THE MILLENNIUM WATCH BOOK
THE DIVER’S WATCH EVERYTHING ESSENTIAL ON DIVING WATCHES SINCE 2000
GMT PUBLISHING
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IMPRESSUM
THE MILLENNIUM WATCH BOOK – THE DIVER’S WATCH Editorial committee: Brice Lechevalier Joy Corthésy Sophie Furley David Chokron Olivier Müller Writers: Roberta Naas, Timmy Tan, Serge Panczuk, Xavier Markl, Jason Heaton, Justin Mastine-Frost, Ken Kessler, Yannick Nardin Photographers: Marc Ninghetto, Gishani Ratnayake, Sébastien Aubord Layout: ETC Advertising & Design SARL (www.etcdesign.ch) Lithography: Images 3 (www.images3.ch) Translation: David & Naomi Buick (EN), Marie Le Berre (FR) Editing: Susan Jacquet, Marie Le Berre, Brice Lechevalier, Joy Corthésy Logistics & orders: Alexandra Montadon & Julien Beauchot E-commerce: Cyrille Ouanich Editorial coordination & Press Relations: Idiome Agency (www.idiomeagency.com) Cover: Rolex Submariner by Aurélien Bigerel Qlock Illustration: Aurélien Bigerel Printed by MUSUMECI S.p.A a socio unico (www.musumecispa.it) © Copyright GMT Publishing 2022 For more information on The Millennium Watch Book Collection, visit www.the-watch-book.com and follow us on Instagram @themillenniumwatchbook Printing limited to 4,000 copies ISBN: 978-2-8399-3615-6
INTRODUCTION
AND THEN THERE WERE THREE… BRICE LECHEVALIER, FOUNDER AND EDITOR
©Sébastien Aubord
T
his is the third volume in our The Millennium Watch Book col lection, devoted to dive watches — but for some of you, it might be your first. Bearing that in mind, I’d like to explain the backstory to all this. After all, when it comes to fine watches, every detail counts! 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of GMT Magazine, which I started together with my friend Pierre Jacques. To celebrate that, and the anniversary of the WorldTempus w ebsite (which I acquired together with my partners, the Lamunière family), I embarked on a 300-page book featuring everything there is to know about watchmaking in the third millennium: The Millennium Watch Book. There are still a few copies of the original book left; it’s now become volume 0 in this saga. Renewed thanks are due to the 30 watchmaking specialists and experts that contributed to it with me, as well as to all the readers that ordered it — especially since the huge numbers of enthusiastic messages and congratulations I received from them persuaded me that I shouldn’t stop there. Rather than a mere sequel, the result is now a themed collection, scheduled to run until at least 2030 — a first in watchmaking literature! 2021 being the 220th anniversary of the invention of the tourbillon, that was the first topic we covered in more detail, still concentrating on luxury watches produced since 2000 in what thus became volume 1 in the collection. The book you are now reading is volume 2, published in 2022, in which we’ve decided to present a highly sought-after and much more accessible category of timepiece: dive watches. Once again, we’ve attempted to give a general overview of the topic, as well as bringing together the most iconic mechanical watches in question alongside others, from every price band, that have led to noteworthy advances in the world of dive watches. Over and above the usual chapters discussing historical and technical aspects, our approach focuses mainly on contemporary models and we’ve sought to make the result an enjoyable experience for readers even if they don’t have any highly specialised knowledge of either diving or watchmaking. A love of fine watches, design, and innovation is all that’s required! And just to let you in on a little secret, in 2023 we’re planning to feature another burgeoning category to which all Manufactures have provided fascinating responses, reflecting their respective expertise: chronographs. But just now, it’s high time for you to take the plunge into the wonderful world of dive watches. Happy diving!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
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THE FIVE ERAS OF THE DIVE WATCH
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Rolex
THE TECHNICAL SIDE: KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
Dive watches: the anatomy of extreme watchmaking.
Omega
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Rolex
ROLEX SUBMARINER: QUEEN OF THE SEAS, QUEEN OF WATCHES
Constantly updated, enhanced and adapted the most iconic of all dive watches enjoys huge success worldwide, far beyond the scope of its original underwater vocation.
Dive watches offer a condensed history of contemporary watchmaking and its quest for meaning — as well as clear evidence of its vitality.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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PANERAI: FROM THE SEA TO THE WORLD
BLANCPAIN FIFTY FATHOMS: DIVE WATCHES FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
How did a humble workshop in Florence become a global watchmaking brand — and acquire genuine cult status? Panerai embodies diving’s prehistory, and with it a rugged, vintage style that’s spread throughout contemporary watchmaking.
