Two bezels, one good idea
By Tom Hargreaves, Falmouth, Cornwall ยท
The Aquatimer has an outer bezel you turn and an inner ring that does the actual timing, and IWC call it SafeDive. The outer bit only moves the inner bit one way, so you can't accidentally add time to your dive. It's a decent mechanism. I've seen far too many divers knock a normal bezel against a tank valve and end up with nonsense on it.
The specs are serious: 42 mm, 13.7 mm thick, 300 m, closed back, and the 32111 movement with 120 hours of reserve. That's five days. Lovely.
IWC have been making the Aquatimer since 1967, and this generation looks a bit more tool and a bit less fashion than some of the older ones. Good.
Criticism? The rubber strap and the quick-change system are nice, but at $6,900 to $7,700 you're right up against an Omega Seamaster 300M, which gives you a bracelet with a proper diver's extension. Also the inner bezel is less readable at a glance than a big external scale.
I'd take one. I'd be quite pleased.