Vittorium DeepDiver DD360100

[Lester Burnham]

Watch Review
Vittorium DeepDiver DD360100

Last week, I was approached by Ernie (founder/owner of Watchuseek), he wanted to know if I would be interested in writing a review about a certain watch. I never wrote a review before, so at first I didn’t really know if I would dare to sign up for this assignment. Still, it sounded like a pretty fun challenge; just last week I received a lightbox that I wanted to give a good test, and after all, I like watches too much to reject a sleepover of this Swiss watch. So, after a couple of days, in between strikes at the Dutch mail services, I received a package from the mailman.

The box that contains this watch makes no secrets about the name of the sender, Vittorium. The wooden box is varnished in shiny black, almost Grand Piano-like. Inside the box you will find the watch, the Vittorium DeepDiver, wrapped around a small pillow. On the inside of the lid of the box, the brand name and brand logo are clearly communicated again, in a silver print this time. We’ll encounter the brand logo many times, both on and around the watch, as you will see for yourself if you continue to read this extensive review!





Watchcase & Crown

Before the watch arrived, I’d been looking for some specifications about it, the first thing I noticed was the case diameter of 47 millimeter. Because of the circumference of my wrist (6.3”) I was a bit intimidated by the size of the watch. I already made up my mind that I would be taking lots of lightbox pictures, but no way that I was going to actually wear the watch and take wristshots. When I first opened the box though, I was surprised by the size of the DeepDiver. Surely, it’s a very sturdy watch, but because of the large bezel and wide lugs, the watch looks smaller than it really is. The bezel is pretty robust, which makes the dial of the watch smaller (30mm). The wide lugs make the case look relatively smaller than it really is. For example, the Alpha Ti Pilot (45mm case diameter) looks bigger than the DeepDiver. I posted some wristshots at the end of the review.

Something that is immediately noticeable it the weight of the watch. Despite the fact that it’s equiped with a rubber strap, the watch weighs no less than 170 grams. I tried to find some weights of other watches on rubber straps, in order to be able to compare the DeepDiver to some well-known pieces. A Rolex Submariner on rubber weighs in at 95 grams, a Seamaster Bond weighs 85 grams. A Seiko Sumo (44mm) is closer but still far away at 115 grams, finally, a Citizen Ecozilla Ti (48mm) still weighs only 120 grams. It’s a matter of taste of course, some people might find the extra weight annoying, however, I like to wear heavy watches so for me it’s a definite plus.





Design wise, you can surely call this watchcase unique. I can’t recall that I ever encountered something that resembles the DeepDiver. I don’t think I’m the only one who thinks we’ve seen enough divers watches in traditional Submariner style, it’s good to see a fresh breeze of air like this Vittorium. The main characteristics of this watchcase are the wide lugs (at least 6mm wide) and the three large waves or notches on both sides of the case.
Because of this ‘wave-pattern’, it almost looks like the case exists of two halves, a round, sturdy core which has the case back screwed onto it. And above that, the top half of the watch, with the ‘waves’ that seamlessly fuse with the side of the lugs. This feeling is intensified by the fact that the top half is brushed whereas the bottom half of the watch is polished. The watchcase is made out of 316L steel.

On the crown side of the watchcase, the middle of the three holes is completely occupied by the signed crown. Like it should be on a heavy duty divers watch like this one, the crown is quite large. Diameter is no less than 8 millimeter. To increase the ease of turning the crown, Vittorium created some cuts along the length of the crown, for increased grip.

Because of the unique design of the watchcase, the crown protrudes 3 millimeter at the front of the wrist (creating a Total diameter of 50mm) while turning the watch over and looking at it from the underside shows the full 6 millimeter of crown. Again, this makes sure the user will be able to handle the crown without too much hassle, without the crown looking to prominent at the front of the watch.

Obviously, the crown screws down into the case. In 2 ¾ complete rotations, de crown clicks into the first position. Crown action is very smooth, the only watch I own with comparable smoothness in the crown is a Tag Heuer F1. All of my other mechanical and quartz watches are less sophisticated when it comes to the smoothness of the crown. I checked it and it’s not really that strange that the DeepDivers crown reminded me of my F1, as it turns out, they’re equipped with exactly the same movement, the ETA F06.111. This movement will be discussed later on.

