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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Adds Shark-Themed Great White Chronograph

Ulysse Nardin launches the Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White, a shark-themed version of its Diver Chronograph, and expands its fund-raising for shark conservation.

The Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White.

The new watch is the latest of the Le Locle-based watchmaker’s extensive collection of shark-themed models. 

Ulysse Nardin launched its first such line in 2010 with the Diver Hammerhead and has added several shark-themed watches since that time, including the Diver Blue Shark (2019) and last year’s Diver Lemon Shark. Each debut included a fund-raising element for shark environmental health.

Ulysse Nardin pairs the debut of the new watch with several environmental initiatives. These include donating to One Percent For The Planet, which means Ulysse Nardin will donate one percent of annual sales of all “shark watches” to support non-profit organizations focused on sharks.

Mike Coots wears the new Ulysse Nardin Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White.

Ulysse Nardin will also partner with Sharktrust, a leading European shark conservation charity. In addition, the watchmaker adds shark expert and photographer Mike Coots to its ‘friends of the brand” list. 

The new watch is a 44mm titanium-cased chronograph with a white, unidirectional rotating rubberized bezel. The bezel frames a grey “shark skin” dial with blue and white accents and the words Great White just below the Ulysse Nardin logo.

Not surprisingly, you’ll find a shark silhouette on the watch’s white rubber strap. An image of a great white shark is stamped on the case back. As a serious dive watch, water resistance is a full 300 meters.

Inside Ulysse Nardin fits its excellent automatic Caliber UN-150 with silicon escapement wheel, anchor and balance spring.

Ulysse Nardin is making the Diver Chronograph 44mm Limited Edition Great White as a limited series of 300 pieces. Price: $13,300. 

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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Expands Diver X Skeleton

Building on its hot blue-hued Diver X Skeleton collection, Ulysse Nardin adds a new version, the Diver X Skeleton Black, which blackens the titanium watch’s openwork design and swaps in bright yellow accents to replace the orange color of the earlier model.

The new Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton Black.

With the new 44mm dive watch, Ulysse Nardin extends its X-themed design within its well-stocked dive watch collection. As the third X-series model thus far in the dive series, the watch underscores its avant-garde design with a sharp-looking concave black carbon bezel and barrel cover, a clear view into its movement and a series of yellow dial and case accents.

Ulysse Nardin protects the automatic UN-371 movement (visible through the front and back of the case) with a domed sapphire front crystal, a sapphire back crystal and a case water resistant to 200 meters. The movement, which Ulysse Nardin originally created for its Blast Skeleton collection, has been improved with the addition of an oscillating X-shaped weight. Ulysse Nardin also coats the hands and indexes with white or yellow tinted SuperLuminova.

Ulysse Nardin calls the X-Skeleton design “one of the most technical and complex developments ever undertaken by Ulysse Nardin.” To make the hour indexes appear as if they are floating over the movement, technicians covertly connected them to what passes for a dial on this skeletonized watch. In addition, Ulysse Nardin built the dominant X atop the dial using multiple layers, each finished differently to better reflect the light that naturally streams into an open-worked dial.

Ulysse Nardin will make the Diver X Skeleton Black as a limited edition of 175. It will come with both a yellow rubber strap and a black fabric R-strap made of up-cycled polyamide derived from fishing nets. Price: $28,500.

 

Specifications: Ulysse Nardin Diver X Skeleton Black

(Limited edition of 175 timepieces)  

Movement: Automatic UN-372 Manufacture Caliber, skeletonized and with extra-large silicon oscillator, silicon escape wheel, anchor and balance spring. 21,600 Vph with 72-hour power reserve.

Dial: Skeleton dial, X-shaped black PVD, black indexes and hands with SuperLuminova.

Case: 44mm titanium black DLC sandblasted and satin finished, concave black Carbonium unidirectional rotating bezel with a domed sapphire glass. Case back is black DLC titanium with sapphire crystal. Water resistance to 200 meters.

Strap: Black R-Strap with scratch closing, 100% recycled fishing nets, yellow rubber strap with Ulysse Nardin black ceramic element at 6 o’clock and black ceramic and titanium deployant buckle.

Price: $25,800

 

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Alpina

Alpina Debuts Recycled-Steel-Case Diver

Alpina launches the Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda, its first timepiece made with a 100% recycled stainless steel case. The watch, named to pay tribute to the Calanda, the first ship to fly the Swiss flag, uses recycled steel sourced from the shipping industry and made by Thyssen Krupp. Alpina pairs the watch’s 42mm case with a recycled plastic wristband.

The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda.

The Geneva-based watchmaker adds the new dive watch to its expanding lines of eco-friendly models. You might recall that Alpina also launched the Seastrong Diver Gyre Automatic collection in 2020. That watch features a case made largely (70%) from plastic fishing net debris. In addition, that model’s strap is made using recycled plastic bottles while its box is made from recycled plastic.

Available as a limited edition of 300 units, the Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic Calanda’s case is polished with a satin finish, while its unidirectional rotating notched bezel is brush-finished. Alpina embeds the hour and minute hands with vintage beige luminescence and tips the seconds hand with a red triangle Alpina logo.

Alpina sets the watch’s matte black dial with appliqué indexes that have also been brushed with the vintage beige luminescence. Fit with an AL-525 Sellita-based automatic movement, the watch is water-resistant to 300 meters thanks to its full screw-in case back and crown. Alpina embellishes the caseback with mountain peaks placed under a trident in a nod to the watch’s seaworthiness.

As noted above, Alpina has paired the watch’s recycled case with a recycled plastic (PET) strap in grey and black. Each watch comes in a case entirely made from recycled plastic, alongside a single-page warranty and a certificate of authenticity printed on FSC Recycled-certified paper.