The legendary Fifty Fathoms laid the foundations for the entire dive watch genre, and it didn’t stop there.
Blancpain
Panerai
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Omega
WHAT IS IT ABOUT DIVE WATCHES?
Self-confessed desk diver Serge Panczuk explains why dive watches have exerted such a hold over millions of collectors for decades.
54 DEEP DIVE
Doxa
What we learn about dive watches by testing them in real-life conditions.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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50 IMPERATIVE DIVE WATCHES The editorial committee’s selection of 50 contemporary dive watches (from 2000 onwards) that have made a significant contribution to the success of the timepiece.
Montblanc
Richard Mille
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THEY WHO GO DOWN TO THE DEPTHS (WITH THEIR WATCHES) Technically, the water resistance of a watch can be tested in a laboratory — but the real test comes on the wrist of someone who spends their life diving.
ArtyA
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HONOURABLE MENTIONS: THOSE THAT ALSO PLAYED THEIR PART
If you can’t be exhaustive, at least strive to be complete… our “honourable mentions” pay these timepieces the tribute they deserve.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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A list of all the dive watches that have won awards since the creation of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève awards show in 2001.
Is it a good idea to jump in the deep end and invest in a vintage dive watch?
DIVE WATCHES AT AUCTION: LANDING A BARGAIN
GRAND PRIX D’HORLOGERIE DE GENÈVE
Rolex
Breitling
Audemars Piguet
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE INVESTING IN A DIVE WATCH
In the world of pre-owned dive watches, there may be a real bargain on the crest of a wave from time to time. Deep down, however, the best investments remain the same, and are well-known to collectors.
IWC Schaffhausen
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DIVE WATCHES: A RETROSPECTIVE
Where to next?
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KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
KEY FACTORS BY: OLIVIER MÜLLER
IN WATER RESISTANCE In dive watches, the case and its ability to withstand pressure are equally if not more important than the movement. Here, we examine the anatomy involved in extreme watchmaking.
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Rolex – Deepsea (1960)
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KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
Omega – Creation of the “sandwich dial”.
In the collective imagination surrounding diving watches, the helium valve is usually seen as the height of technical prowess.
IS YOUR HELIUM VALVE REALLY NECESSARY? In the collective imagination surrounding diving watches, the helium valve is usually seen as the height of technical prowess — but there are some dissenting voices. Some believe that these valves are to the dive watch what a 1/1000th second chronograph is to the racing watch: impressive, but totally useless, as well as being fragile and a potential point of failure. The simple answer to this rather technical argument is that helium valves really are a must for professional saturation diving — but that the number of divers involved can be counted pretty much on the fingers of one hand, the reason being that saturation diving is a very risky business. It relies on the prior saturation of certain gases in divers’ bodies using a diving chamber, itself a highly regulated medical device. Saturation diving is an extreme practice — something that happens beneath oil rigs, or during rescues from submarines, for instance. If the divers in question choose to wear a mechanical watch, they’ll definitely need one equipped with a helium valve, allowing the gas to be released from the watch as they ascend towards the surface. For other divers (in other words, virtually all of them), the helium valve is of no use at all, and makes the construction of the case more complex and more fragile for no benefit whatsoever. “Providing a solution to a non-existent problem” is how one specialist sums the matter up.
KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
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KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
Omega – Dial of the Planet Ocean Ultra Deep Professional (2022)
TAKING THE PRESSURE — HERE’S HOW The pressure exerted by water on a watch can best be understood in terms of the weight of the column of water directly above it. The deeper you go, the higher the column becomes, and the more weight is applied to the watch. Contrary to popular belief, diving watches don’t run the risk of being crushed by this column of water. The main risk is twisting, not compression. The watch is constantly moving, as is the water, so the water pressure isn’t evenly distributed over its surface. This can lead to the watch being twisted and warped. Rather than being crushed, components such as the case, seal, bezel, and crown can be bent out of shape, with the result that adjacent surfaces move apart. This gives rise to two key criteria in the construction of a dive watch: materials that don’t buckle; and flawless interfaces that let nothing through. As far as materials are concerned, steel is a must. Nowadays, the steel is sometimes reinforced: it’s still steel, but with the application of certain protocols (such as lamination) to make it stronger. Moreover, the resistance to pressure of a given material depends not only on its nature, but also on its thickness. Nowadays, deep sea diving watches come with cases that are 4-6 millimetres thick — that’s three times more than for a traditional watch. The best dive watches also have double rather than single casebacks.
