New York City isn’t exactly the first place you’d think about vis-a-vis scuba diving or other types of deep sea diving. Although New York City is technically “on” the ocean, I doubt many New Yorker’s would venture into the waters of New York harbor. What might they find?
You might shudder at the thought – who knows what forms of life venture about in the deep around NYC? So then there’s the puzzle of why we get so many “Divers Watches” here in our New York City watch repair shop? We’d suppose it’s for two reasons a) many New Yorkers plan their vacation getaways and go to more tropical environs, where they actually DO engage in scuba diving and other forms of deep sea recreation (and want stylish divers watches by brands as diverse as Omega, Rolex, or Tag Heuer), or b) a few New Yorkers actually never do dive (or dive infrequently), and accordingly want stylish divers watches just for the “image.” Either or both – we won’t tell.
With this focus on divers watches, it came to our attention from BaselWorld 2017 (which is one of the world’s premier watch conventions) that there were three watches worthy of note this year that touch on diving –
Omega – The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean “Deep Blue” is a GMT-equipped divers’ watch with a case milled from a single block of blue ceramic, and the first Omega watch with a case, and a dial, made entirely of blue ceramic. The 45.5-mm ceramic case has been pressed into shape from a special zirconium-based powder, with the blue pigmentation added at this early stage. Afterward it is heated to temperatures reaching 1,400º Celsius in a sintering process, making the watch extra hard and scratch-resistant, then subjected to a three-hour plasma treatment in a 20,000º C furnace that prepares the watch for the final laser engraving. The resulting case is six times harder than steel and never scratches, discolors, or fades. The movement is Omega’s Master Chronometer Caliber 8906, with automatic winding and a 60-hour power reserve.
Rolex – Rolex commemorated 50 years of its its extreme divers’ watch, the Oyster Perpetual Sea-Dweller, by launching an all-new model, with a larger case and modern caliber, at this year’s Baselworld. The steel case, which is water-resistant to 1,220 meters, is 43 mm in diameter, 3 mm larger than its 40-mm predecessor. The scratch-resistant sapphire crystal over the deep black dial is equipped, for the first time on this model, with a Cyclops lens over the date window at 3 o’clock, enhancing its legibility. The text “Sea-Dweller” appears on the dial in red, echoing the look of the original 1967 model. Finally, the Rolex is equipped with the new Rolex Caliber 3235, a self-winding movement boasting a number of innovative technical details, some of them patented.
Tag Heuer – Baselworld 2017 witnessed the debut of the Aquaracer Camouflage, a khaki-clad dive watch that combines military style with underwater functionality. The watch’s 43-mm case is made of sandblasted grade 2 titanium, with matte-black PVD treatment to reduce glare and reflections, and resists water pressure down to 300 meters, or 1,000 feet. The unidirectional diving bezel is made of scratch-resistant black ceramic and has graduations for the first 15 minutes of dive time. The opaline blue dial has an “Arctic” camouflage pattern that TAG Heuer says is inspired by the Siberian tundra, with faceted indices and faceted, lacquered blue hands, both treated with anthracite-colored Super-LumiNova. Inside the Tag Heuer watch, and behind the solid black-PVD titanium caseback, beats TAG Heuer’s automatic Caliber 5, which powers the timekeeping and the date display, which appears in a window at 3 o’clock under a magnifying lens. The custom-made camouflage pattern on the NATO strap matches the Arctic camo look of the dial. The new Aquaracer retails for $2,800.
Divers Watch Repair in NYC
Needless to say, we repair each of these three major brands – Rolex, Omega, and Tag Heuer – but not only their “Divers’ Watches” but also the many other watches in their portfolio. So, if you’re headed off for a dive, and want a watch tune up before hand, we can help. Or, if you own a Rolex, Omega, or Tag Heuer watch that isn’t working properly, we can help with the repairs. Or, if you’re not really a diver (we won’t tell), and you want either a tune up or a repair to these or other luxury divers’ watches, let us know. We can discuss your brand over the phone to verify we repair that brand, or if you bring it into the shop we can provide a detailed watch repair estimate. Happy diving!
Photo credit: SLU Madrid Campus via Foter.com / CC BY-ND