OceanicTime 2011 RoundUp

By TLex 2011 has been another fantastic year for dive watches. We have seen some the most technically advanced, some the deepest, the most expensive and the most exotic divers models ever produced. Here are a few that stood out for me over the year, they are in no particular order . . .

Hi-END The release of OMEGA's new Planet Ocean family was not only of significance to the dive watch industry, but to the watch industry as a whole. I was lucky enough to get my hands on two of the new models, the PO Cal. 8500 and OMEGA's new flagship model, the Titanium Liquidmetal® Chrono, which houses their latest in-house movement, the Cal.9300

The Ball ENGINEER Hydrocarbon DeepQUEST is Ball's most technically advanced model to date. Its Titanium monobloc case boasts a water-resistance of 3000m.

ANONIMO Professionale C.N.S Although it's not a new model per-se, it was one of the dive watches released in 2011 that for me epitomized all that is great about dive watch design and engineering.

LUMINOX Deep Dive 1500 SERIES. A watch that can't be ignored, a milestone for LUMINOX and their most high-end model ever produced. I got to conduct an in-depth review of one.

HUBLOT King Power 48MM OCEANOGRAPHIC 4000. One of the deepest mechanical dive watches on the planet, but certainly not the prettiest, HUBLOT went for the over-designed, over-engineered look. Nevertheless a marvel of modern dive watch engineering.

BLANCPAIN X Fathoms After much hype and a lot of anticipation, the X Fathoms was unveiled. It may be the most technically advanced dive watch on the planet, but is it really a dive watch or just high-end mechanical dive computer?

BEST of the BOUTIQUES Newcomer H2O Watches have produced possibly one of if not the most customizable dive watch ever. Their base model the Kalmar has a water-resistance of 3000m, but was in fact tested to almost double that. H2O Watches continue to innovate with the use of exotic metals, such as Mokume Gane and Tungum.

ARMIDA's debut model the, A1 boasts an impressive highly domed crystal. The case design is original and it offers exceptional value for money.

BENARUS continue to do great things; not least of all was their special edition of the Megalodon III, the OceanicTime LE.

DAWN of the 2nd BRONZE AGE It would appear that there has been a bit of proliferation in the amount of bronze dive watches produced in 2011. Of those the PANERAI Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days BRONZO AKA PAM00382 has to be the most coveted. PANERAI made a couple of bronze prototypes in the early 80s, so in many ways pioneered the use of bronze in dive watch construction. Anonimo, who have a strong connection with PANERAI continued with that tradition as have ENNEBI with the Fondale BRONZO . . .

Happy New Year!

AQUADIVE Bathyscaphe 100 DLC

By TLex AQUADIVE's design objective for the Bathyscaphe 100 DLC was to create a modern classic; a watch with classic looks, but that used modern materials and had a modern spec. They took a vintage styled case and protected it with a high-tech scratch-resistant DLC coating and a state of the art scratch-resistant ceramic bezel insert.

Then they gave it a water-resistance of 1000m and equipped it with a Helium Escape Valve, which they discretely placed between the watch's lugs. The result, a dive watch that at first glance looks like it has stepped right out the 60s, but under further inspection has a finish and a spec. that is as modern and as cutting edge as anything else that is currently being produced in the dive watch industry today.

The Bathyscaphe 100 DLC has been teamed with a matching black rubber divers strap from ISOFRANE, itself another modern-classic. I can't help, but admire how the grain of the metal still shows below the DLC coating, it makes a lovely contrasts with the gloss black of the bezel grip and crown; really beautiful! I wonder if the Bathyscaphe 300 will ever get the DLC treatment, now that would be something! For further details of the Bathyscaphe 100 DLC follow the AQUADIVE icon below . . .

CORUM A'C' Seafender 48 Chrono CENTRO 'Trophée Jules Verne'

By TLex In association with the Banque Populaire, a major player in the sailing world, CORUM are supporting one of the most sought-after nautical challenges: the Trophee Jules Verne. CORUM, who are the Official Timekeeper of this prestigious round-the-world race will present a dedicated watch to honor its partnership. CORUM have naturally chosen a model from their Admiral’s Cup collection – the watch of sailing devotees and enthusiasts since 1960 . . .

