In case you missed the unveiling last month, Doxa has added white to the six existing colors within the Swiss dive-watch maker’s classic SUB 200 collection.
The new Doxa Whitepearl.
The new Doxa Whitepearl will be the only all-white model throughout the SUB family, which also includes the SUB 300 and SUB 1500T collections. Existing options range from classic black dial (Sharkhunter) to silver (Searambler) and even Aquamarine, to the original emblematic orange dial, which Doxa first launched in 1967.
The Doxa Whitepearl retains the SUB 200’s 42mm steel case with its handsome domed ‘glass box’ sapphire crystal, unidirectional rotating bezel and screw-down crown.
As you might expect, the SUB 200 is water-resistant to 200 meters and features a generous dollop of white SuperLuminova coating on all dive-related displays. Equipped with an ETA automatic movement, the SUB 200 offers a power reserve of approximately 38 hours.
Doxa offers the SUB 200 Whitepearl either with its excellent stainless steel ‘rice bead’ mesh bracelet with folding clasp, or with a sporty white rubber strap. Doxa now offers the strap in two sizes, standard and small, perhaps to underscore a unisex vibe for this fashionable and technically proficient dive watch.
The new Franck Muller Skafander integrates a diving theme with a tonneau-shaped case – a combination rarely seen among marine-focused watch designs. Because divers require a unidirectional rotating bezel to assess correct dive time, watches for divers typically utilize a round case built with a round bezel.
Two examples of the new Franck Muller Skafander.
Here, Franck Muller has devised a functional round diver’s bezel, but has placed it inside the Skafander’s large tonneau case, a shape deeply familiar to aficionados of this iconoclastic independent watchmaker. Once set and locked, the Skafander’s dive time is secured with a clearly labeled lock, which insures that the bezel won’t be accidently altered.
While not an officially certified dive watch, the Skafander will retain its water resistance to 100 meters, which allows wearers full, worry-free use while at the beach, boating – or in the pool.
Franck Muller offers the Skafander in a range of case metals, including titanium, steel and rose gold, all with a semi-skeletonized dial that allows a view into the automatic movement below.
Skippers might prefer the highly visible titanium-cased models with blue or yellow accents, or even the blue-accented watch cased in steel. We suspect the boat’s owner, however, might opt to the ritzier rose gold model.
Price: CHF 14,800 (about $16,100, for titanium models only).
Specifications: Franck Muller Skafander (titanium case edition)
Case: 46mm x 57mm x 15.60mm titanium with black PVD treatment. Water resistant to 100 meters.
Movement: Automatic, offering 42 hours power reserve.
Dial: Unidirectional internal rotating bezel indicating the diving time. Half-openwork movement in the center.
Strap: Blue rubber. More colors available with steel and gold models.
If diving with the eye-catching Reservoir Limited-Edition Hydrosphere Bronze on your wrist isn’t enough of an inducement to buying the technically unique dive watch, perhaps you’ll be enticed by an invitation to dive wearing it alongside renowned diver and photographer Greg Lecoeur.
The Reservoir Hydrosphere Greg Lecoeur Limited Edition.
The new inducement means each buyer of the Hydrosphere Greg Lecoeur Limited Edition will be offered a half-day of diving with Lecoeur in the Port-Cros national park in Hyères, France, during a session in September (not including insurance, accommodation and transportation).
Lecoeur is also a supporter of coral protection, and funds from the sale of each special edition Hydrosphere Bronze will be donated to the replanting of a coral through the Coral Gardeners Association.
Reservoir and Lecoeur have teamed to design and produce the fifty-piece limited edition of the bronze-cased watch. Lecoeur chose a blue sunray dial for the limited edition, and each watch will be delivered with a package of photographs from one of his exploration notebooks, all placed into in a handy waterproof carrying case.
The new fifty-piece limited edition series also features a Greg Lecoeur engraving on the back and his name on the dial.
Reservoir’s Hydrosphere stands alone as the only single-hand functional dive watch we’ve seen. And while we’ve seen bronze encase more than a few nautically themed watches in recent years, the Hydrosphere’s unusual retrograde minute display and jumping hour module set it apart from traditional dive models while still upholding a diver’s need for highly legible dive timing, unidirectional bezel, helium valve and strong water resistance (here rated to 250 meters). Price: $4,850.
Case: 45mm bronze with satin finish, unidirectional ceramic rotating bezel with double scale for reading the time at different diving depths before and after the retrograde minute hand’s return, helium valve, stainless steel screwed back, screw-down crown, water resistant to 250 meters.
