You anticipate months for a brand new Tremendous Compressor case after which two come alongside directly… The brand new Alpina Seatrong Heritage Diver watch follows carefully on the heels of the Longines Legend Diver watch launch, which we lined final week. Tremendous Compressor expertise was developed within the 1950s by Ervin Piquerez SA (EPSA) and is a specific sort of case building with a sprung again, designed to extend water resistance because the exterior strain on the watch grows.
How does it work? Properly, the caseback of a Tremendous Compressor watch is both threaded or a bayonet becoming (such as you may anticipate finding in a light-weight bulb), and fitted with a robust spring that stops the caseback from screwing all the way in which down. As a substitute, the strain is adjusted in order that the caseback makes contact with (and solely partially depresses) the rubber seal (gasket or o-ring). Earlier than the gasket will be totally compressed, the strain within the spring resists (when above sea stage) and ensures that a certain quantity of theoretical play is left within the gasket. Because the diver descends and the water strain round them will increase, the caseback is crushed into the gasket, additional flattening the seal and, thusly, rising water resistance.
The Alpina Seatrong Diver assortment is, properly, robust. It’s a tastefully designed assortment that screams classic enchantment. The newest addition is a 42mm chrome steel case with a bronze colour PVD coating. It’s fascinating that Alpina opted to not make this be careful of bronze completely (clearly it’s cheaper to make a metal case and easily coat it to seem as whether it is crafted from bronze) as a result of it speaks volumes of bronze’s continued aesthetic recognition. With a PVD coating, there will probably be not one of the traditional patina you’d anticipate with a real bronze case, which can please some and rankle others (from both a stylistic or congruity perspective, I think about).
This watch is waterproof to 300 meters. It’s 12.3mm thick and boasts a sapphire crystal on the entrance and an engraved caseback. It’s powered by the AL-525 automated caliber (a modified caliber based mostly on the Sellita SW200, however with a very nice off-center rotor weight), which boasts 26 jewels, a 38-hour energy reserve, and an working frequency of 28,800vph. Each crowns are embellished with the hatching one would anticipate finding on a standard Tremendous Compressor, but additionally have a lot thicker grooves reduce into their sides, which is a extra fashionable tackle the traditional design. Crucially, each crowns are screw-down. That’s an actual boon as one of many main (and fairly blatant) criticisms of a Tremendous Compressor is that the crown that controls the (typically bidirectional) inside bezel is susceptible to probably disastrous knocks, ought to a diver by chance lengthen the time they’re able to spend underwater by shunting the inside bezel in a clockwise path.
The brown dial is a chromatic match made in heaven for the bronze-colored case. The sunray ending provides a splash of classic aptitude, whereas the white date window between three and four o’clock nearly hangs along with the design because of the skinny strips of white Tremendous-LumiNova on the fingers, and the bezel dot at 12. I might have favored to have seen rather more lume on the dial to persuade me that this was actually meant to be a device watch and never simply an workplace poser, however there are sufficient required options for it to be dive-ready so I received’t gripe about it an excessive amount of. There may be additionally a second variant of this watch obtainable (reference AL-525BRC4H4) that has a white inside bezel. That one works very properly with the date from a colorway angle, however I personally favor the wealthy chocolatiness of the pictured mannequin right here.
This explicit mannequin (AL-525BR4H4) is a extremely nice addition to an already robust providing. With a retail worth of $1,795, it is a bit more than the usual Seastrong Tremendous Compressor (which retails at $1,460) however the uncommon perma-bronze PVD coating does give it a very distinct character and makes it a tempting addition to a set that craves colour variation. The Alpina Seastrong Heritage Diver comes on a brown leather-based strap and with a spare rubber possibility included. Be taught extra at alpinawatches.com.
