It’s been a while since Perrelet started offering a range of diving timekeepers to its loyal customers, but it is only now that the Swiss brand decided to expand the product line-up with a model that features their outstanding, aerospace-inspired double rotor design. The self-winding Perrelet Turbine Diver (ref. A1066) is delivered in a terribly oversized body, features numerous color schemes, and is good for whole 300 meters of water resistance.
To keep the piece as close to the original Turbine collection as possible, while still making it suitable for real diving, the Swiss watchmaker left the original thin bezel intact equipping the Turbine Diver with an inner rotating bezel ring instead.
Featuring luminous paint on its 20-minute diving scale, as well as on the Arabic numerals, the broad hour and minute hands, and the dial itself, the watch will feature good legibility in total darkness or in murky waters, even despite its 11-blade upper rotor that rotates furiously at every single movement of your hand.
The inner bezel is said to be operated by the usual setting crown at 10 o’clock, which is nicely mirrored with an integrated and off-set winding crown, which is conveniently placed at 4 hours.
As I have already mentioned, the watch is terribly huge but is also well-proportioned if you don’t count in the long (and also massive) lugs.
Being 47.5 millimeters in diameter, it is also less than 15 millimeters high. Although occupying almost all of your wrist space, it still won’t look like a quarter-pound burger on you.
Inside this monster beats Perrelet’s new Caliber P-331 Double Rotor automatic movement that we currently have virtually no information about except that it is manufactured by Soprod, the Swiss-based manufacturer of blank calibers, exclusively for Perrelet (both brands have the same owner, so technically the movement still be marketed as an “in-house” one.)*
See also: Deep Blue Sea Chrono 1K (1000M) Diver
* UPDATE ON MOVEMENT: It’s been reported that the Cal. P-331 is based on their earlier Caliber P-321: the very first mechanism that was designed by Soprod exclusively for the Swiss watchmaking brand. The mechanism is rather new, so I can’t say anything about its reputation in regard to quality, but, hey, the mechanism is as simple as a good old ETA 2824-2 and Soprod has been in the business for ages, so I don’t see how they’d fail this one.
Photos: Perrelet
Perrelet Turbine Diver 300M specification
Price: $6500 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, Caliber P331 Double Rotor, developed and manufactured by Soprod exclusively for Perrelet, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 25
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 42
Movement decoration: Cotes de Geneve motif, skeletonized oscillating weight
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds
Case: Steel/ Steel with black DLC-coated elements / Titanium
Shape: Round
Size: 47.50 mm
Case height: 14.82 mm
Dial: Luminous
Numerals: Arabic
Hour markers: Luminous
Hands: Luminous
Water resistance: 300 meters
Strap: Rubber strap in different colors with stainless steel pin buckle
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective
Back: Sapphire