The dial of the Admiral’s Cup SEAFENDER 48 Chrono Centro bears the inscription 'Trophee Jules Verne 2012', while the back is engraved with a depiction of the race course. If the team manages to better the existing record, Corum will reward each member of the Maxi Trimaran Banque Populaire V crew with a watch from this special edition, personalized with his individual name. So the 14 crew members are engaged in the round-the-world race not only to carry off the Trophy, but also to win a CORUM watch!

DOXA SUB 1200T Project Aware II

By TLex The world's oceans generate up to 70% of all oxygen on the planet, so feel DOXA Watches, they deserve our attention; and quite rightly so. DOXA have announced the SUB 1200T Project Aware II along with their continued partnership with the Project Aware foundation, whose team members will be equipped with the new turquoise dialed SUB 1200T. The new Project Aware II watch will be available in a Limited Edition of 300 pieces and can be pre-ordered for 1790USD instead of 1990USD as a 200USD portion of the watch's price will be donated to the Project Aware foundation to support the work they do protecting our oceans. The new model will start shipping towards the end of January . . .

CREPAS Tektite 2ndLook

By TLex I have just recently received these lovely images of the CREPAS Tektite . . .

UTS 4000 PROFESSIONAL FirstLook

By TLex The new UTS 4000 Professional may not be much of a departure from its sibling the UTS 3000M Dive Watch. The overall design of the watch hasn't really changed. It has the same basic case design that is fabricated from a solid block of German stainless steel by Nicolaus Spinner, the same bezel design and the same UTS trademark detachable lug design. It also incorporates all existing UTS technologies such as their proprietary bidirectional rotating bezel, which locks via a unique ceramic ball bearing system. It looks pretty much the same, too! Which is just fine with me, because, as the old saying goes 'if ain't broke, don't fix it'!

However, there was nothing about a little tweaking in that adage, nor of beefing up case size or increasing water-resistance. The new UTS 4000 Professional takes every thing up a notch or two. The case diameter gets a 2mm increase from 43mm to 45mm, the crystal thickness is increased by 1mm to 6mm; this allows for an increase of 1000m of water-resistance from 3000m to 4000m. Even the size of dial markers appear to have been beefed up, which should allow for a brighter lume application. Basically it's the watch I have been waiting for UTS to build for several years, now and it's finally here. Stay tuned for more . . .

OLIVIER Bronze DIVER

By TLex INTRODUCING the latest boutique dive watch brand, Olivier Watches with their debut model the OLIVIER Bronze DIVER. The OLIVIER Watch Co. was started (as many boutiques are) by a true watch enthusiast; one who had fallen for the charms of the ‘bronze diver’, but had become somewhat disillusioned by its price tag.

The founder of OLIVIER, who lives and works in LA as a designer soon realized that the only way that he was going to get the type of bronze diver with the spec. and looks that he wanted, and at a reasonable enough price was to produce it himself.

The OLIVIER Bronze DIVER is based on a classic cushion case design. It is constructed from CuSn8 Marine Grade Bronze, the alloy of choice by those wanting a material that has high structural strength and corrosion resistance to seawater, but that will also develop a lovely patina over time.

Its brushed bronze case measures 45mm in diameter with a thickness of 15.5mm. Its lug to lug measurement is just 48mm, which means that it will wear well even on smaller wrists; this was an important factor for its designer, who has a 6.5’’ wrist himself.

Further features include: a signed screwdown crown and engraved caseback and an automatic Helium Escape Valve. These components have been constructed from 316L Stainless steel, which allows for a nice contrast between the two different colors of the metal. 

The watch has a 4mm thick Sapphire crystal (AR coating inside) and is thoughtfully supplied with two solid bronze 120-click divers bezels; one all-bronze with engraved markers and one with a black insert with white markers. The caseback of the Bronze DIVER depicts the scene of a shipwreck. Notice also the ‘los angeles’ text, cool touch! The case has a water-resistance of 500 meters.

The modern-vintage dial of the OLIVIER Bronze DIVER has been divided into four. I love the font used for the text and am surprised at how much I like the date indicator with its blue pointer. A set of bronze swords hands have been used, then there’s a nice pop of color from the blue of the second hand. Multi-layered Swiss C3 SuperLuminova has been applied to the dial markers, hands and 12hr bezel marker.

