The Vittorium DEEPDIVER came presented in a luxurious lacquered wooden box with a soft velvety lining. Lovely as the box was, I would have much preferred to see the DEEPDIVER presented in a sportier travel-type case and perhaps supplied with an additional strap and hex-key for strap changes. A very nice presentation, but no real excitement!
AESTHETIC
From the front (face on) the DEEPDIVER exudes a sporty youthful spirit; the polished bezel is a little flashy, but in truth is the only polished area that’s immediately visible. From the sides and the back the DEEPDIVER is really an interesting looking watch. Its design, which could be considered avant-garde combines strong contemporary design elements with a slew of well executed and imaginative details that give the DEEPDIVER its curious yet stylish aesthetic.
DIAL The DEEPDIVER has a clean sporty black carbon fiber dial marked out with double deck Superluminova applied Arabic numerals and hour markers. I think the use of the Vittorium icon as the 12 o’clock marker was very apt, it works for me. Being a bit of font junky I appreciate the use of the PS3 font on the WR text, very modern. The DEEPDIVER's inner ring, which bears the Vittorium name (albeit a design cue taken straight from Rolex) is yet another example of how detailed a watch the DEEPDIVER is.
HANDS the tear drop handset fits in well with the overall aesthetic of the watch, because they are so wide they offer the perfect canvas for a really good lume application; however they haven’t been coated with quite as much lume as they could have been, a bit of a shame.
CASE
The DEEPDIVER's 47mm case has been constructed form brushed 316L marine grade stainless steel. It has a dual case construction, which takes on two contrasting forms. The outer part, which wraps around the inner like some kind of aquatic entity that has latched itself onto the watch housing, has been beautifully sculpted. Its form, free flowing like liquid, its outer surfaces brushed with a fine lustrous finish, its inner surfaces highly polished, as is the watch housing itself. The sculpting continues through to the DEEPDIVER's massive lugs, which have been fitted with a huge hex-key attachment system. This is quite a complex case design, but one that stirs the imagination.
BEZEL The DEEPDIVER has 120-click unidirectional bezel, which displays an elapsed dive time scale marked out in increments of 5mins. The bezel upper has been finished with a high polish, whereas its sides sport a black DLC coated ring, a design feature unique to the Vittorium DEEPDIVER. Aesthetically the 16-sided polished bezel looks attractive, but I personally feel a brushed finish might have worked better.
The bezel is as it should be, firm with a nice even movement. However it unfortunately lacks the required lume pip at 12 o’clock and suffers from a low profile, which when coupled with its glassy high-polished surface makes manipulation a little harder than I would like. Don’t get me wrong it’s not terrible, just not good.
CASEBACK A mixture of brushed, polished and textured stainless steel surfaces; the DEEPDIVER's screw down caseback is (again) as detailed as the rest of the watch. Starting from the center, where a large polished raised Vittorium icon, Vittorium lettering and badge which displays its limited number of 2’000 can be found, then onto its brushed perimeter where many of the watch’s specs can be seen. Finally, the outer perimeter of the case has been polished.
CROWN The DEEPDIVER sports a large cylindrically shaped crown, which has been thoughtfully designed in such a way as to echo the sculpting of the case sides. The crown has been signed and polished; its stem is nice and sturdy. Thumbs up!
GLASS the DEEPDIVER has flat sapphire crystal. The crystal has an anti-reflective coating on the inside of the glass, the quality of which is excellent. The dial is visible even from the most acute angles, in fact you can hardly notice the glass is there most of time, as is the case with crystals that have been coated on both sides.
WATER-RESISTANCE
I have to admit when I first read the specification sheet for the DEEPDIVER and discovered that it was only rated to 200 meters I was a little surprised.
The Vittorium DEEPDIVER is a deep diver in name only.
MOVEMENT
Swiss ETA Caliber F06. Its functions include hours, minutes and central seconds. The ETA F06 can be equipped either with or without a date, this particular one lacks a date function. Quartz movements are exceptionally accurate.