Price: $1,895.

 

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The Watches

Deep Blue’s New Hues

By Gary Girdvainis

When the press releases come in from Deep Blue showing its newest watches, you know you’re in for a happy horological moment. It still boggles the mind how the U.S.-based Deep Blue can put such a great kit of components and finished watch into such a small retail price.

Lately our lead man at Deep Blue has broken away from traditional colors and added fashion-forward findings to the brand to create the Juggernaut V, the Rally Diver 1000 Swiss Automatic and the Ocean Diver 500.

The Deep Blue Ocean Diver 500.

While these somewhat playful takes on timepieces may look like lightweight fun, the reality is that each and every one of these lively liberators of conventional coloration is built on a solid base that will take the abuse – and beg for use.

Three series

Commonalties abound within each of the three series featured here, which is also a big part of why they can be made so well at such a low price.

In watchmaking, volume matters. If you can buy cases, movements and other components in larger quantities, you can (if you choose) pass the savings along the end customer.

The Deep Blue Rally Diver 1000 Swiss Automatic.

As any micro-brand maker can attest, buying and building 500 watches can be an expensive endeavor on a per-unit basis. Double, treble or larger multiples will quickly bring pricing down. What Deep Blue has done is to take the canvas of a solid 44mm case/crystal/bezel combination and painted radically differing pictures in timekeeping upon them.

Each watch in these collections shares the recently released Ronda Cal R150 automatic winding mechanical movement inside the 44mm by 15mm cases. For those not familiar with the R150, Ronda first introduced it to the press in 2016, but it has been slow to come to market inside branded watches. It beats at 28,800 with a typical power reserve at 40 hours, has 25 jewels and is similar in size and spec to the ETA 2824 series.

All three of these Deep Blue collections also feature AR-coated sapphire on the front as well as an exhibition back. One small difference in the case is that the Ocean Diver incorporates a helium-release valve to bump up the water resistance to 500 meters from 300 meters on the Pro-Diver design.

Colors

What’s clearly different are the dials, hands, straps, bracelets and colors. The effect of changing from any of the straps to a fully integrated bracelet creates a very different vibe.

Matching or contrasting the panoply of colors with the right strap makes the most of Deep Blues new hues. Retail prices are in the $600-$800 range but Deep Blue often runs specials that seem almost too good to be true, so it’s always worth checking the site: www.deepbluewatches.com.

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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Launches Eco-Friendly Dive Watches

Ulysse Nardin this week debuts the Ocean Race Diver, a commercial version of its environmentally friendly Diver Net concept watch launched in 2020.

The new Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver might be the greenest luxury watch available.

With a strap created entirely from recycled fishing nets and a case and caseback made using recycled steel, a carbon composite called Carbonium and more recycled fishing nets, the new Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver might be the greenest luxury watch available. Ulysse Nardin teamed with French recycling experts Fil&Fab to source and develop the recycled material for the new collection.

Ulysse Nardin wants to raise awareness to protect the oceans by creating “new from old and regenerating materials, especially plastic.” The watchmaker co-branded the watch with its partner, the around-the-globe Ocean Race, for which Ulysse Nardin is official timer.

On the case back, the sapphire crystal is embellished with a white transfer of the logo of the brand’s partner, The Ocean Race.

As a 44mm dive watch, the Ocean Race Diver is water-resistant to 300 meters and features a high-visibility, green-accented unidirectional bezel made using Carbonium, the same fibers that are used for the fuselage and wings of the latest-generation aircrafts. The manufacture of Carbonium has a 40% lower environmental impact than other carbon composites, since it makes use of the offcuts of aircraft parts, according to Ulysse Nardin.

Ulysse Nardin taps an automotive industry steel recycling channel for the 44mm case, which is 80% to 85% recycled.

Ulysse Nardin teamed with Fil & Fab to make the strap and other components using recycled fishing nets.

Diver X

The watch’s dial echoes the watchmaker’s Diver X series with a double X signature on the dial, a power reserve indicator at the top and a small seconds hand at 6 o’clock. The dial, toned down when compared to the concept version, is composed of neutral textured anthracite (ruthenium) surface treatment.

Like the brand’s X-Skeleton series, you’ll also find the Ulysse Nardin logo etched into the crown and a visible crown protector.

Ulysse Nardin’s own dial maker stamps its double X on the dial with its half-matte, half-satin finish.

Even the movement, Ulysse Nardin’s own UN-118, is made with materials 95% sourced within a 30 km radius of the Manufacture, half of them coming from recycling channels (recycled steel and brass). All Ulysse Nardin movements utilize recycled brass.

The watch will be sold in a water-resistant pouch slipped into a dry bag recycled from the sea by Helly Hansen, a brand that is also a partner of the round-the-world Ocean Race.

Ulysse Nardin will offer the watch as a limited edition of 200 pieces starting in June. Price: $11,500.

 

Specifications: Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver

Reference: (1183-170LE-1A-TOR/0A
UN-118)

Movement: Caliber UN 118 manufacture, 
Silicium & DiamonSil escapement technology. Power reserve is 60 hours.

Case: 
44mm steel with unidirectional concave rotating bezel, bezel decoration 100% Carbonium, sapphire crystal, 300 meters of water resistance.

  • Side-case and case-back 40% Carbonium and 60% recycled fishing nets.
  • Stainless steel case at least 80% recycled from automotive industry.

Dial: 
Green Super-LumiNova markers, 
 anthracite (ruthenium) surface treatment 
Double X
, The Ocean Race logo (white transfer), power reserve indicator.

Strap: Recycled from fishing nets, gray with green and white stitches, scratch closing.

Price: $11,500.

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