The watch will be offered with two mechanical movement versions; a Swiss made ETA 2824-2 priced at 850USD and a Japanese made Miyota 8215 priced at 650USD. It will be supplied with a 24mm rubber divers strap with a handmade bronze buckle. For further details on pre-ordering your OLIVIER Bronze DIVER please follow the scuba diver icon at the bottom of the post or click 'HERE' to visit the OLIVIER Facebook page where you will be able to receive regular updates.

LUMINOX Deep Dive 1509 Prototype GIVEAWAY -CLOSED-

From OceanicTime This month we're giving away an incredible divers watch courtesy of Luminox. The LUMINOX Deep Dive 1509 Prototype is part of the 1500 Series, LUMINOX's most advanced and highest spec'd divers series to date with a Swiss mechanical movement, a patent pending bezel locking system and 500 meters of water-resistance. It retails for almost 2'000USD! For full details of this fantastic dive watch read my in depth review of it.

The watch that we are giving away is a late prototype model, so unlike the production model it will not have a limited edition number on its caseback, but apart from that it is pretty much the same. The watch is in brand-new condition and at the moment it is winging its way back to Switzerland for the once over in preparation for the lucky winner.

HOW TO WIN the LUMINOX Deep Dive 1509 Prototype . . .

STEP (1) Go to the LUMINOX & OceanicTime Facebook pages and click 'LIKE' (you must like both pages).

STEP (2) Got to the OceanicTimeTV Youtube channel and SUBSCRIBE to it. Then 'LIKE' both the LUMINOX Sea Master Video & OceanicTime Promo Video. [comments are welcomed]

IMPORTANT You must have a YouTube account to participate; if you haven't, don't fret it won't take you more than 2mins to set one up.

Step (3) Send an email to oceanictime@oceanictime.net with the subject marked: 'LUMINOX Deep Dive Giveaway'.

If you have you entered correctly you will receive a short courtesy email within 48hrs of your entry.

The contest will run from today, December 19th until January 19th 2012. The lucky winner will be announced shortly after. Best of luck, folks!

PAM 00382 Expendables2

By TLex The PAM 00382, PANERAI Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days BRONZO hits the big screen in the Expendables 2 movie. Some of the cast, which includes Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Terry Crews can be seen wearing their 382s in the film. Back in October of this year, Terry Crews posted a short video blog from his trailer, whilst on the set of the movie, which was being filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria. He proudly shows of his new 'Pana-rani' to the camera!

LUMINOX Deep Dive 1500 SERIES Review

BACKGROUND LUMINOX are a Swiss watch brand specializing in rugged sports and military watches. Whilst their watches are Swiss made, they are known for their affordability and great value for money. LUMINOX watches have been chosen by a number of professional military teams such as the US Navy SEALs and the United States Coast Guard, whose members have been wearing them for more than 20 years now.



PACKAGING
The Deep Dive came in two boxes; an outer high-quality black cardboard box with a large embossed, shiny deep sea divers helmet and a Luminox logo along with some text in white: 'Deep Dive, 500 meters / 50bar, ISO 6425 Certified. An inner dry box of the type made by Pelican housed the watch along with its paperwork (warranty, instructions, certificate etc.) and a rubber divers extension strap. I like the fact that Luminox had put an actual metal name plate with their logo on the box rather than just slapping a sticker on it as most do. A fitting presentation, really.



AESTHETIC
The Deep Dive isn't going to win any awards as fashion accessory or an item of luxury horological jewelry. It has been designed with a real purpose in mind. There's none of this suede wannabe dive watch nonsense that we sometimes get with watches named ‘Deep Diver’ or ‘Abyss Diver’ that aren’t even fit for your bathtub! It actually is a dive watch and has been designed to be a utilitarian diving tool that if it had anything to say it would be: ‘take me diving’! On the other hand it isn’t too sore on the eyes either; if glossy black and lifeboat orange aren't already best mates they should be. The Deep Dive has the ultimate sleek and sporty color combo.



