A General History of Dive Watches
Rolex Submariner ref. 114060
Dive watches today are among the most recognizable types of watches. Most people wouldn't know a pilot watch just by looking at it, but when you see that beautiful, black, uni-directional bezel staring you in the face - you know it means business. And yet, their story is often obscured, diluted by that of the Submariner, as if watches were land mammals before Rolex. Today we change the narrative.
Before the popularization of diving, in the late 19th century, hard hat divers were the norm, and the predecessors to dive watches were regular pocket watches, taken by divers inside their helmets to keep dry. Water proof cases were rare, often manufactured as one off, custom jobs. However, water proof-ness was not a novel concept, much like the self-winding movement it was only natural that technology would go in that direction. As such, there were several key developments that led to the modern waterproof case and eventually Rolex’s Oyster case. Notably, Ezra Fitch's 1881 patent for the screw-down crown, which became essential to keeping watches water proof (even today it’s well known that you shouldn’t screw around without a screw-down). A couple years later, Ezra’s invention culminated in Alcide Droz & Fils' Imperméable, a waterproof pocket watch released in 1883 that, in an agathokakological way, can be found for less than $200 on eBay. Then there was the screw-down case, patented by Francois Borgel in 1891. When Rolex developed their Oyster case in 1926, they integrated both Fitch and Borgel’s inventions (Borgel’s screw down case became the screw down case back).
With Rolex’s patent on the Oyster case published on May 17th, 1926, hopes were high for Wildorf and crew, yet the ultimate test for their new product came in 1927, when, on October 7th, after 7 previous attempts, 26-year old Mercedes Gleitze became the first woman to cross the English Channel, wearing a Rolex ‘Oyster’ around her neck. The swim took 10 hours and the Rolex performed flawlessly, certifying it as a waterproof watch case.