If you follow watch culture at all, you’ll quickly realize that “watch people” take their stuff pretty seriously. Maybe that’s why Christopher Ward is such a breath of fresh air.
With the release of the C60 Pool Diver ($1,475 with a steel Bader bracelet, and $1,250 with an Aquaflex rubber strap), Christopher Ward offers a super-functional watch with a sense of humor. It’s self-deprecating in ways few brands try to be. And realistically, it’s much more in tune with how most people actually use a dive watch.
The Pool Diver is a follow-up to the wildly popular Desk Diver watch, which launched in 2024 and sold out almost instantly. Much like the Desk Diver, which really prodded at the serious nature of dive watches that will obviously never get wet, the Pool Diver nods to the fact that a very tiny percentage of dive watches ever actually go scuba diving. Let’s be real, people — that’s what dive computers are for.
However, unlike the Desk Diver, the Pool Diver gives poolside loungers some silly, borderline functional tools. For example, the dial and bezel both offer timekeeping increments for “Sunbathe,” “Relax,” “Contemplate,” and “Read.” Of course, it wouldn’t be Christopher Ward without some levity, so “Contemplate” is coupled with “Reconsider Life Choices,” and “Sunbathe” aligns with “Nice Tan/Skin Damage (Ratio).” All in all, it’s fun, light, and exactly the vibe many people seek on vacation.
Christopher Ward Pool Diver: Still a Legit Timepiece
While the Pool Diver is a lighthearted watch, don’t let its sense of humor fool you. This is still a seriously capable timepiece.
Powered by a Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement rated to -5/+12 seconds per day accuracy, it packs 200 m of water resistance, a stainless steel case with white ceramic shroud and bezel, and an antireflective sapphire crystal. Wildly, it even packs a helium escape valve, a feature rarely seen in anything but very high-end, specialized dive watches.
Why a helium escape valve? Well, watches have helium escape valves to prevent damage during saturation diving. In deep-sea hyperbaric chambers, divers breathe a helium–oxygen mixture. Because helium atoms are incredibly tiny, they seep into the watch case. During decompression, the trapped gas expands faster than it can escape, which can damage the watch crystal.
You definitely won’t need it at the pool, and it’s an almost comic inclusion, like adding a supercharger and four-point harness seatbelts to a Toyota Corolla. The self-awareness is delicious.
Finally, you have an exceptionally unique unidirectional bezel (no time markings here), a highly legible face with Super-LumiNova Grade X1 BL C1–filled hands for legibility in low light, and even a scuba diver holding a mocktail engraved on the closed caseback.
But possibly my favorite subtle touch is the message that leans so far into the watch’s intended purpose. “The Pool Diver,” it says. “How to decompress from the 9-5. Please, don’t drink and dive.”
Preorder before June 24 to get this limited edition on your wrist.
Read the full article here