CASE
The case has a diameter of 44mm and thickness of 17.5mm; I don't think that's including the specialized crown protection and bezel locking devise though, which does add a little more to the watches' overall size. It has been constructed from 316L Stainless steel and then PVD coated in a black brushed finish. There's the ubiquitous HEV on its left lateral side; I like the fact that this has been highlighted by leaving it in steel, a nice detail.



BLS Both the crown and bezel are protected by a LUMINOX patent pending system that simultaneously locks the bezel in position whilst guarding the crown. The 'Bezel Locking System' or BLS prevents the bezel from being turned or accidentally bumped whilst on a dive. So what's wrong with a standard unidirectional divers bezel, I hear you ask?



To start with, bumping and moving the position of the bezel whilst being a distinct possibility isn’t that common (is it?); the worst that could happen if you did accidentally move the position of the bezel (for arguments sake, if you weren’t using a dive computer (why wouldn't you be?), or let’s say you were, but it crashed on you); is that your dive time would be cut short. This is the very reason why Luminox feel that, whilst not critical to live or death, having your dive time cut short is an annoyance that could and should be avoided. The BLS completely illuminates any chance of this ever happening.



USING the BLS couldn’t be simpler; it’s just a question lifting the latch to either adjust the crown or re-position the bezel, when you have finished you simply push the latch back down until you feel the reassuring click of the system locking.

BEZEL The bezel itself is a 60 click type, with 60 deep notches that have been cut into its outer edge. This gives a really nice grip. The action of the bezel is firm and deliberate, there is zero play. The bezel has an elapsed dive time scale marked out in five minute increments. The numerals have been painted on in silver. But I kind of think an engraved bezel would have looked better and would have been far more durable. At the 12 o’clock position there’s a large triangular silver marker with a small glass capsule containing a blue tritium tube.



CROWN The crown, which is signed with the Luminox logo is protected anyway as it’s a screwdown type with multiple gaskets, but it is further protected by the BLS, which doubles as a full closure crown guard.

CRYSTAL The Deep Dive has a flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on both sides, so you get that lovely blue tint on the glass (see photos) that you get with some of the great Swiss divers from Breitling or Omega, and which is so attractive! Excuse the pun, but this also gives a crystal clear view on to the dial.



CASEBACK The Deep Dive has a slightly domed screwdown caseback. It has super cool deep-etched deep sea divers helmet in its middle. LOVE IT! Then there’s a ring of white text around the perimeter of the helmet engraving. The text includes specifications and serial numbers.



DIAL The Deep Dive has a stepped dial; the lower section is home to a lovely big Luminox logo and a load of text in orange. ‘PROFESSIONAL, 500 METERS, HELIUM VALVE, AUTOMATIC.’ In my opinion printing specification / features text on a the dial is a little unnecessary; firstly I feel it kind of insults my intelligence, I bought the watch for god’s sake, I know all of its features! OK, I mean if I had actually bought it, this one’s a loaner ;) but you know what I mean. But more importantly it crowds the dial and upsets the balance. Dive watch design 101, keep it clean!

The upper deck of the dial is where the hour markers are; big, bold lifeboat orange with tritium tubes in the middle of them. The minute hand is in white so that it contrasts against the orange and black of the dial. The hour and second hands are in orange. At 3 o’clock there’s a massive white date window; why couldn’t’ it have been black?! That would have been so much cooler.



LUME
The Deep Dive is illuminated by a total of 19 ‘Night Vision Tubes’. There are a 14 for the hour markers; three are used for the 12hr marker alone. The minute hand has two, then there’s one each for the hour hand and secondhand pointer. Finally the one already mentioned on the 12 o’clock bezel pip. Everything that is important to reading dive time; the minute hand, the 12 o’clock dial and bezel markers are in blue and the rest are in green.



LOVE HATE I have a love-hate relationship with Tritium Tubes, whilst they can burn for 25 years or so and don’t need any external light sources to charge them up, they don’t offer that satisfying bright glow that we get from say - C3 SuperLuminova. I have to say I find them a little boring. You really need to be in pitch blackness to fully appreciate them. However, I can’t very well argue with the all the modern military units, who seem to favor them over SuperLuminova. In my opinion, an optimum illumination system would consist of balance of both tubes and applied lume.



