At Baselworld 2012, Victorinox unveiled the redesigned Dive Master 500 collection.

The Dive Master 500 comes in either 38 mm or 43 mm diameter stainless steel cases - treated with either Black Ice of gold PVD. There are four 38 mm quartz models: black, burgundy, khaki green (with gold PVD coating) or white; two 43 mm quartz models in white or khaki green; and three 43 mm mechanical versions: grey, red or brown. The quartz models are powered by Swiss made Ronda 715.5 calibers and the self-winding models are powered by the ETA 2892-A2 caliber (automatic has clear case back).

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LIP Blancpain watches were not the first dive watches on the market when they were introduced in 1953. They were, however, the most modern dive wristwatches at that time. The reliability and compactness of Fifty Fathoms models, which were originally designed for military use, became legendary. The reputation earned them the right to be used by armies such as French Navy, Czech, Polish, German federal, some Nordic countries, and also by the US Navy (SEAL, under water demolition team, Frogman).

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According to National Geographic, James Cameron's trip in the Deepsea Challenger submarine took him 35,756 feet (10,898 meters) deep. He traveled where only two men have ever gone, to the Challenger Deep valley of the Mariana Trench (the deepest part of the ocean).

"Falling through darkness--that's something that a robot can't describe," Cameron said. "Most importantly, though, is the significance of pushing the boundaries of where humans can go, what they can see and how they can interpret it." Source: Yahoo

This was the first journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in 50 years. In 1960, two explorers, Jacques Piccard and Lt. Don Walsh, descended in their submarine, the Bathyscaphe Trieste, to break the all-time human depth record - 35,813 feet (12,138 meters). During the dive, the Rolex Deep Sea special was strapped to the outside of the sub. Needless to say, the Rolex and the explorers both survived the journey intact.

Fifty years later, James Cameron descended to the bottom of the Marina Trench, with the Rolex Deepsea Challenge strapped to the outside of the sub. The new watch was specifically created for this dive, and is rated to 12,000 meters (39,370) - it made it down and back with no problem.

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Tudor, the little brother of Rolex, has unveiled a very interesting dive watch at Baselworld - the Pelagos. It not only has all the prerequisites of a good dive watch, it also has the world's most advanced clasp.

The clasp has a unique spring-loaded self-adjusting system which has been patented by Tudor. The clasp adjusts to the changes in your wrist's thickness, which is especially crucial as the human body goes deeper underwater. Basically, Tudor's clasp contracts as your wrist diameter changes underwater, (where many watches would actually loosen due to increased pressure). The clasp also has three fine position adjustments for even further optimization of the fit.

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Edifice unveiled an all new dive watch collection at Baselworld. (Please note: availability is currently planned only in the Japanese and European markets.)

Featuring a 47 mm diameter stainless steel case and 60-minute uni-directional dive bezel, the collection consists of both 3-hand models and a chronograph. The movement is solar powered Japanese quartz. The 3-hand model has hours, minutes, seconds, day and date functions. The chronograph has hours, minutes, seconds, 1/5th second chronograph and date.

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Aquadive has recently assembled a collection of very cool classic 60s vintage diver watches.

The Aquadive Vintage NOS Diver is limited edition, with new old stock cases, heslite domed crystals and a classic aluminum bezel inserts. "The cases were found fully assembled with a heslite domed crystal in the old Aquadive inventory." When Aquadive assembled these NOS divers, they used new gaskets, new modern self-winding ETA movements and new Aquadive dial with applied superluminova markers.

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Blancpain has just introduced what they claim to be the most high performance mechanical dive watch in the world. The X Fathoms is not the deepest diver in the world, not even close, but it does have a number of professional diving features that make their claim plausible.

The X Fathom's coolest feature is a mechanical depth gauge, shown in the central of the dial via a display with "0-90" markings in yellow and a dedicated hand. As the display indicates, the depth gauge works from 0 to 90 meters. This function is rarely seen in mechanical watches - although Panerai, IWC and JLC are the three brands that have produced mechanical depth gauge wristwatches in the past. The biggest advantage of a mechanical depth gauge being built into a timepiece, is that it eliminates the need for a dedicated depth gauge. Many divers wear both a depth gauge and professional dive watch.

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Skywatch is an interesting new US based watch brand that produces affordable Swiss quartz timepieces.

Skywatch currently makes two collections: 3-hand and chronograph. The 3-hand collection is available in 38 mm or 44 mm diameter case sizes (pictured). The chronograph collection is only available in 44 mm diameter cases.

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