary system features a rectangular aperture that displays the stop times required at the typical diving depths of nine meters, six meters and three meters when ascending after an extended dive.

Vulcain offers its own ‘Triple Case Back’ case design that acts as a resonance chamber to project the alarm during a dive. A clear caseback version, nicely embellished with the stylized Vulcain V, is also available as an option. (See full specifications below). Likewise, Vulcain also offers a choice of a sapphire or acrylic crystal.

Inside Vulcain fits its owns manual-wind Caliber Vulcain Cricket Manufacture V-10 and protects it with a case water resistant to 300 meters.

Vulcain offers two different dial options with the new Cricket Nautical, each faithful to the original watch from 1961. One option features a black dial, faux-patina indexes and hands and an emerald green minute track.

The second option also features a black dial but with white Super-LumiNova hour markers and hands and a blue minute track. 

Price: $4,862. 

 

Specifications: Vulcain Cricket Nautical

Movement: Vulcain Cricket Manufacture V-10, a hand-wound alarm movement with two barrels, 18,000 vph and a 42-hour power reserve. Decoration includes nickel-plated treatment, blued screws, skeleton ratchets (on sapphire case back version). Functions: Hours, minutes, center seconds, alarm, decompression scale adjustable via screw-in crown at 4 o’clock. Alarm duration is twenty seconds.

Case: 42.2mm by 17.35mm steel with‘Triple Case Back’ that acts as a resonance chamber, allowing the alarm function to be used underwater, or sapphire crystal version embellished with the stylized “V”. Water resistance to 300 meters. 

Dial: Semi-matte black dial with decompression tables. The domed sapphire crystal is treated with an anti-reflective coating; a domed plexiglass version is also available. 

Strap: Black leather with a water-resistant carbon texture, steel pin buckle.

Price: $4,862.

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The Watches

Jaeger-LeCoultre Expands Polaris Date Dial Options

Jaeger-LeCoultre adds a deep green gradient dial option to its Polaris Date collection.

The new hue, which debuted in May, nicely echoes the colors of the deep sea, where the original Memovox Polaris, this watch’s antecedent, was built to explore when Jaeger-LeCoultre introduced it in 1968.

The Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris Date, with a new dial color.

While this 42mm version of the famed dive model was first seen in 2018, it retains all the same design cues of the original model, especially its mobile inner bezel, controlled by the crown at 2 o’clock, and its off-white markers.

For this new edition Jaeger-LeCoultre mixes opaline, grained and sunray surfaces, each of which defines a key dial segment. You’ll see a color gradient that ranges from light olive to darker rainforest green, depending on the available light. Then, the watchmaker’s renowned artisans add a coat of translucent lacquer to add extra depth to the dial.

The dial is protected by retro-style box crystal and a transparent sapphire case-back exposing Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Caliber 899, an automatic movement with an impressive seventy hours of power reserve. Water resistance is 200 meters.

Jaeger-LeCoultre is matching the new green-dialed Polaris Date with a green rubber strap that is equipped with a quick-change system. The watch is a Boutique Edition. Price: $9,200.

 

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The Watches

Benrus Re-issues Type II Dive Watch

Benrus re-launches the Type II dive watch, one of the historic American brand’s best-known military watches.

The Benrus Type II dive watch.

Echoing the earlier Benrus Type I, the new retro-inspired model retains the original’s no-logo dial that focuses the eye only toward its strictly functional 12/24-hour ring with its ultra-clear numerals, markers and hands, all of which are highly infused with SuperLumiNova. The bi-directional rotating 12-hour bezel and double-domed sapphire crystal underscore the dive watch’s primary function, which is also aided with a 300-meter water resistance rating.

Benrus originally produced the Type I and Type II as U.S.-military-specified dive watches between 1972 and 1980 with no changes to the design. Benrus notes that approximately 16,000 Type I and II watches were produced and issued to the Elite Forces from the Vietnam War through the 1980s, but were never made available to the public.

“Since the release of the Type I, we have made it our mission to retell the significance Benrus had in watchmaking history with the U.S. military,” says Michael Goeller, COO of Benrus.

As with the earlier release of the Type I, Benrus says this newest reissue “faithfully follows original design details with improvements for everyday use and to meet and/or exceed the original military specifications.”

The watch’s engraved caseback features original markings.

