Deep dive: watches that can go deep underwater needn't be massive

The 1950s was quite a decade. There was plenty to worry about, like the Suez crisis, Korean war and the threat of nuclear apocalypse. But the postwar tech boom also brought passenger jets, power steering and the Citroen DS. And it was the decade that the world fell in love with scuba diving.

French adventurer Jacques Cousteau – whose book and Oscar winning film The Silent World brought his underwater escapades to millions – wore a diver’s watch by Blancpain. The Fifty Fathoms took its name from its rating: 50 fathoms, or about 91 metres, a cutting edge depth in the early 1950s.

After the 1950s, new materials such as synthetic rubber gaskets and helium escape valves pushed water resistance to previously impossible depths – as far as 2,000 metres by the end of the 1970s, and vastly beyond since. But those watches, laser focused on depth, also became larger and uglier. Why own a watch that can reach the ocean floor if you’d be embarrassed to wear it at the bar?

Recently, companies have realised that most people do not want a giant watch and so have started making divers in much more compact sizes. A lot of watches now come in under 40mm – around the size they were in the 1950s. Vintage style plus modern tech means that they are still depth rated to at least 200m – more than enough for all but the most committed divers.

Pro tip

In the 1950s, divers used acrylic crystals that scratched easily and leaked with age, sealed by natural rubber gaskets that perished in seawater. Today’s watches use sapphire crystals on precision compression gaskets, making serious depth ratings routine. If you are serious about your diving, a robust screwdown crown is vital to keep the pesky water out.