Palms-On: Edox North Sea 1978 ‘Inverse Moon Touchdown’ Dive Watch

Edox is a kind of low key Swiss watch manufacturers that has been round eternally, however I by no means actually hung out with any of its items, till now. This Edox North Sea 1978 is a diver that will get a whole lot of issues proper and provides one thing a bit off the overwhelmed path within the crowded sub-$2,000 house.

Dubbed the “Inverse Moon Touchdown” by Edox, this North Sea 1978 pays tribute to a harrowing 320M dive within the freezing chilly waters simply off the coast of Skånevik in Norway. This was an particularly harmful dive wherein one of many males misplaced his life, making for a story that’s completely harrowing. To not make gentle of this tragedy, however the story behind this dive is fascinating and there’s fairly a little bit of intrigue, as nicely. I’ve not completed watching it, however the documentary “The Deepest Dive” is price looking forward to anybody (it’s streaming free of charge proper right here). These divers wore Edox watches through the dive, and I can firsthand verify that a number of divers who had been a part of the 1978 dive should not solely buying this North Sea however have an actual affection for the model.

Again in 1961, the Edox Delfin was launched, and it will definitely earned the moniker of “the water champion” as a result of options like a double-caseback, double-gasket crown, and spectacular shock and water resistance. It’s humorous that the Delfin continues to be round however has been reimagined in a really modern case. In reality, the North Sea appears much more just like the previous Delfin than the precise current Delfin.

The Edox North Sea 1978 measures 43mm-wide with a lug-to-lug measurement of 48.5mm. Regardless of the reasonably giant 43mm case measurement, the brief lugs hold the North Sea 1978 pretty wearable for somebody who would ordinarily prime out at 40 or 41mm. Curiously sufficient, Edox says the case thickness is 14mm, however my calipers have it at simply round 12.75mm thick, so I’m not certain what’s happening there.

The unidirectional bezel is completed in a brushed matte-black ceramic and matches properly with the black DLC-coated metal case. I do know black DLC isn’t everybody’s cup of tea (together with myself), however it matches the dial and bezel properly, and having that further scratch safety by no means hurts. Clearly, water resistance would should be as much as par for this watch, and the North Sea doesn’t disappoint with 320M. Not only a random quantity, the North Sea dive in 1978 was 320M deep, so this contemporary Edox is simply as powerful because the items made again then.

Once I first noticed footage of the North Sea 1978, I used to be instantly fixated on the fingers wanting only a bit too polished for legibility. I used to be pleasantly stunned when dealing with the watch within the steel to be taught that, as a result of ample AR coating on the sapphire crystal (hint-hint to all of the manufacturers who refuse to do that), the dial and fingers are, actually, very legible. The black and gold colour scheme actually grew on me, to be trustworthy. The fingers and indices are lumed, however the evaluation unit didn’t have it (it occurs), so I can’t actually touch upon its luminescence.

Having hour and minute fingers of a correct size, an identical date window, and stylistically fascinating non-generic Arabic numerals go a great distance within the perceived high quality of a watch. That is very true within the hyper-saturated and aggressive world of ~$1,500 dive watches.

The enclosed metal caseback has the North Sea Divers brand engraved on it and is pretty easy, although I’d have thought-about not having or not it’s fairly so polished. Inside is the Caliber 80, which is predicated on the Sellita SW 200. Working at 28,800 vph, the North Sea 1978 has a just-shy-of-a-weekend 38 hours of energy reserve. It has a quickset date function and actually does have hacking seconds. Although it helps with water resistance right here, I at all times give manufacturers credit score after they go for an enclosed case again reasonably than attempting to indicate off a motion with middling finishes. Once more, if it’s adequate for Rolex, it’s adequate for almost anybody else.

The North Sea 1978 comes on a cloth strap with leather-based lining, in addition to a brown leather-based strap (no quick-change system, although). A solidly constructed and surprisingly versatile dive watch, the Edox North Sea Computerized 1978 “Inverse Moon Touchdown” could be very pretty priced, for my part, at EUR 1,490. You possibly can be taught extra at edox.ch.