One can pull out the crown to a second position, which is a quick-set function for the date. This movement comes with a date wheel, however, there is one little problem regarding the date function on the DeepDiver. Vittorium has decided not to punch through a hole in the dial to show its user the current date. Still, it’s pretty easy to hear the date wheel clicking away if you turn the crown in the second position. By the way, this is nothing new, many manufacturers use movements with date wheels in watches without a date window.






The Vittorium DeepDiver is equipped with a screwed caseback that can be opened or closed with the usual 6 notches. The center, circle shaped, plate on the caseback is lowered (0.25mm according to the caliper) and finished with a grid pattern. The Vittorium logo and brand name are added onto this lowered part of the caseback, on polished plaques. The same thing applies to the plaque that states the unique model number of the watch, 0231/2600 in this case.

Because there is much relief, and a combination of both brushed and polished parts, the back of the watch looks very pretty.






Dial & Crystal

Vittorium decided to use a dial with a carbon fiber look to it. I’ve read somewhere that it’s real carbon fiber but I’m not quite sure about that. It looks like a good print rather than the real deal. The fact I had to use a magnifying glass to draw that conclusion proves that it looks very convincing. They did a good job on it. The diameter of the dial is 30 millimeter.

On the dial, Vittorium chose to use applied markers, I didn’t open up the watch to check it but it’s my estimation that these markers are at least half a millimeter high, which again, makes sure there’s plenty of relief on the dial.

The layout of the markers is pretty playful, with a big 3, 6 and 9 and bar shaped markers for the other hours. A very funny detail is the 12 marker. Instead of another bar or the number itself, Vittorium used their own logo as the hour marker.

There isn’t a lot of lettering on the dial, the brand name is positioned pretty high up the dial, directly below the 12 o’clock marker. On the traditional place, just below the center of the dial, Vittorium clearly communicates that we’re dealing with a divers watch. The only other words on the dial are traditionally wrapped around the 6 marker, stating the country of origin of the DeepDiver.

One of the most important factors that lends the DeepDiver its fruity appearance are the hands. Vittorium uses raindrop shaped hands for the timekeeping of the hours and minutes. The seconds hand is more commonly shaped.
At first, it takes a little getting used to the length of the hour hand, which is quite short. After a while you won’t notice its size any more. Furthermore, in most cases you actually read the time just by a quick look at the minute hand because you’ve already got a quite accurate idea about the hour yourself.

Surrounding the dial, there are two rings. The first of these rings is a smart design feature, it’s the ring with minute/second markers. It’s mounted pretty much vertically. Because of this you don’t notice it when you’re looking at the watch dead-on. Which causes a very clean look. However, if you slightly alternate your viewing angle you will see the markers popping out of nowhere.
Above that is a second ring, which has the brand name printed on it. Again, with great relief. Of course we have seen this before. Rolex pops into my mind immediately, but still it’s a nice detail. This second ring is mounted in an angle of about 45 degrees.

Because of these two rings, it’s very noticeable that there is quite some distance in between the underside of the crystal and the dial. The dial is positioned pretty deep. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s three of four millimeters in between crystal and dial. Which is pretty well possible considering the total height of the watch (17.3mm).

The bezel on the DeepDiver is a classy thing, it consists of two parts, the underside of the bezel is a matte black metal ring, with on top of that, the polished silver colored bezel. Both parts of the bezel are in a sort of hexagonal shape. Only not with 6 flat pieces, but 16 flat pieces. After some googling, I guess the correct name for this shape would have to be hexadecagonal.
They chose for this shape over a round shaped one to increase grip on the bezel. Vittorium didn’t feel like installing a ribbed bezel, like pretty much all other manufacturers of dive watches do. This results in a bezel that’s not as easy to operate as a real diver would probably want it to. Even more so because it’s pretty stiff. In this case, Vittorium clearly chooses for form over function. This underlines that the watch is more of a dressy diver than a real hardcore divers watch. Keeping in mind that 98% of all buyers of diving watches will never go any further than the shower or a kiddy pool, it isn’t really that strange that Vittorium chose to let form prevail over function now and then.

