Hanhart Primus Diver | Hands on Watch Review

Hanhart Primus Diver

I can easily say I have fallen in love with Hanhart Watches. I have always admired them from afar but it wasn’t until recently that I got a chance to review one, the Hanhart Pioneer MK I, back in July. I absolutely adore that watch, for many reasons. That brings us to the topic of this review, the Hanhart Primus Diver. While I may not be as emphatic about this model as I was with the Pioneer, this Primus Diver is no slouch. It is an automatic chronograph diver, with a stadium style case and articulated lugs. It is a watch that for sure stands out and oozes quality, as you would expect from a German designed-Swiss Made timepiece. I did have one issue though and while not major, it was a little disappointing, but keep reading to find out more about this Hanhart Primus Diver.

Hanhart Primus Diver Specializations:

• 44mm Width
• 15mm thick
• 24mm Lugs
• 53mm Lug to Lug (fully extended)
• Sapphire Crystal
• HAN3809 (bicompax) Base 7750 Automatic
• Branded Rubber Strap

Price $2740

To purchase in the US: 

http://www.watchbuys.com/store/pc/Hanhart-Primus-Diver-Blue-Dial-p2158.htm

As I discussed in the video review and the prior un-boxing on Youtube, the blue shade used on the Hanhart Primus Diver is a little hard to describe. It is not a dark blue but not a royal blue either. Aqua blue maybe? I have tried to show it in the best possible way in the photos, but even the photos on the Hanhart website don’t really show it as it looks in real life. Why do I tell you all that? Well, when you are considering a watch you can not see in person before you purchase, all information is helpful. Some people are real picky about shades of blue on watches as well.

The dial of the Hanhart Primus Diver is nothing short of fantastic. This comes from someone who is not regularly a chronograph fan. I have reviewed many chronographs and bought a few in my life as well, but I tend to lean towards 3 hand or GMT watches. What I like about the Primus is that they removed a sub-dial, enlarged the other two and moved them as far apart as possible. The remaining two sub-dials are very large and easy to read-something not always prevalent on chronograph watches, which is probably my biggest gripe with them usually, they are just so damn hard to read. The partially skeletonized hands are still visible wherever they are on the dial and the red second hand not only gives a nice pop of color, but also ties in with the anodized red lume marker, chronograph pusher and clasp accent. Attention to detail could be a tag line for Hanhart as they are all over it.

As expected with a watch of this caliber, the action on the crown, pushers and bezel is fantastic, fluid with a nice feedback. The bezel of the Hanhart Primus Diver is unique in that it makes almost no noise, but yet it glides easily around the case and stays in place when set. The bezel is fluted and concave to match the stadium style case, yet is easy to grasp due to how it sits up on the case. If you were to use it for actual diving, the bezel triangle is large and glows just as well as the hands and markers, though red is the first color to disappear under water which makes me question why so many brands use red on the dive watches.

At 44mm and 15mm thick, it is not a thin watch, though it could of have been thicker as many brands tend to do with a 7750 movement in a diver, making it a ridiculous 17 or 18mm thick. What is great is how well this adapts to any size wrist with the articulated or movable lugs. The lugs are functional as well as an interesting aesthetic giving the Hanart Primus Diver a futuristic look and feel.

While the movement in the Hanhart Primus Diver is not heavily modified like in some of the other line of watches from the German brand, it is still a Valjoux 7750 automatic with one of the sub-dials removed and a gunmetal stenciled rotor. I think little more decoration to the movement could have been done here, as it does look a little plain, or just forgoing the display case back altogether and going with a nice solid case back like on the previous Hanhart I reviewed.

This brings me to the disappointing part of the review. The molded rubber strap is great, it looks good, is comfortable and the deployant clasp is custom, beautiful and makes putting it on and taking it off a breeze. Unfortunately, this particular example had an issue. There are two prongs on the buckle that go into the strap holes to give a secure fit. One of them snapped off, just taking it off the wrist at one point. No dropping, banging etc happened. I can tell that it is not welded on though, looks like it is press fit. This is something I hope Hanhart will rectify with future production if possible. It saddens me to report this honestly, as the rest of this watch is so well made, this was a huge shock to me.

In an attempt to end this review on a more positive note, the lume is phenomenal. The large sub-dials glow like full lume dials, something you do not always see, which if you are actually going to use the chronograph in the dark, this is a bonus.

It is clear that I really like the Hanhart Primus Diver. The design is funky, the quality and precision of the case is well above par for its price point and it for sure does not look like every other diver out there these days. While it is disconcerting about the prong on the clasp, I always state that I am given one example, and this could be something isolated. I will say I wish they welded the prongs to the clasp instead of being press fit, though I have not seen any others posting issues of this when I did a quick search online. As always, nothing is perfect, even though we would like it to be, and I really wanted this one to be as it was so close. If for whatever reason this happened to one that you bought, I imagine Hanhart would take care of it, and since they use two prongs on the buckle, it shouldn’t be something where the watch would fall of your wrist and hit the floor because of it. The buckle issue is bothersome, but I will still give the Hanhart Primus Diver a 93/100. That is an A- I guess, which is still pretty damn good.