My student asked if this was a proper dive watch
By Tom Hargreaves, Falmouth, Cornwall ยท
One of my Open Water lot turned up last summer wearing one of these, the black one on rubber, and asked me whether it was a proper dive watch or a fashion thing. Fair question. The answer is that it's a proper dive watch, and also a bit of a fashion thing.
The proper bits: 300 m, screw-down crown, closed caseback, a rotating bezel with big chunky numbers, and a 42 mm case that's only 12.4 mm thick, which is a sensible size. The fashion bits are the very Breitling hour markers and the sort of styling that looks like it was designed with a yacht marina in mind rather than a slipway.
The B17 inside is a perfectly decent workhorse with 38 hours. That's the weak point at $4,750 to $5,250. A Tudor gives you 70 hours for similar money. Leave this on the dresser from Saturday morning to Monday and it'll have stopped.
I told him it was fine. It is fine. I'd buy the Tudor.