Creating a complicated dive watch presents some unique challenges, making for a tricky subcategory of the genre. A dive watch is meant to be simple and easy to use in compromised visibility, afterall, so the idea of layering in any unnecessary information runs counter to the core purpose of the watch. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some good examples out there. The Doxa Sub 200 T-Graph immediately comes to mind, for one. But IWC has a long history of pairing sometimes exotic complications within their dive watch collection, the Aquatimer. From depth gauges and chronographs, right on up to perpetual calendars. They aren’t shy about it. This trend continues with a new pair of limited edition Aquatimer watches being released alongside the new movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The pair of watches get competing colorways, red and blue, which appear to signify two competing factions within the movie. While these two particular Aquatimer watches don’t appear in the movie, there is one that did. A screen worn prop (not working) was worn in the film, with a unique design and sans any complication. It looks to feature a GST-like strap integration, recalling another era of the watch. As neat as these new perpetual calendar Aquatimers are, this time only watch is what I’d be most keen to see make it to production (perhaps in titanium).
On the other end of the spectrum we have a pair of far more extreme Aquatimers, in two colors, each getting just 25 examples produced. These watches utilize IWC’s Ceratanium material for their vast 49mm cases, which are fitted to black rubber strap pieces that look straight out of the wardrobe department of the movie. The size provides ample space for the complications to do their thing without causing a clutter. Inside, you’ll find IWC’s own 89802 caliber, which provides a unique take on the perpetual calendar chronograph.
This approach to a calendar complication is stripped to the bare essentials, displaying just the date and the month in digital form, forgoing the need for separate hand sets in the sub dials at 3 and 9 o’clock. Two large displays are set at the top of the honeycomb pattern covering the discs underneath. A running seconds sub dial at 6 o’clock also hosts a digital display for the leap year indication, with a very literal ‘leap year’ label. A sundial housing both the minute and hour totalizer for the chronograph is placed at 12 o’clock. While there is a timing seconds hand that starts with the chronograph, there is no seconds index on the dial, making it something of a redundancy.
Finally, a large internal bezel section counts elapsed time, with the first 15 minutes indexed. In total, this is a pretty compact and efficient take on the perpetual calendar chronograph, and it makes a lot of sense placed within a sport watch like this. IWC has used this digital configuration within their Ingenieur collection, and even within the Aquatimer collection back in 2015, and these new Aquatimers represent a return to the formula. It’s one we think could use a touch more refining, but we’re happy to see it represented once more. IWC