Dial: Blue with sundial finish, white index, magnifier on the jumping-hour window. Movement: Automatic with patented proprietary 124-piece module on ETA 2824-2 caliber, with retrograde minutes, jumping hour, power reserve of 37 hours, power reserve indicator.
Strap: Black rubber screwed onto the body, additional blue NATO strap provided, mounted on bronze stirrups.
As summer ramps up, Tutima Glashütte launches two brightly colored versions of its appealing M2 Seven Seas titanium dive watch series. The 44mm series now includes a model with a bright orange dial and one with a yellow dial. Both colors are familiar to dive watch enthusiasts, though Tutima seems to utilize somewhat brighter examples of these two high-visibility hues to draw attention to the dials on the new pair.
Tutima’s newest M2 Seven Seas model, here with orange dial and matching inner strap lining and stitching.
Also new here is a special two-component strap made of dial-color-matching rubber inside and black Kevlar exterior lined with yellow or orange stitching. Tutima also offers both watches with its excellent titanium bracelet (priced with a very fair $400 premium).
These new models are the first additions to the German-based Tutima’s M2 Seven Seas collection since 2015, and as such they retain the collection’s full array of dive-ready specifications, including a screwed crown, a threaded caseback and, critically, an extra-thick (three-mm) pane of sapphire crystal protecting the dial.
As is required on a dive watch, the hands and markers here 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 12 o’clock position on the unidirectional rotating bezel.
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 Tutima places its automatic ETA-based Caliber 330 that exhibits a standard 38-hour power reserve when fully wound. Prices: $1,900 (strap model) and $2,300 (titanium bracelet model).
Early diving watches were purpose-built instruments designed to tackle the rigors of our underwater environments. In the earliest examples the focus really was on function. The ability to withstand the static and dynamic pressures of submersion was joined by the need to register time under water at a glance as well as being able to tell that the watch was in-fact running.
These basic needs drove the form-follows-function groundwork for all diver types now homologated under the ISO 6425 standard.
During the early days of hard hat and SCUBA diving, these designs first came to life as underwater tools that have now (d)evolved to become themselves an iconic look that both SCUBA and desk divers alike have come to appreciate.
The new Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark Diver.
In the case of the Ulysse NardinLemon Shark Diver series you can be assured that the sensual interaction with the watch confirms it is in-fact a well-built timepiece comfortable in or out of the water. And while some brands take the basic type into stranger waters with extraneous bells, whistles, and shocking palettes of color, the Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark watch is, like the Lemon Shark itself, a subtler example of evolution.
The Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark won’t jump off your wrist and demand to be seen like the “porthole” watches from the early days of our universe any more than a Lemon Shark will jump fifteen feet out of the water to grab a seal like its bigger cousin, the Great White.
The details
Playing with a luxury watch like the Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark is always a multi-faceted experience. The click of a unidirectional rotating bezel excites both aural and physical feedback and can quickly indicate the nature of the watch under it. Connoisseurs look for a smooth action paired with a subtle “snicking” of 120 (or 60) clicks with little to no backlash – as opposed to the sandy crunch of lesser watches that have rotating bezels that sound and feel like you’re working a peppermill over your Caesar salad.
Details like the easy-grip concave bezel (protecting the crystal), machined crown (easy to manipulate), and recycled netting strap (clean conscience) don’t necessarily leap out at you by themselves, but they combine to form a complete wristwatch that is well built, tough as nails, and easy on the eyes.
Even the touches of yellow are not overdone. Ulysse Nardin could have easily decided to place an all-yellow dial with black accents on the Lemon Shark – and few would argue that is not a great look, but that bold look has been done time and again. Credit to the brand for taking a more sober and refined approach to this 42mm black DLC beauty.
Under the recessed and slightly domed sapphire crystal is a matte-finish dial, wide stick-type hands, and applied markers with touches of “lemon” yellow and superior lume on the hands and markers.
Rated to 300 meters without using the superfluous helium release valve, the Lemon Shark is powered by the automatic winding mechanical caliber UN 816. The 816 will hum away at 28,800 bph for 42 hours when fully wound and benefits from Ulysse Nardin’s long history using silicium components in the escapement for both accuracy and longevity. Limited to 300 pieces, each Lemon Shark Diver features three sharks on the oil-pressed case back and retails for $7,300.
The back of the watch offers a Lemon Shark engraving.
Beyond the watches, Ulysse Nardin has partnered with Chris Fischer and the Ocearch research team as well as the Florida International University to sponsor research and conservation of lemon sharks as well as other marine species and also supports the Aquarius underwater research habitat for humans located 63 feet under water off of Islamorada in the Florida Keys.
Champion freediver and photographer Fred Buyle, with his Ulysse Nardin Lemon Shark Diver.
