Dive watches reached a legendary status s long time ago. Wore by everybody from the royalties to James Bond all the way to the coolest guy on every event diver watches are connected to both great style and social status many strive for.
Dive watch by definition is waterproof, withstands the pressures of at least 10 ATM (the equivalent of 100 meters underwater), and is characterized often by additional subdials, unidirectional bezel, visible minutes and many more practical elements helping one to dive.
But how did they come to be? How did they turn from a practical solution to an extravagant item of jewelry? We’ll try to tell you more today with our short history of the dive watch.
The first watch that loved the water
The history of watches that weren’t afraid of water starts with geniuses at Rolex who in 1926 created the very first water and dustproof watch with simply the greatest name that ever was – Rolex Oyster. To prove its amazing capabilities, a year later a famous swimmer Mercedes Gleitze swam across the English Channel with the Rolex Oyster on her wrist. The screw-down crown and case back allowed the watchmakers from Rolex to create this beautiful piece that would be worth over 10 000 USD if only you could buy it.
The first modern dive watch
1953 was the year when the very first modern dive watch was born. It had previously known features of water resistance (this time up to 91 meters!) and luminous material use to let drivers see the watch face in the deeps of seas and oceans. The new, defining characteristic was the unidirectional bezel. This is how Blancpain Fifty Fathoms became the first almost fully formed modern dive watch and changed the history of watch collecting forever. This was a result of the work and designs by the Blancpain’s CEO who loved to dive and a French elite military diver who was looking for a company that will make his designs a reality.
The standard diver watch
In 1982 the ISO standard organization created the ISO 6425 Diver Watch Standard that gives us a set of criteria that every watch calling itself a diver watch has to meet:
Must be able to withstand pressure at 125% its dive rating
Must be able to pass a condensation test
Must include a time pre-selecting device (timing bezel) with a scale of 60 minutes, and a clear indication every 5 minutes.
Must have a constant indication that the watch is functioning, with a seconds hand.
Must be usable in complete darkness, with the following components being visible:
Current time
Bezel timing indication
Running seconds hand
If quartz powered, a low battery indicator
The king of divers
In the end, we need to mention one more model that is probably one of the biggest names among dive watches, a real sea monster that in the ’70s was capable of 600M and in modern reissue can go twice as deep – OMEGA Seamaster Ploprof! Beloved watch with the characteristic orange button that unlocks the bezel ensuring that your measurements are locked and prices it is truly one of the most beautiful examples of this type of watches!
Did you enjoy this little history lesson? It’s so amazing to see how watchmakers perfect an idea and bring modern inventions to it making it more and more useful and better designed.