The bezel isn’t equipped with an insert like most other divers watches use (Submariner styles, Seamaster etc.). Instead of that, the minute markings are engraved in the bezel.
Just like on the dial, Vittorium decided to use their own band logo at the 0/60 position. Like you would expect from a watch in this price category, the bezel makes a full rotation in 120 clicks. Obviously it’s unidirectional.






A couple of millimeters above the dial, you will find a flat sapphire crystal. To increase visibility in situations with lots of direct light, the inside of the crystal is treated with an anti-reflective coating. Coating on the inside is how I personally like to see it. I’ve got a Breitling with AR-coating on the outside and year after year, the coating damages more. You’ve bought a watch with an expensive crystal, but you’re still going to see little scratches on your crystal because the coating on top of it is damaged. I prefer coating on the inside like Vittorium has used for its DeepDiver.

Like any divers watch should, the Vittorium DeepDiver is richly equipped with luminating paint on the hands and hour markers. SuperLumiNova® paint was used and the results are satisfying. When I compare it to the unofficial champions of non-tritium lume (Seiko and Citizen divers) it’s pretty close, but not exactly the same. Which isn’t a shame because Seiko has been working on their lume for centuries.
It’s adequately bright enough to be able to read the time two hours after you’ve entered the cinema.
Two of the three hands (minute and hour) have luminous paint on them, every hour marker is illuminated. Including the Vittorium logo at the 12 position, which is a nice touch.






Watchstrap

The DeepDiver comes with a black, anti-allergic rubber band. And not the least of rubber bands! Together with the design of the watchcase this is the area where the DeepDiver manages to create a feature with which they can distinguish themselves from the masses. I have never seen/tried a rubber watchstrap that is as supple as this one, without losing its robustness. Vittorium really doesn’t try to hide its pride about the strap and why should they. It’s really a very nice strap. It’s produced in Switzerland, something that perhaps not many competitors can say.

The rubber straps I’ve got on my watches (Citizen Ecozilla for example) aren’t even close to this one when it comes to suppleness and overall quality perception. I’ve read another review about this watch where the writer states that the DeepDiver strap is better than the straps he got with his Omega and Sinn divers. Which is quite a compliment because these are watches from a completely different price category.

The length of the strap (difficult to measure) is roughly 82/124. Strap width at the lugs is 24 millimeter, which tapers down to 22mm. Vittorium has punched through ten holes in the strap, making it suitable for a large range of wrist sizes. I’ve been wearing it on the tightest hole, which was a perfect fit for me. I have to say though, that I like to wear my watches quite loose, others with similar wrists (6.3”) might feel it’s too loose for them.
The ten holes are spread over a length of just a little more than 2 inches, making the strap suitable for wrists up to 8,5”. Although it’s not possible for the strap to be guided through the strapkeepers if it’s worn on the last hole.
Both of the (rubber) strapkeepers have an imprint of the Vittorium logo on them.

The upper half (’12 side’) of the strap had the name Vittorium imprinted, a bit like Breitling does on their rubber straps, only a lot less ‘in your face’. The lower half of the strap has the Vittorium logo imprinted.






As you could already see on the pictures, the strap is integrated into the DeepDivers watchcase. This makes the watch more wearable for people with slimmer wrists. The strap begins ‘on top’ of the wrist, from where it will follow the curvature of the wrist. Whereas a traditional watchstrap on a 56mm lug to lug ‘starts’ a bit further from the watchcase, which would then fall down alongside the sides of a smaller wrist and fail to follow the curvature of the wrist.

The watchcase has got drilled lugs, with hexagonal (yes, these ones have only got six sides ) screws in them. The screws are pretty ‘out there’, they’ve got a diameter of no less than 5 millimeter.

The Buckle is a good match with the aforementioned heavy duty elements this watch contains. It’s made out of a solid block of steel and sized like your average belt buckle!
At the point of attachment to the strap, it’s already 28mm wide, which increases to over 30mm at the top of the buckle. The brand name is imprinted on the buckle, which looks very pretty, there’s plenty of relief in the print. The upper edge of the buckle is, like shown below, not straight but more of an organic shape. Again referring to the wave shapes on the watchcase.




