Dive watches can be dressy, and this is why

Buffy Acacia

In a turn of events I never would have expected, there’s apparently doubt over whether or not a dive watch can be dressy. I’ve heard some of the arguments for the negative side, suggesting that everything that makes a diver a diver exempts it from any aspect of formalwear. Well, I know that watch enthusiasts can get pretty stubborn at times, but saying that dive watches can’t be dressy isn’t just missing the point, it’s objectively wrong.

First off, let’s talk facts. To establish the Venn diagram or lack thereof between the dress and dive worlds, we need to clearly define the characteristics of each side. A dive watch is a watch with the primary function in service of diving. A dress watch is a watch whose primary function should be suiting a formalwear setting. I realise that this is incredibly patronising, but those obvious statements are as far as anyone can go with objective truth. Anything else is open to interpretation, personal opinion and the manufacturer’s intent.

It’s not as if dive and dress watches have been distinct since the dawn of time. These “categories” of wristwatches have only been around for a maximum of 92 years, since the Omega Marine was the first watch to be marketed on its diving capability. Getting attached to labels and boxes is purely a marketing trap, aimed at making you believe any one watch can be the best of a given genre, or that you need to expand your collection to fill a particular niche. Wristwatches have changed so much over the last century that you can’t possibly apply the same rules to all decades. Going back to the Omega Marine, or even something like a 1940s Rolex Oyster, they would absolutely be considered at least slightly dressy watches if released today. Before anyone says that Rolex Oysters weren’t intended for diving, they should try telling that to Bruno Vailati in the 1954 scuba documentary Sesto Continente.

One of the beliefs preventing the acceptance of dressy divers is the idea that one shouldn’t wear sports watches with formalwear. Aside from the fact that people have been breaking that rule since the rule began (I’m looking at you James Bond and the countless men you’ve inspired), the rule before it stated that any watch was unacceptable with something as formal as black tie, for example. If we can accept that the world has moved on from that point, what’s stopping us from acknowledging that wearing an all-out dive watch with a tuxedo is both normal and fine? Of course everyone is entitled to hold their own aesthetic values, but clinging to a flimsy, barely kept tradition as an excuse for being judgemental really isn’t helping anyone. Being passionate about accessories, whether fashionable or utilitarian, is about self-expression and not conformity.

I think I’ve been fairly explicit so far, but let’s now define the argument. Can a dive watch be dressy? Well, a metal song can be poppy, a horror movie can be funny, and even official government buildings can be artsy. Just because something is one thing, it isn’t prohibited from exhibiting the qualities of something else, even a polar opposite. The creation of anything involves an amalgamation of influences which may defy each other, and watches certainly aren’t inherently mutually exclusive. Even in an extreme example, such as the Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea Challenge in titanium, you can find a polished bezel, a glossy ceramic insert, chamfered lug edges, and polished applied indices. I’d never suggest that the Sea-Dweller is a dress watch, in fact I wouldn’t even call it a dressy diver. But, it has some aspects which are dressier than they could be, if they were all matte textures.

Devil’s advocate be damned, dressy divers exist regardless of opinion. If I described a watch with 300 metres of water resistance and a built-in calculator for no-stop dive times, that fulfils the objective criteria as a dive watch. Actually, it’s even more of a purpose-built diving instrument than most watches with nothing more than a rotating bezel and a screw-down crown. That watch is the Vulcain Nautical Heritage, and it’s dressy as hell. Just look at its entirely-polished case, its sophisticated black dial with fine white printing and its minimally-lumed dauphine hands. Yeah it’s chunky, but the dressiness is undeniably there. Other good examples include the Blancpain Bathyscaphe Quantième Complet Phases de Lune, the Breitling Superocean Heritage ’57, the Baltic Aquascaphe Blue Gilt, and the Longines Legend Diver. So, change my mind.