Talking about watches and inspiration can spawn some pretty interesting debates, and for good reason – especially in the dive watch category. Of course, early dive watches weren’t “inspired by” anything; dive watches were tools created with a very distinct purpose. That said, as the years went on and the dive watch category moved away from practical utility towards desirable daily-wearers, design inspiration soon came into play. Today we’re looking at luxury watches inspired by the ocean, and digging into the stories behind the creation of each piece and how they relate to the big blue beyond.As mentioned above, there is no reason to go into a Rolex Submariner history lesson here; however, the Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea with D-Blue dial (a variant of the original Deepsea that was first unveiled in 2008) has a very distinct connection to our world’s deepest waters.The origins of this piece come from Rolex’s involvement in (read: sponsorship of) James Cameron’s deep dive into the Mariana Trench. Though not limited in production, the piece is commemorative of the 2012 dive, and features a gradient blue to black dial that mimics the loss of light as one descends into the ocean’s depths. Additionally, the green chosen for the DEEPSEA text on its dial is matched to the color of Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger Submarine that took a prototype Rolex watch all the way down into the trench affixed to one of its robotic arms.The legacy of Jacques-Yves Cousteau is unparalleled in the world of underwater exploration, and many years ago (back in 2004 to be precise), IWC decided to become a partner of the Cousteau Society – a non-profit organization looking to continue the initiatives set out by Jacques-Yves several decades prior. From the onset of the partnership, IWC has included special limited-edition Aquatimer models in their collections, with a portion of the proceeds of each watch headed towards the organization.Of their bigger undertakings, Cousteau’s famed research vessel (named ‘Calypso’) was raised from the sea floor after sinking on account of an incident in Singapore in 1996. Progress on Calypso has been slow-going, and a fire on the ship while docked in Turkey two years ago has slowed things further. Naturally, there are rumors swirling that a redesign of the IWC Aquatimer line across the board will appear in conjunction with the vessel’s unveiling.
OM started to make their reputation when they published the first Speedmaster Chrono with full functional hour and minute counter. In recent years, OM expanded their business to other models like Omega Seamaster and Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, now, I see the potential this factory has, it has the ability to become a big factory.Today, I want to introduce one Omega Seamaster Diver replica watch from OM factory, it is the latest model whose dial has wavy texture. Before, the dial only has black and blue options, now, OM also offers this white dial option. Compared with the black and blue dial version, this one with white dial is my favorite.First, I do not like this Seamaster watch just because it uses a wavy texture dial. Why did Omega abandon their smooth black dial and adopt this wavy dial? I do not think this wavy dial is more classic. However, on this model, its white dial just smoothens the wavy texture, I did not even notice it if I have not checked carefully. Like the black bezel, the white dial uses real ceramic material, the black bezel matches the white dial perfectly, it makes the watch look more classic than the one with black dial. On the dial, both hour markers and hands are filled with white luminous material, in dark condition, you will see two different lume light emitting from the dial, OM factory makes the dial lume correct. The only flaw which I can find from the dial is that the edge of hour markers is a bit thick. Check the date font shown in the window opened at 6 o’clock, although it is centered, but the date font is not made to be perfect.
