Unlike today, the first diver's watches were very large and provided the diver with no other additional functions except the display of the current time. It wasn't until the early 1950s, when the first diver's watches with a rotating bezel had been developed, that enables the diver to safely and accurately monitor the periods of his dives. To this era, in which a now legendary sports watch design was created, we pay tribute with the STEINHART Ocean One Vintage Two-tone and bow to the technical developments of yesteryear with a little bit of “golden” flair.

Steinhart Ocean One Vintage Two-tone

First two-tone Vintage diver from the Maison, the Steinhart Ocean One Vintage Two-tone is to a very high standard in terms of case execution and finishing. The case of the Steinhart Ocean One Vintage is made from 316L stainless steel. Features a satin brushed finish on the top of the lugs and polished sides of the case. The unique two-tone design is seen on its steel bezel and screw-down crown, treated in yellow gold accent for a nostalgic appeal. The 42mm case is has a 51mm from lug-to-lug dimensions making this comfortable on most wrist sizes.

The black aluminum bezel on the Ocean One Vintage is a nostalgic diver’s oriented five minute design. The bezel dismisses the additional minute markings that found in due course, resulting a cleaner aesthetic. The knurling on the side of the bezel is deep and clean. This helps in getting a good grip on the bezel for easy bezel operation. The 120 clicks bezel clicks positively into position.

Two-tone bezel, case and bracelet

But that's not the only highlight of this two-tone retro style dive watch.  Design of yesterday combined with technology and materials of today, The golden screw-down “big crown” is located at 3 o’clock, paired with a sporty red crown tube, and is good for a water resistant rating of 300m. The Ocean One Vintage comes with a high-domed sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating on the inside, reminiscent of the plastic crystals of watches from days gone by.

It forgoes a date function, and instead featured an “explorer” format dial, alternating the hour markers with batons and Arabic numerals. The matte grey on the Ocean are filled with these beige-tone markers that elicit a “old radium” color, in which is in fact SuperLuminova luminous that is applied to the markers, minute, hour, seconds.

SuperLuminova glows in the dark

The Ocean One Vintage uses the tried and tested ETA 2824-2/SW 200, élaboré Swiss automatic movement. Listen to the heartbeat of the ocean with the reliable automatic élaboré movement, operating at 28,800 bph (4 Hertz) with hacking and hand winding capabilities, this calibre is built with 25 jewels and a power reserve of approximately 40 hours. This manual-wind movement also allows the case of the watch to be thinner and lighter, fitting comfortably on most wrist sizes.

The Steinhart Ocean One Vintage comes with a satin brushed stainless steel bracelet with screw links and fliplock. The ritzy finishing follows through the two-tone stainless steel bracelet where the middle links are in yellow gold tone, accentuating the luxurious touch of the popular 70s two-tone sports watches.

Fits like a pair of gloves

Overall, the Steinhart Ocean One Vintage Two-tone exhibits exceptional value with alluring vintage appeal. For the price, you get a Swiss Made watch with a Swiss movement, a unique two-tone 300m diver watch with SEL bracelet and an overall well finished sturdy watch. This was before not achievable until Steinhart arrived and also probably the reason why Steinhart has quite a huge following although only been around for only 15 years.