WATER-RESISTANCE
The Deep Dive has a water-resistance of 500 meters or 50ATM. 500 meters would in my opinion be the absolute minimum depth rating for any watch that called itself ‘Deep Dive’. I mean there are deep dives and there are deep dives. I don’t know why we couldn’t have at least had 1000meters. I guess LUMINOX deemed it unnecessary, which it is. But high depth ratings are cool, aren’t they? In the same way that torque and horse power is.



MOVEMENT
Swiss made ETA 2826-2 Automatic movement with hours, minutes, seconds and date function. I’m not a really a movement geek, but I think it’s pretty much like the 2824-2, but with a larger date wheel.



STRAP / BUCKLE
The Deep Dive has a lovely 26mm wide (tapering to 24mm) black rubber divers straps. The material used for its construction is silicone / polyurethane, which is both durable and comfortable to wear as it conforms nicely to the shape of your wrist. It’s a custom strap that fits flush against the middle of lugs, which incidentally are screwed. The underside of the strap has dozens of little LUMINOX icons that make up its grip. It’s a really nice strap.

BUCKLE The strap is attached to black PVD triple-pronged steel buckle. I love double prongs anyway; they look cool and are twice as secure, but triple prongs are even better!



FUNCTIONALITY
19 Tritium tubes, BLS for locking the bezel and protecting the crown, a unidirectional rotatable divers bezel with elapsed dive time, time, date, a water-resistance of 500m and a rubber divers strap with divers extension. ISO 6425 certified.



DURABILITY / BUILD
The watch I have is a very late prototype version; it’s pretty much the same as the production model. The build is superb, fit finish, everything is nice and tight, it fits together beautifully. Text, markers etc. are lovely and crisp. The PVD coating is nice and even. Great quality strap. High quality components such as Sapphire crystal and 316L Stainless steel have been used. This watch will take pretty much anything your average recreational diver could ever throw at it and more. The PVD coating will take a fair amount of abuse, but this is 2011 and everyone else is using DLC now, as it performs better. I’m not sure how the bezel markers will hold up over time either.

ISO The Deep Dive is ISO 6425 certified, which it means that it complies with a whole catalog of requirements that must be met to get its certification. It’s an added reassurance.



ON THE WRIST The Deep Dive wears very nicely, it sits well on the wrist. This is not a particularly big dive watch by today’s standards and because it’s on a rubber strap it’s not particularly heavy either. I couldn’t even say that the BLS interferes with your wrist as the actual latch sits up higher than the crown does. As already mentioned the strap’s super comfortable.



VALUE
The MSRP on the Deep Dive 1500 Series is circa 2’000USD. It’s a little high for a Luminox; I wouldn’t usually expect to pay so much for one of their watches. We’re almost talking Breitling or Omega money here! But the Deep Dive is LUMINOX's high-end diver with a Swiss mechanical movement and a sapphire crystal etc. The good news is that you should be able to pick one up for around 1600USD without breaking too much of a sweat from any of the online authorized vendors.



CONSIDER This is a tough one, I can’t think of anything that is comparable looks wise or spec. wise that is Swiss made. Take a look at the new MAT Watches, they don’t have tubes, but are really nice looking PVD divers with Mil spec. The same goes for the new RALF TECH WRX ‘A’ Auto, which is DLC coated. If you love tubes and are on a budget, check out DEEP BLUE Watches.


© OceanicTime

OVERALL
It looked cool in the first images I saw of it and it looked cool in person. But it was never going to the kind of watch that I would rush out and buy myself. However I was eventually won over by the Deep Dive’s honest approach to its design. Functionality seems to have played a far greater role than aesthetic have. I kept having to tell myself that it’s a dive watch. Unfortunately my perception of dive watches has become a little blurred with all the different styles that there are, so when an actual born ‘n’ bred diver was plonked in front of ,it took me a while to remember that dive watches were never actually meant to be about fashion or style. They’re instruments for measuring elapsed dive time, which the Deep does billiantl!  

The LUMINOX Deep Dive is the utilitarian diving instrument; it does what is says on the box and more!

GOOD NEWS Luminox are very generously providing this watch, which is in tip-top condition for the next OceanicTime Giveaway. Coming very soon!

MANY THANKS To Luminox for making this review possible!