The American-based brand is getting ready to start selling the automatic Deep Blue Depthmaster 3000. As you have already guessed, it features an almost mind-numbing water resistance rating of 3000 meters! Tested for water resistance in compliance with the ISO 6425 standard (the watch must withstand the claimed water pressure of 300 ATM +25 percent more to qualify for the status of a “professional diving tool,”) the 3KM looks like a real professional diving companion that even serious Swiss and Japanese brands could be proud of.
Designed with professional divers in mind, the new Deep Blue Depthmaster 3000 is by no means a small watch.
Its rugged-looking case is 49 millimeters in diameter and, partly thanks to a monstrous unidirectional 120-click rotating bezel, is almost frighteningly 19.5 millimeters thick.
But wait, there is more!™
According to the American brand, its lug-to-lug dimensions reach whole 59 millimeters, dwarfing even such monsters as the huge 2010 Panerai Luminor 1950 Equation of Time Tourbillon Titanio (PAM365).
To understand how massive the Depthmaster 3000 is, consider this: together with its 316L solid stainless steel bracelet with solid deployant clasp and diver’s extension, it tips the scales at an impressive 300 grams, so you can easily use it as a self-defense weapon when attacked by an especially hungry great white shark.
Not affiliated with the Swiss industry, Deep Blue is more flexible in choosing movements for its products.
The Depthmaster 3000 is, for example, powered by the self-winding Miyota caliber 9015. Introduced in 2009, it targeted the good old ETA 2892 self-winding ebauche with its clever design and quality assembly.
Competing against mass-produced Swiss engines, the Japanese movement, too, beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, is built on 24 jewels, and has a minimum power reserve of 42 hours. Well, nothing special about it.
Being 25.94 mm in diameter and 3.9 mm in height, it is 0.3 mm thicker than the ETA 2892, but it is still 0.75 mm thinner than the ETA 2824 automatic movement that powers their recently introduced Daynight T-100 Tritium Flat Tubes Diver.
Although some may consider the difference insignificant, it helped to shave at least a millimeter from the total height of the watch: that is more than five percent, nothing to sneeze at!
Since the watch is supposed to be worn not on a beach, but deep underwater, it is equipped with numerous luminous elements.
The hour markers, the large triangle at 12 o’clock, and all three hands are generously covered with a luminescent compound.
Even the bezel has the traditional diver’s scale lume on it, which is protected from water with a sapphire insert.
Besides protecting the lume, the sapphire ring will also make the bezel not as prone to wear: on normal watches the black (or blue, or orange, doesn’t matter) lacquer tends to get scratched fast reducing the reselling value and making the owner less comfortable in public.
Of course, being a professional diver, it doesn’t have a usual (for mechanical watches) sapphire case back. Instead, it has a more practical solid screw-down stainless steel cover that features a stamped wave pattern and the brand’s logo.
There is still no info regarding the timekeeper’s price and international availability, but I don’t think that it will be too expensive. Its price stick will, probably, hover around the $2000 point of attraction or maybe even lower than that.
See also: CX Swiss Military 20,000 Feet super-diver
Photos: Deep Blue
Deep Blue Depthmaster 3000 specification
Movement: Automatic, Miyota caliber 9015, 25.94 mm in diameter, 3.90 mm in height, 24 jewels, 28,800 vph, Made in Japan
Movement decoration: Standard finish
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case: Stainless steel
Bezel: Stainless steel with sapphire insert
Shape: Tonneau
Bezel shape: Round
Size: 49.00 mm
Lug width: 26.00 mm
Height: 19.50 mm
Dial: Black / Blue
Hour markers: Luminous, applied
Hands: Sword-shaped, luminous
Water resistance: 3000 meters
Strap: 316L surgical-grade solid stainless steel bracelet with solid deployant clasp and diver’s extension
Crystal: Sapphire
Back: Solid, stamped, screw-down