In 2016, Alpina introduced the Seastrong Diver Heritage, based on the company’s Alpina 10 Super Compressor diving watch (which you can see here) that originally came out in 1969. This week, Alpina, announced two new versions of their existing Seastrong Diver Heritage watch which feature bronze color PVD plated stainless steel cases.
The two new references share the same 42 mm x 12.3 mm case dimensions, dual crowns, and Sellita SW200 automatic movement (4Hz, 26 jewels, 38-hour power reserve).
One comes with a brown dial and brown internal bezel or a brown dial with a cream-colored internal bezel. Both versions have rose gold-plated hours, minutes, and seconds hands with a beige luminous treatment.
Like the 2016 versions, and even the one from 1969, one crown controls the time setting and date and the other controls the internal dive bezel (top crown marked with a grid-like pattern) which features a 1-60 minute scale for measuring elapsed time. Both crowns are locking and water-resistance is 300 meters.
Being that the bronze-colored case is PVD plated it will not gain patina over time the way a typical bronze alloy does. Bronze is a popular metal in watchmaking, largely because it achieves a patina that varies by the watch, making each piece individual to its owner, not to mention making for good Instagram photos. However, due to aesthetics and metal allergies, not everyone wants a watch that turns green, and Tudor eschewed the patina trend in this regard when making the Black Bay Bronze which has an alloy specially designed not to oxidize which means it will never gain patina.
Retail is approximately $1,650.
Photos by Alpina.
