Digital diving watches are, for the most part, an essential in the diver’s equipment list. These days, the devices do everything from tell you which direction to move in, to when you should level off and more. It leaves you with the freedom to enjoy your surroundings. However, for the more vigilant, a compass and three-hand diving watch are really all you need to get around underwater and ensure your dive times don’t go overboard.
There are plenty of luxury diving watches, the more famous among them being the Fifty Fathoms and the Submariner. But Geneva-based watchmaker deLaCour‘s diving watch is quite a handsome stunner that you do want to take underwater.
The Promess Reef Saver by deLaCour
The Promess collection is the brand’s only round watch line, that sets it apart from the typical bombe forms that deLaCour has kept as its DNA from the first day. The range has been focused on a more women-skewed series, but the Promess Reef Saver is definitely a bold, sturdy masculine piece. The diving watch, which can withstand up to 500 metres of pressure underwater, is a relatively thick and bulky timepiece, dictated by the thickness of the sapphire crystal that’s needed to enable it to withstand such high pressures without cracking.
Friend of the brand Pierre Frolla took the watch for a spin underwater, as he went freediving around the South African coast to study the Great White.
The bombe shape is more commonly seen in deLaCour’s timepieces, such as the City Black Diamonds Caractere shown here
Though it doesn’t precisely conform to the ISO 6425 standards of definition of a diving watch, the watch is an excellent execution of diving watch needs. A large, oversized crown and a secondary inner dial rotator at two o’clock are knurled, to make it easy for operation underwater or with gloves on. The bezel is indented with punched-in indices that match up with the dial minute track. It’s the dial we really do enjoy. SuperLuminova-coated indices are represented with Arabic numerals, with a sandwich-style illumination so the numbers are backlit that greatly enhances the brightness of the display in the dark. That’s crucial if you’re going anywhere within the Advanced Dive level. The hands also bear SuperLuminova coating for added clarity.
The inner rotatable dial is controlled by a crown at 2 o’clock, and has a clear indication for a 15-minute diving countdown
The oversized case in titanium is perfect for sports use, and ideal if you have on a diving suit. Rubber straps are easily deployed on the wrist, and there’s also a titanium and carbon version, along with a titanium and gold version. Check out the Reef Saver and other timepieces at deLaCour’s store in Wisma Atria. For more information on deLaCour, click here.
The deLaCour store in Wisma Atria