STRAP & BUCKLE
The DEEPDIVER has long black rubber strap, which has been constructed from Swiss made rubber; I couldn’t tell you what the intrinsic value of Swiss rubber is, but the quality is excellent. It’s quite firm to the touch yet soft enough and supple enough to comfortably wrap around your wrist. The top part of the strap where it meets the lugs has been embossed with the Vittorium icon. At the other end the rubber end slides neatly and securely under double signed stoppers.
BUCKLE The DEEPDIVER's massive custom buckle is one of its best features. It has been constructed from a single piece of high-grade stainless steel, the design of which puts it right up there with buckles like that of BURAN Stingray; if only Vittorium had gone the extra mile and used the same hex-keys that the lugs have rather than standard pins, it would have been perfect. As it is, it’s still an exceptionally well made and beautifully designed buckle; kudos!
FUNCTIONALITY
Functionality-wise the DEEPDIVER as back up to a dive-computer is somewhat lacking. It would be hard to get a good purchase on the bezel with a divers glove owing to its low-profile and it lacks the required lume pip at 12 o’clock. The watch has the bare minimum that I usually like to see on dive watch and by some standards / regulations 200 meters is considered insufficient as true dive watch. The lume isn’t nearly as bright as I would like either.
On the plus-side; the DEEPDIVER has an incredible hex-key lug attachment system, its rubber strap is of a good length and the rubber is of a high quality, the buckle is FANTASTIC and as previously mentioned the DEEPDIVER's sapphire crystal has exceptional anti-reflective capabilities. The watch is also fitted with highly accurate Swiss quartz movement.
WEAR-ABILITY You’re asking the wrong person really! I’d find solid block of steel comfortable if you told me it was cool dive watch. The DEEPPDIVER is a big solid watch with quite a long lug to lug length. If you have an appreciation for big and formidable looking watches you’ll no doubt happily wear the DEEPDIVER all day long, as I do, if you’re the kind or person who already finds the thought of wearing a 44mm watch daunting, then pass.
DURABILITY
316L marine grade stainless steel, sapphire crystal, dual case construction, screw down crown and caseback, carbon fiber and Swiss made rubber. This is a tough watch, I wish it had a higher depth rating, it doesn’t! Nevertheless I’m confident that it will hold up admirably over the years. I do wonder a little about the maintenance of such a complicated case design with so many different finishes and surfaces, it might be a little hard to upkeep.
BUILD QUALITY Vittorium take great pride in the fact that their DEEPDIVER is ‘Swiss Made’; to be really honest ‘Swiss made’ has kind of lost its meaning for me over the years. There are scores of shoddy fashion divers branded about with ‘Swiss Made’ on their dials. They’ve met the requirements to get the text on their dials, but aren’t necessarily any better made watches than those that have been built elsewhere. What I am far more interested in, is actual build quality, for me this has a far greater value than any text on the dial. I can confidently say that the DEEPDIVER has been very nicely built, it lives up to its Swiss seal of quality and the workmanship is of a very high standard.
LUME
Swiss C3 Superluminova has been applied to the hands and markers of the DEEPDIVER; the lume has bluish green hue. The lume on the handset is pretty average, it’s not particularly bright and doesn’t last that long. The lume on the markers is quite poor though, it’s barely visible. I would rate the lume at, poor to average.
VALUE
The Vittorium DEEPDIVER is a Limited Edition of 2'600 pieces. Its retail price is 895USD, which includes a 2 years international warranty. Sub 900US is a reasonable price for Swiss watch of its caliber.
ALSO CONSIDER There’s not much that I could liken the Vittorium DEEPDIVER to, but you might consider a BATHYS Benthic Ti, which has a titanium construction.
OVERALL IMPRESSIONS Details, details, details; the Vittorium DEEPDIVER is watch that’s made up many details; much thought and effort has gone into making this a unique looking watch. When Vittorium designed the DEEPDIVER they started with a blank sheet, they choose to innovate rather than imitate. The DEEPDIVER makes little statement as far as the world of fashion is concerned; yet clearly makes a statement about the importance of quality, originality and attention to detail.
Vittorium have talked with me of their plans to develop more serious dive watches with greatly elevated depth ratings in the future, I look forward to seeing the continued development of the Vittorium DEEPDIVER line.
Many thanks to Vittorium.
© OceanicTime
TOTAL RATING
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