Bulova Devil Diver
It is no secret that I love Dive Watches. I always have and probably always will. A recent trend in the past few years from both mainstream and microbrands is vintage divers. There were just so many attractive and unique dive watches in the 60’s and 70’s that it makes sense for brands to reissue them. Bulova has been reissuing some of their most iconic models in the past few years, one of the more popular ones being the Bulova Moon Watch that we reviewed here on Watchreport. Bulova recently ran a worldwide poll asking which past model should they bring back.
That takes us to the upcoming reissue of the Bulova Devil Diver, or its actual model name, the Oceanographer. Bulova will reissue this model next year in 2018 and it will debut at Baselworld. This now retro looking diver was originally released in 1972 and got its unique nickname because of the “666” on the dial for its 666 feet water resistance. Being released in partnership with Analog/Shift & Shifted it will have the same red and black color scheme as the original. I do not know if they will keep it true to vintage size yet or not, or will bump it up a few millimeters for the modern market. I think 38-40mm would be the sweet spot.
For those that seek something more limited there will be an orange dial version released at Basel as well, and you guessed it, only 666 of them will be made. And for vintage collectors that are devotees to Analog/Shift, 30 of the orange Devil Diver will have personalized case backs with the A/S logo and come with a special NATO strap.
Bulova is hoping to make a bang next year at BaselWorld with the release of the Devil Diver and as of this writing, we are only 4 months away. I hope I can get my hands on one when they are ready for a full review as this one has me excited.
David Tingey
Well I have just measured the case on my 1968 Bulova Snorkel (first year of this case) and without the crown it is around 40.6 mm. So it’s a large watch for that time.