For diving watch enthusiasts, a diver from the 1960s is back: the Spirotechnique by Triton.
Triton's Spirotechnique was born in 1963, when a French Air Force colonel, Jean-René Parmentier, patented a special system for protecting the crown, positioned at 12 o'clock, and thus protected from any kind of accidental impact. To operate it, the watch had to be unfastened from the wrist and, with the help of the movable lugs at the top of the case, the indications were adjusted or the movement wound. This particular diver's watch, intended for professionals, was designed for Spirotechnique (now Aqualung), a company specialising in the production of diving equipment founded by Jacques-Yves Cousteau in 1946.
Cousteau himself, by the way, wore it during some of his famous expeditions. In the mid-1970s, however, partly due to the advent of quartz modelling, Triton went bankrupt, and the Spirotechnique remained a collectors' item. That is, until 2015, when two enterprising watch enthusiasts decided to bring the historic French brand back to life by launching an updated and modernised re-edition, renamed Subphotique. Now, however, it is time for the original model to return in style thanks to a new collaboration between Triton and Spirotechnique (Aqualung).
The Spirotechnique is highly recognisable thanks in particular to the special protection for the winding crown at 12 o'clock.
Triton offers a true-to-original re-edition of its historic diver.
With the domed sapphire crystal, the small size of the steel case (39 mm diameter) and the crown located at 12 with the typical movable loops, Triton's Spirotechnique retains the vintage charm and original features of its '63 predecessor, while also maintaining the same water resistance up to 200 metres.
The dial offers excellent legibility with its baton-shaped hour hand and arrow-shaped minute hand and large luminescent geometric indices. And then the so-called 'roulette' date display, one of the other historical references to the model of the time, i.e. with alternating red and black numerals. The unidirectional rotating notched bezel (120 clicks) features a sapphire insert.
The new era of Spirotechnique
Triton's attention to detail: a rubber strap with a grainy look, typical of the 1960s.
Triton's Spirotechnique mounts an automatic movement based on La Joux-Perret (calibre G100). It is fitted with a sporty Tropic strap with a grained texture, true to the tradition of 1960s dive watches, developed specifically for the Spirotechnique case. In keeping with its diving DNA, since 2002 Triton has chosen the young freediving champion Gilles Gambini as its ambassador.
Price5,200 euro.
