The sport of underwater diving had come a long way from diving bells by the 1960s, with many innovations, inducing dive watches, already popularized. Scuba diving, in specific, was the latest craze, becoming popular in its modern form in the 1950s and ‘60s, with skin diving to compliment it. In fact, the first issue of ‘The Skin Diver’ was published in December 1951 and dubbed, “A magazine for skin divers and spear fishermen.”
Many dive watches, like the classic Rolex Submariner, Omega Seamaster, and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms were already being produced for a number of years and were very successful. These, to some extent, being the higher-end dive watches of the day, there were also several options like the Zodiac Sea Wolf on the ‘lower end’.
Among the watches mentioned above, three can actually look back on their birth year being 1953. The Rolex Submariner, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, and Zodiac Sea Wolf all date back to 1953. The Rolex was released in 1954 but models go back to production the previous year. These would’ve been among the very first dive watches and continue to be the most popular today, especially the Rolex, of course. On the other side of the world, however, there was also Seiko that had an array of dive watches on offer throughout the 1960s. In fact, Seiko’s first dive watch was the 62MAS, a professional diver released in 1965 with 150m water resistance. The 62MAS featured the Cal. 6217, a highly reliable self-winding movement. The Cal. 6159 was another story, a hi-beat dive automatic movement that more closely resembled the 61GS movements that a regular Seiko one at the time. This dive watch, the 6159-7001, was released in 1968 for the first time and had a water resistance of 300 meters.
1969 Seiko 6159-7001 Diver / Credit: Analog/Shift
And while the market for dive watches was growing, the demand was being driven by an even faster growing interest in recreational diving. This was exemplified by the founding of PADI, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, in 1966, that has since been an important institution in the diving world. Diving went from a new and extreme sport, to having professional scuba diving become a popular recreation, and people needed their equipment.
While the aforementioned Swiss and Japanese brands were popular in their own categories, American companies also had a say in the 1960s dive watch market. There were several American companies producing skin divers at the time, as the culture was big in the parts of the United States like California. Waltham is a notable example of one of these as they produced many skin divers throughout the decade, many using A. Schild movements. Another important example is Bulova, that released their legendary Oceanographer or ‘Devil Diver’ watch towards the end of the decade, in 1968. Unlike many of its contemporaries, the Oceanographer featured an inhouse automatic movement.
Old Zodiac Sea Wolf ad
The main dive watches of the day – the Rolex Submariner, Omega Seamaster and the like – may have been released in the 1950s but were even more popular now. Even the Zodiac Sea Wolf saw several new models released in the 1960s, with the Aerospace released in 1960 (a GMT Sea Wolf) and the Aerospace Jet in 1962. Rolex was also seeing many new references released throughout the 1960s, like the ref. 5508 which was actually a creation of the late 1950s, and then the ref. 5512 and 5513. The 1960s really solidified the idea of dive watches, or tool watches in general, eventually becoming popular as casual wear. Rolex dive watches were at the forefront of pop culture – helping a great deal to build the Rolex brand at the time. References like the 6538 and the 5513 appeared in a variety of Bond movies throughout the 1960s: Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
1968 Rolex Submariner ref. 5513 / Credit: HQ Milton
Now, while we have referred to the Rolex and others being ‘higher-end dive watches. The difference is really not significant by our standards, as in the 1950s and early 1960s, a Rolex Submariner may have cost about $150 while a Zodiac Sea Wolf about $100. While, $50 may not seem much, it is a 50% price hike at a time when the dollar held a lot more value. Moreover, it does show an interesting dynamic in the market, that there was a distinction specifically between the more ‘professional’ dive watches, with higher depth ratings like the Rolex Sea-Dwellers, the Omega Seamaster 300, or even the Seiko 6159-7001; and skin divers of sorts, lighter dive watches like the Zodiac Sea Wolf (not the 750m-rated Super Sea Wolf) and Longines ref. 6921-1/7042-1, that were rated far lower in terms of water resistance. You could say it was a time when dive watches were truly recognized for their technical prowess over brand recognition or aesthetics. A time when tool watches were still tools, whose capabilities were reflected in the price.
Arguably, it is those companies that were the most innovative or at least the best at marketing these characteristics that made the best of the market then, and continue to do so to this day. You can especially see this with Rolex, which was doing a lot more marketing-wise, at the time, with the iconic James Bond films, in contrast to companies like Zodiac and Waltham.
By: Andres Ibarguen
Read more:
MacDonald, Jessica. “FROM REEDS TO REGULATORS: THE HISTORY OF SCUBA.” Scuba Diver Life, August 26th, 2014, https://scubadiverlife.com/reeds-regulators-history-scuba/.
The Skin Diver, December, 1951, http://www.divinghistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/skin-diver-first-issue-1951.pdf.
Kingston, Jeffrey S. “The History of the Fifty Fathoms.” Timezone, http://people.timezone.com/jmerino/history50.pdf.
“Zodiac Legacy.” Zodiac Watches, https://www.zodiacwatches.com/en-us/zodiac-legacy/.
“History of Divers Watches.” Seiko Watches, https://www.seikowatches.com/global-en/products/prospex/special/historyofdiverswatches/.
“Padi Through the Decades 1960s.” Padi, https://blog.padi.com/padi-through-the-decades-1960s/.
Fran. “Bulova Oceanographer: The Evolution of a Diving Legend.” Prowatches, December 29th, 2020, https://prowatches.com/bulova-oceanographer-the-evolution-of-a-diving-legend/.
Pulvirent, Stephen. “References Points; Understanding The Rolex Submariner.” Hodinkee, July 18th, 2019, https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/rolex-submariner-reference-points.
Osborn, Jacob. “A Complete List of All James Bond 007 Watches.” Man of Many, March 1st, 2021, https://manofmany.com/fashion/watches/a-complete-list-of-all-the-james-bond-watches.
Altieri, Paul. “The Rolex Submariner Price History.” Bob’s Watches, January 8th, 2020, https://www.bobswatches.com/rolex-blog/history-of-time/rolex-submariner-price-history.html.
A 1990s Hamiton Khaki Sub 660ft ref. 9745 B, available here.