Ulysse Nardin first became a supplier to the United States Navy in 1905, and the Swiss watchmaker renowned for its contributions to nautical timekeeping rediscovered that connection in recent years, creating historically inspired naval tribute pieces like the Marine Torpilleur. This week, Ulysse Nardin unveiled a new timepiece with a unique connection to the U.S. Navy’s most elite unit, the SEALS, and to a charitable organization founded by members of that community. Here’s what you need to know about the Diver Deep Dive “One More Wave.”
One More Wave is a San Diego-based, non-profit charitable organization established in 2015 by a group of retired Navy SEALS with a passion for surfing and a desire to help disabled veterans with “ocean therapy,” providing customized surfboards and surfing equipment for injured and traumatized vets, some even with multiple amputations, who use them to overcome PTSD and other stresses in the soothing ocean environment. Ulysse Nardin Americas President Francois-Xavier Hotier got the idea for the timepiece after meeting One More Wave Managing Director Kyle Buckett during a once-in-a-lifetime visit to SEAL Training Camp in Coronado, CA. “I had an unforgettable first-hand experience watching the veterans in the One More Wave program in action,” Hotier says. “Their dedication, courage, and camaraderie is inspiring and we hope to bring more awareness to this important work.”
The watch is a new iteration of Ulysse Nardin’s Diver Deep Dive model, which has a 46-mm, angular-shaped case, here in black DLC-coated titanium with a rotating, 12-notched unidirectional bezel in the same material. The case offers several distinctive features useful for professional divers, among them a removable crown protector at 2 o’clock and an automatic, screw-on helium release valve at 9 o’clock for prolonged dives or saturation dives inside a diving bell. Another new innovation is found in the rubber strap, which includes an expandable element that adjusts to changes in wrist sizes, caused by the compression of neoprene diving suits, during dives. And of course, the case offers an extreme level of water resistance — 1,000 meters, more than enough to handle a day of surfing even the wildest waves.
Under a nonreflective sapphire crystal, the black dial with yellow details sports luminous hands and hour markers, a small round date window at 3 o’clock, and an unusually positioned small seconds counter at 5 o’clock, traversed by a yellow seconds hand and bordered by bright yellow Arabic numerals and indices. The solid caseback is engraved with One More Wave’s trident logo. Secured behind that caseback is the movement, automatic Caliber UN-320, which incorporates a patented silicon lever and escape wheel configuration as well as a silicon balance spring, along with the brand’s characteristic anchor escapement. The movement includes a carries a date correction mechanism that can advance the date either forward or backward and stores a 48-hour power reserve when fully wound. The Ulysse Nardin Diver Deep Dive, sold exclusively in the U.S.A., is priced at $13,500.
