H2O Kalmar FixedBezel (prototype)

By TLex This prototype H2O Kalmar FixedBezel has been constructed from a single block exotic material, so exotic that it has yet to have been used for the construction of anything I have come across let alone a 3000m dive watch.

Its fantastic wood grain effect is the result the metal's highly specialized forging process. H2O continue to innovate with their use exotic materials and will introduce two extremely limited watch series in February. Stay tuned for more . . .

H2O Watches & Maddog

By TLex H2O Watches have partnered with German handmade strap-maker, Maddog, specialists in vintage ammo and baseball-mitt straps. H2O plan to use Maddog for their next major project due to launch this summer. The first 50 pre-orders will receive a FREE one-of-a-kind handmade leather strap.

No two Maddog straps are ever the same; each have aged slightly differently from each other, each come from a different cut of each of the materials and each with the possibility of a number of stitching types using different yarns.

H2O have 5 Maddog strap series planned:

- Swiss ammo strap from WWII bag leather in dark grey

- Swiss ammo strap from WWII bag leather in black

- Swedish pistol holder leather from WWII in black

- US baseball mitt leather in brown

- US football leather

BLANCPAIN X Fathoms (robbery)

By TLex Below - the aftermath of an attempted burglary that took place on Friday at the Blancpain X Fathoms exhibition at the 'Cité du Temps' in Geneva. Thieves apparently smashed display cases to get at the world's most technologically advanced mechanical dive watches.

Fortunately, nobody was hurt during the robbery, and thanks to an efficient intervention from the SIR security company one of the four thieves was promptly arrested with most of the watches. However the damage caused to several pieces forced Blancpain to close the doors to the event earlier than scheduled.

Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chrono ADVENTURE

By TLex The Jaeger-LeCoultre Deep Sea Chronograph is revealed in the mysterious setting of the submerged subterranean tunnels and passages beneath the city of Paris.

DOXA Splash Gent (waterpark edition!)

By TLex Introducing the new DOXA 'Splash Gent' - really?! The pre-Basel press release of the worryingly named new DOXA came to me via a Swiss media agency. So what does this mean? Is this just symptomatic of DOXA's recent bipolar disorder (another 'Doxa in Asia' offering) or have DOXA entered the fashion business?

When I visit the Doxa booth at the Basel fair this year am I going to find the new 'Splash Gent' unashamedly displayed alongside the latest SUBs or will they have a man outside in a long rain-coat lined with the latest DOXAsian models?! I can't be bothered to tell you about the watch myself because DOXA have summed up their new Splash Gent far better than I could have ever hoped to have done myself!



From DOXA This new line in the Aqua collection by Doxa is pure eye candy. Splash! A watch for active men who grab life by the horns. Date, chronograph and tachymeter are contained inside its 47 mm diameter, along with the three essentials of hours, minutes and seconds.

This feast of colour is dominated by orange and the steel of the case. The rubber strap adds a softer touch to the otherwise distinctly sporty, manly lines. Proposed in six other shades, from bold to subdued, this timepiece loses none of its original and fresh style.

MOVEMENT Quartz

FUNCTIONS Hours, minutes, seconds, date, chronograph and tachymeter

CASE Stainless steel, 47 mm, Seconds engraved on the bezel, Scratchproof, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, Water-resistant to 100 m / 10 ATM

DIAL Black, 30-minute counter at 3 o'clock, 12-hour counter at 6 o'clock, small seconds at 9 o'clock, Luminescent hourmarkers and hands, Tachymeter scale on the flange, Date window at 4 o'clock

STRAP Orange rubber with steel buckle

CREPAS Tektite Giveaway

By TLex CREPAS Watches are the kind sponsors of this month's OceanicTime Giveaway. They are giving away one of just 24 / 199 pieces that are left of their highly coveted TEKTITE diver; a watch inspired by the famous CERTINA DS2 and one that pays tribute to the incredible 'Tektite' aquanaut missions of the late 60s and early 70s.

The watch, which has retail of 670euro houses a Swiss ETA 2824 TOP grade movement and has a water-resistance of 2000m, although it was in fact recently and successfully tested in Germany to 2'500 meters. The watch comes on a polished mesh bracelet along with a custom rubber divers strap and a zulu nylon strap. The lucky winner will receive their watch sometime in mid May, when CREPAS expect to take delivery of the new watches.

HOW TO WIN the CREPAS Tektite . . .

STEP (1) Simply 'LIKE' these FOUR Facebok pages:

Page 1 OceanicTime

Page 2 CREPAS Watches

Page 3 El Buzo by CREPAS

Page 4 t.a.c.t.i.c.o

STEP (2) Send an email to oceanictime@oceanictime.net with the subject marked: 'CREPAS Tektite Giveaway' confirming that you have met the criteria. If you have you entered correctly you will receive a short courtesy email within 48hrs of your entry.

The contest will run from today, February 2nd until March 2nd 2012. The lucky winner will be announced shortly after. Good luck, folks!

BREITLING Chronomat 44 GMT

By TLex BREILTLING continue to expand their Chronomat family. In 2009 BREITLING chose the new flagship Chronomat B01 to house their first in-house calibre. In 2010 they released a Limited Edition of the watch. 2011 saw the release of the Chronomat GMT, which housed the B04, a COSC-certified, 47 jewel Breitling manufacture calibre.

