Conquering
the sixth continent
The sea - test-bench and inspiration
for the watch worldThe part of any watch most vulnerable to dust
or water is the crown and between 1870 and
1880, a slew of patents and solutions appeared
to solve the issue. But there was no totally wa-
terproof watch until 1926 when Rolex patent-
ed a reliable screw-down crown and the leg-
endary Oyster model was born.
After Mercedes Gleitze swam for 10 hours in the
English Channel with one of them, it was home
and dry. Within a few years, other brands were
also producing quite water-resistant watches,
including Omega which delivered the Marine, a
totally different kettle of manual-wind fish with
the entire watch slid inside a second casing.
When war loomed for a second time in a cen-
tury, technology took a further leap forward
and Panerai created the Radiomir for the Italian
Royal Navy divers in 1936. It could withstand
dives of up to 60 metres and more, and was
easily visible in even the murkiest of water, mak-
ing it the forerunner of today’s diver’s watches.
In the 1950s, civilian explorers and divers started
commissioning technical watches and they soon
reached the market: the Seamaster from Ome-
ga; the Submariner from Rolex, the Fifty Fath-
oms from Blancpain; the Kon-Tiki from Eterna
Matic, the Superocean from Breitling, and the
Polaris from Jaeger-LeCoultre to name the main
players. These timepieces were water-resistant
anywhere from 100 to 200 metres but special
versions set incredible records, with Rolex and
Omega models tested at 11,000 metres in the
Mariana Trench.
In the 70s, models that were as at home in the
sea as at a gala evening appeared too, the first
being the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak in 1972
followed by Patek Philippe’s Nautilus and Aqua-
naut and then Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas
and Cartier’s Pasha. Nowadays there is a huge
variety of water-resistant and diver’s watches
to choose from. But even if you only take the
occasional dip, it’s comforting to know a watch
is water-resistant to 300 metres because it’s al-
ways better safe than sorry.Tra i primi marchi a concepi-
re orologi resistenti all’acqua
c’è Omega che nel 1932
presentò l’innovativo Marine
(sopra). A sinistra il Nautilus
ref.3700 che Patek Philippe
introdusse nel 1976. Fu un
successo senza precedenti.
One of the first maisons
to design water-resistant
watches, Omega presented
the innovative Marine (above)
in 1932. Below, the Nautilus
ref.3700 introduced by Patek
Philippe in 1976 was an
unprecedented success.