Movement & Water resistance

Like I mentioned before, the Vittorium DeepDiver is equiped with an ETA quartz movement. More specifically the F06.111, a movement that is used by a number of respectable brands like Tag Heuer, Longines and Baume et Mercier. It’s definitely no HEQ-movement, Vittorium has chosen not to put extra weight on the pricetag by installing a movement like such. In everyday life, the F06 will be more than accurate enough.
The movement is only 25.9 millimeter in diameter, funny idea that this little powerstation is powering a 47mm giant.

The DeepDiver has received a 200 meter water resistance rating from its makers. This again underlines it’s not a hardcore divers watch, but more of a stylish, fashion-conscious watch with tough looks. Vittorium sells another line of watches that come with a 500 meter resistance rating, the AT-series. Perhaps a bit strange then, that the 200 meter watch in their range is called DeepDiver.

I’ve read some rumors that a 500 meter or even 1000 meter water resistant version of the DeepDiver might very well be introduced shortly. In that case, the name starts to make more sense. I’ve also heard some speculations about a DeepDiver with mechanical movement. I guess the future will teach us if these rumors are based on something!


Conclusion

Let me be honest, when I first saw the watch, I wasn’t in love with it. The next day, that had developed into a more neutral opinion and after the second day onward I started to like the DeepDiver more and more. Some people might have to take some time to get used to the design of the watchcase, but in the end you will probably be able to admire the level of detail that Vittorium has put into it. I’ve showed the watch to a number of people that wouldn’t be afraid to give me their honest opinion (after all, they knew the watch isn’t mine) and without a single exception, they liked it the first time they saw it.

I already mentioned it, the reason this watch will grow on you day after day is that there are so many little details they put into it. Every day you will find another one, something you hadn’t noticed before. From the double ring around the dial to the quality of the hour markers and the oh so pretty crafted caseback.

The watch will probably not become a must have amongst true divers, Vittorium clearly chose for form over function when they were designing this watch. But, let us be honest, how big is that group really (outside of the WUS divers forum)? By far the largest part of potential customers in this price category that are looking for a divers style watch just want to buy a tough and sturdy looking watch with a modern design. They won’t be strapping on helium tanks and dive to great depths, instead they will wear it to the golf course, or a Friday night business drink. Let’s not forget this watch IS suitable to wear when you go swimming, snorkeling or even diving, it will not crack open and fail on you. It’s just not in the DNA of this watch to be used as a full-blown divers tool.

Concluding this story for myself, it has been a pleasant sleepover, the Vittorium DeepDiver has managed to impress me. I hope, and think, that we will hear more from Vittorium in the (near) future!


Specifications

Vittorium DeepDiver DD360100
$895

• 200 Meters water resistant
• ETA F06.111 movement
• Sapphire crystal with AR-coating on inside
• Watchcase, strap and movement made in Switzerland

• Case diameter: 47.0mm
• Case diameter, including crown: 50.0mm
• Thickness crown: 8.0 mm
• Visible part of crown at front: 3.0mm
• Total length of crown/visible at back: 6.7mm
• Lug-to-lug distance: 56.1mm
• Case height: 17.3mm
• Strap width at lugs: 24mm
• Strap width tapers: 24mm -> 22mm
• Strap thickness: 3.4mm
• Buckle width at attachment to strap: 28.4mm
• Buckle width at top: 30.1mm
• Dial diameter: 30mm
• Sapphire crystal diameter: 33.5mm
• Weight: 170 grams

The Vittorium DeepDiver comes in two versions, apart from the one reviewed here, there’s also a model with PVD watchcase and white rubber strap. Another difference is that this model, the DD360200, has round hour markers instead of the bar shaped markers the reviewed model (DD360100) uses.



(Not my own picture)



Finally, after all the pictures I made in the lightbox, here are some real-life wristshots (6.3” wrist) of the Vittorium DeepDiver!













Thanks so much for those diehards that managed to plough through the whole review!

By the way, after hours and hours (and hours) of typing I can imagine that one or two (or forty) grammar mistakes might have slipped through. English isn’t my first language as you will probably have noticed!

2010 Lester Burnham for Watchuseek.com