The new watch is a 42.5mm steel model fit with a Soprod P024 automatic movement with 38-hour power reserve. Benrus will make 500 individually numbered Type II watches with an engraved caseback featuring original markings. Each will be supplied with a black two-piece nylon seatbelt NATO strap with quick release functionality. Price: $1,495.

 

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Oris

Oris ‘Oyster’ Diver Raises Funds to Clean New York Harbor

Oris continues its industry leading efforts to clean up our oceans with a new watch created to benefit the Billion Oyster Project, a non-profit working to restore New York Harbor’s oyster population. Sometime called the ocean’s trees, oyster colonies create ecosystems for other marine life, and form natural storm barriers.

The new Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition.

The new Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition is a 2,000-piece limited edition based on its 41.5mm steel-cased Aquis diver’s watch collection (see full list of specifications below). Oris devised a green mother-of-pearl dial inspired by the color of the harbor’s water and by the shimmering nacre of the oyster shell.

Note that Oris has long been a proponent of cleaning the oceans and has partnered with numerous environmental organizations over the years as part of its Change for Better program. Just last year Climate Partner independently certified Oris as a climate neutral company. As detailed in its Sustainability Report, Oris plans to reduce its climate footprint by ten per cent a year for the next three years.

Billion Oyster Project began in 2014. Founded by educators Murray Fisher and Pete Malinowski, it has brought together 11,000 volunteers, 8,000 students, 100 
New York City schools and more than fifty restaurant partners together to place oysters and build reefs.

Thus far, the Project has introduced 75 million juvenile oysters to eighteen restoration sites in New York Harbor, and the oyster population is now self-sustaining.

 

Oris will release the New York Harbor Limited Edition with a special presentation box that also includes a rubber strap, metal bracelet and strap-changing tool. Price: $2,700.

 

Specifications: Oris New York Harbor Limited Edition

(Limited edition of 2,000 numbered pieces)

Case: 41.5mm stainless steel case, unidirectional rotating bezel, stainless steel bezel with minutes scale in relief
, 
 sapphire crystal domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
, screwed caseback in stainless steel with special engravings, steel screw-in security crown
, water resistance to 300 meters.

Dial: Green, mother-of-pearl, luminous hands and indices.

Strap: Green rubber, supplied with additional multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet with folding clasp with extension and strap changing tool.

Movement: Automatic Oris 733 (Sellita-based) showing hours, minutes and central sweep seconds hands, date with quick setting, stop second device, date window at 6 o’clock. 
Power reserve of 38 hours.

Price: $2,700.

 

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The Watches

Tutima’s Sturdy Seven Seas Goes Green (and Yellow)

Tutima adds two models to its excellent M2 Seven Seas S adventure watch collection, and both catch the eye with a steel case and two interesting green or yellow gradient dials.

This newer of the M2 Seven Seas collections adds an S to its name to denote a use of a brushed and partially polished 43mm stainless steel case rather than a titanium case.

Where previous steel models offer red or blue dials, the newest M2 Seven Seas S offers a yellow or green dial, but with a twist. In the center, each dial option invites the viewer to enjoy the color’s slowly darkening hue until the color turns darkest along its periphery.

The new M2 Seven Seas S from Tutima Glashütte.

Glashütte-based Tutima then continues the gradient effect by enlisting the leather bracelet, which is colored to match the green on the dial of both new models.

Of course, Tutima offers a steel bracelet as well, priced with a very fair $400 premium, for those who prefer a more traditional approach.

The watch retains the collection’s full array of nautical-ready specifications, including a screwed crown, threaded caseback and, critically, an extra-thick (three-mm) pane of sapphire crystal protecting the dial. The unidirectional rotating bezel with a marker at the “12” is both functional and eye-catching.

The hands and markers here are wide and exceptionally easy to read. Tutima enhances that visibility by placing a generous coat of SuperLuminova on the markers, hands and the dot at the top of the dial.

Tutima’s use of both a screw-in caseback and an extra-thick crystal contribute to the very strong 500-meter water resistance rating for the M2 Seven Seas series. Inside the M2 Seven Seas S Tutima places its automatic ETA-based Caliber 330 that exhibits a standard 38-hour power reserve when fully wound.

Prices: $1,900 (leather strap) and $2,300 (steel bracelet).

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