They also released a special Chronomat 44 MOP 'BlackEyed' Edition for the Japanese domestic market as well as the American Tribute watch for the US market. For 2012 Breitling have simply released a scaled down version of the Chronomat GMT. The watch has all the same features and functions, houses the same B04 Cal. but with a 44mm case rather than 47mm . . .

From BREITLING Breitling presents the Chronomat GMT in a new 44 mm diameter, ready to conquer wrists at the four corners of the globe. In addition to its slightly smaller size, this new version stands out for the rotating bezel which displays a third time zone over 24 hours. The Breitling 04 calibre – COSC-certified and developed and manufactured entirely by Breitling – ensures unprecedented ease of use.

Breitling achieves what travellers everywhere have dreamed of: to move instantly to the time and date of their destination, and continue to keep time in their home city over 24 hours, with no loss of precision in the minute display.

MOVEMENT Automatic, Breitling 04 manufacture calibre, COSC-certified, 28,800 vib/h, 47 jewels, power reserve of more than 70 hours

FUNCTIONS Hours, minutes, seconds, date, second time zone over 24 hours on the dial, third time zone on the bezel, chronograph to ¼ of a second, 30-minute and 12-hour counters, tachymeter

CASE Stainless steel, 44 mm, Bi-directional ratcheted rotating bezel, Curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides

WATER-resistant to 200 m / 20 bar

DIAL Sierra silver, Onyx black, Metallica or Blackeye blue, Blackeye grey or Metallica brown Hour and minute hands and hourmarkers enhanced with Superluminova, Tachymeter scale on the flange

BRACELET / Strap Barenia leather, crocodile, Ocean Racer rubber, Diver Pro rubber or Pilot steel

SMW Chronograph Automatic Valjoux 7750

By TLex I'm not sure if I've introduced SMW here before, but I've had them listed under 'MILITARY' watches along with MARATHON (who have an almost identical model in their Chronograph Pilot Watch) for a couple of years now, so you might have already checked them out.

SMW's latest model features a Swiss Made Valjoux Caliber 7750 automatic chronograph movement. It uses H3 illumination technology with 16 trigalights; green is used for the hour markers and hands, and orange for the 12 hour markers on the dial and bezel.

The SMW's 7750 has a day / date display with rapid date and day correction. The chronograph has 1/5 second (100th minute) timing and is housed in an anti-magnetic casing. It has up to 44 hour power reserve. Its 47mm x 14mm Stainless steel case allows up to 30atm / 300M / 990ft water-resistance by using a screwdown crown, chrono pushers and caseback.

It features a uni-directional divers bezel and comes on a steel milanese (mesh) bracelet. Retail is 2'700euro (2'850 for the PVD model). For comparison the MARATHON Chronograph Pilot Watch (see bottom) is 2'700USD (on rubber).

MOVEMENT Valjoux 7750 Automatic Chronograph, 25 Jewels, 28,800 beats per hour, long power reserve for 44 hours

CASE 316 L stainless steel, screwdown 316 L stainless steel, sapphire crystal non-reflecting polished, screw down crown and pushers, 47mm excl. crown, 50mm incl. crown x 14mm thick

WATER-resistance up to 30 atm (= 300m / 990ft)

BRACELET 22mm Milanese / Mesh bracelet

FUNCTIONS Hour, minute, small second, instant setting Day / Date calendar, Chronograph

TRIGALIGHTS Index 12 o'clock: orange, hour markers 1 to 11 : green, Second hand: green, Minute hand: green, Hour hand: green

MARATHON Chronograph Pilot Watch

ORIS Aquis COLLECTION

By TLex INTRODUCING the ORIS Aquis Collection. ORIS' latest diver family and what they say is the result of extensive research and collaborative thinking! The Aquis line consists of three models which are: the Aquis Date, the MALDIVES LE and the Aquis Date DIAMONDS. All Aquis models have a water-resistance of 300m and are equipped with unidirectional divers bezels with ceramic top rings.

The Aquis DATE comes in two case sizes: Gents 43mm or Ladies 36mm. The Gents model comes in two colors; black or blue. The black version has a black dial with a matching black matte finish ceramic bezel insert. The blue version has a blue dial and blue gloss finish ceramic bezel insert.

The Ladies version comes with either a black or white dial with matching gloss finish ceramic top ring. The Aquis Date Diamonds is based on the 36mm Aquis Date. It's only distinguishing feature is the use of 12 set diamonds for its hours markers. It is also available in either black or white with a matching gloss finish ceramic bezel.

The ORIS Maldives Limited Edition is based on the 43mm Aquis Date, however it has a Titanium case construction rather than Stainless steel. Its blue top ring has a matte finish with a single orange marker at 12. Its blue dial features a blue sub-seconds dial and orange hands and hour markers.

AQUADIVE Bathyscaphe 100 BRONZE

By TLex AQUADIVE have a released these two renderings of their stunning new Bathyscaphe 100 BRONZE. There are two crown-strap-bezel color combos: brown and yellow or black, silver and white.