Timex Waterbury Dive Automatic
April 2022.
Hi, this is Alan. Thanks for your interest in these reviews and in my site. My contact info is at the bottom. Here is a really nice watch, the Timex Waterbury Dive Automatic. As part of the Waterbury series recalling the heritage of Timex, there are several automatics. As of this writing, this is the first dive watch in the series. There is also a green dial version with leather strap, and another witih same black dial as mine, also on a leather strap. Mine is on a steel bracelet.
I am not exaggerating when I say that of all the new Timex watches I've worn since ca. 2016, this one ranks very close to the top. In terms of design, materials & movement, aesthetics and comfort in wearing, it's hard to beat. Key to what I find most impressive is the integration of the bracelet into the case, a feature of some really great dive watches through history. The bracelet itself is particularly well-designed, more on that later.
(I will never make an unboxing video. This is as close as I'll get.)
The watch design is influenced by the purpose-built dive watches that gained traction during the mid-portion of the 20th century, and blends in many of the classic features. Timex wisely and truthfully calls this a "dive inspired" watch, not heavy-duty watch for serious diving. While 100 meters water resistance is pretty good (and while most divers don't go much below 40 meters) it is not the extreme deep watches with hard-core names like "Ultra Deep Professional," or "Deep Sea SeaDweller," or "Super Sea Wolf 68 Saturation," and more. (BTW, these ultra-deep [and ultra $$$] watches can survive *well below* what a human can survive, described as both "vaguely ridiculous," and "kind of awesome.")
Let's go over some of the details and features of the watch:
Case size: 40 mm
Crystal: mineral glass
Steel case and bracelet
Water resistance: 100 meters
Top ring / rotating bezel: steel
Case finish: brushed
Bracelet finish: brushed and polished
Movement: Miyota automatic mechanical, 21 jewels, display back
Day/date function
Dial color: black sunray finish
Nice look at the finely-finished case, with a brushed, satin appearance. The finished surfaces of this watch, to me, seem superior. Here you can also see the crown signed with the old logo of the Waterbury Watch Company. (Below is that same logo, image by Timex.)
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A look at the movement, the beautiful classic-shaped case, and parts of the bracelet and endpiece.
Back of the bracelet, showing the deployant clasp. By pressing the sides of the clasp, it releases. You can see also see here how some parts of the bracelet are polished and shiny, while other parts are brushed and more matte in appearance. This is truly a great bracelet.
The bracelet is an "integral" type, in that the ends integrate into the case by way of "end pieces," much like that construction of the Rolex Oyster bracelet, found on the Submariner, Explorer, and others. Note also how the endpieces have shiny polished surfaces as well as brushed matte surfaces, aligned with the same on the bracelet. Really fabulous.
Dial close up: Handset are partially skeleton, with luminous ends. The hour markers are steel with a bevel along its inside edge *you can see thaht at 10 and at 3. Day and date window (Sunday is in red, others are in black lettering.) TIMEX at 12.
The bracelet is adjustable, by removing links. Unless you have the tools to remove the pins, you'll should to visit a watchmaker or jeweler. I really wouldn't try it yourself unless you've done it before, and really know what you are doing. My watchmaker charged me just ten bucks and got it done in less than 10 minutes. For my wrist size, four links were removed. The above picture shows round stickers with red arrows, when you first receive the watch. They show the direction that the pins need to be pushed out, to remove links. But even if you didn't have the stickers, the links themselves have directional arrows permanently stamped along the undersurface to show which direction the pins need to be pushed (see below photo, showing this).
Let's take a deep dive into this bracelet. It is really a superb bracelet, one in which I hope Timex uses again in subsequent releases. It may help to understand how it's made and how it functions, by looking at the loose links I had removed. You can see the larger "comb-like" matte pieces are connected to the other identical pieces, not by way of a simple pin, and therefore a single hinge, but rather are connected to each other by way of interdigitating intermediary pieces. It turns out this construction, in addition to making the bracelet look more attractive and simply more interesting-looking, allows for a much smoother, almost fluid range of motion, making wearing it on the wrist relaxed and very comfortable.
The above two pics are very unusual, but I thought might be useful in further showing the structure and function of the links. After all, form follows function, right? You can see how the intermediary finger-like pieces make it such that the larger "comb-like" pieces move more freely and widely in relation to each other. It's like instead of your elbow or knee having the usual one joint, you've got two joints! That's what you have here, two hinge joints. What's more, unlike the knee or elbow, each hinge joint of this bracelet moves in both directions, does not stop when fully extended, like your knee.
Why is this important? After all, the bracelet will never on your wrist look like those two close up pics of the links. Nor will it look like the pic immediately above, with the links appearing "all over the place." But the "all over the place" appearance is why this. bracelet is so smooth and comfortable on the wrist. The design serves to create a hyperflexible bracelet, with a very wide range of motion, resulting it laying smoothly and painlessly on your wrist, and not likely to bunch up, pinch or resist moving as your arm goes about its normal motions and changes in position.
The top ring or bezel is steel, has a coin-edge, and rotates unidirectionally (counterclockwise) with clicks. The top of the bezel is black, and as you can see in this pic there is a bevel to the outer two-thirds. Another nice look at the dial.
Another good look at the dial. I haven't mentioned yet the green seconds hand. At its short end, there is a W for Waterbury. The logo that was engraved on the crown, Waterbury Watch Company, is also printed on the dial.
I've been wearing this continuously since receiving it. I get as much enjoyment wearing it (and greater comfort!) as when wearing dive-inspired watches costing much more. Timex made a really superb watch, with this one.
I am so glad they used an automatic movement for this release!