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Omega – Seamaster Ploprof 1200M (2009)
When it comes to interfaces, the challenge is to seal the watch’s components (case, seal, bezel and crown) together as tightly as possible. To achieve this, three variables must be taken into account. The first is the number of case components: this must be kept to a minimum. The closer the case is to being a single-piece construction, the fewer ways there’ll be for water and gases to get in. The second is the degree of tolerance between any two components in contact with each other: this must be as small as possible, to within a micron. In most cases, a seal will be needed at the interface and the third variable is indeed the precise way in which these components are sealed together. One of the most common solutions is to use screws. For instance, the watch caseback may be screwed to the case, with a seal between the two parts, resulting in the well-known ‘screw-in caseback’ found on most dive watches. However, the way in which the caseback is screwed in is critical: the pressure applied to the seal must be perfectly even — in more technical terms, reference is made to ‘pressure equalisation’, with exactly the same pressure being exerted across the entire surface of the seal at the same time by applying a perfectly vertical force rather than any form of torque. Some dive watches even have a caseback that fits into the frame vertically, rather than simply being placed above it.
As far as materials are concerned, steel is a must.
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KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
The first Fifty Fathoms from Blancpain (1953)
ALTERNATIVES TO STEEL
Simplicity is a good guarantee of effectiveness.
The principles that apply to dive watches are exactly the same as those applying to building materials: the fewer there are, the better the water resistance. Simplicity is a good guarantee of effectiveness. Some of the materials now available to watchmakers are far stronger than steel for certain use cases. Among them are titanium, carbon fibre and graphene, TPT quartz, TPT carbon and ceramics, as well as a large number of alloys, including some for which brands have filed patents. Despite this, no such materials are used in any major dive watches. There are two reasons for this. The first is that there is less expertise in these materials; they haven’t been tested at great depths in actual conditions. They’re more difficult to work with and far more expensive, while some of them are impossible to repair if damaged. The second reason is more prosaic: each of these materials reacts differently to the variables encountered by a dive watch, such as temperature, pressure, permeability, corrosion and exposure to sunlight. And even if they’re very strong, some of these materials can become quite brittle when they come into contact with other materials (such as carbon with steel). The upshot is that they’re not among the materials of choice for dive watches — at least not yet.
The creation of the Omega Seamaster dial.
KEY FACTORS IN WATER RESISTANCE
Blancpain – Fifty Fathoms (1953)
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TO EACH APPELLATION, A STANDARD: ISO 6425 ISO standards are issued by the International Organisation for Standardisation in Geneva. The standard for divers’ watches is no. 6425, first published in 1982, updated in 1996 and again in 2018. It sets out the conditions required for a watch to officially qualify as a dive watch. These conditions include being water-resistant to 100 metres; readability at a distance of 25 centimetres in complete darkness; resistance to temperature variations; having a way of measuring dive durations (such as a rotating bezel); and being fitted with a strap/bracelet that can withstand a pull of 200 Newtons (approximately 20 kilos) on each side.
Omega – Seamaster 300 (2021)
LES CLÉS DE L’ÉTANCHÉITÉ
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The Omega Seamaster 300 (1993), star of the 90s.
BY: DAVID CHOKRON
THE FIVE ERAS OF THE DIVE WATCH
Over a period of 70 years, dive watches have gone from the sea to the city, from the wrists of professional divers to snorkellers, and from pro to vintage styles via every major trend in the nineties, noughties and 2010s. In doing so, they offer a condensed history of contemporary watchmaking and its quest for meaning — as well as clear evidence of its vitality.
INTERESTED IN READING MORE? ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
THE MILLENNIUM WATCH BOOK COLLECTION SUMS UP EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WATCHMAKING SINCE 2000.
F
ollowing this editorial approach to contemporary fine watchmaking, a new volume, on a specific watch category, will be published every year until 2030. These coffee table books are born out of a collective effort to gain a better understanding or to rediscover, the world of watches from 2000 to 2020. Prepare half a linear meter on your bookshelves to welcome this collection that is all about passion!
WHAT READERS SAID:
“The best watch book of our generation” “It’s not just a great book, it’s a piece of art with a lot of precious pictures and technical info inside!!!” “This book is just magnif icent, impressive, substantial, beautiful!!! What amazing working you have done here. Congrats, congrats, congrats!!!”
ALWAYS AT YOUR DISPOSAL!
Mathieu Rotzer mathieu.rotzer@gmtpublishing.com +41793810285
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