Someone Finally Made a Dive Watch for the Way We Actually Live

Christopher Ward’s “Desk Diver” doesn’t even pretend that you’ll be exploring the ocean depths with this watch.

closeup of a christopher ward watch dial

Published September 26, 2024

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Dive watches are almost certainly the most popular style of traditional men’s watches today, and it’s an open secret that the vast majority of those who own one don’t actually take them diving.

Sure, you’ve got the Jason Heatons of the world who go on legitimate adventures with anything from a vintage Blancpain to an Hublot strapped to their wrist. But for every Jason Heaton, there are thousands of people — including yours truly — who don’t dive and strictly wear their dive watches in regular everyday situations.

As such, dive watches have long been referred to as “desk divers” in the enthusiast community; a tongue-in-cheek reference to the idea that the only scuff marks on our Submariners and Seamasters will be the ones caused by our laptop keyboards.

scuba diver wearing a watch — Let’s be real: This isn’t you.

Despite this well-known fact, watch brands still churn out legitimate dive watches as if we’re actually using them to explore the Titanic — not that I’m complaining. Professional dive watches have always been cool, and will likely always remain so.

But the latest diver from Christopher Ward — with help from “horological artist” Romaric André, AKA seconde-seconde — goes against longstanding tradition by casting off any pretensions of being a serious dive watch and instead being cheekily optimized for life as an office drone.

Christopher Ward Desk Diver

$1,395 at Christopher Ward

The Desk Diver

The CW Desk Diver is based on the brand’s Blancpain Fifty Fathoms-inspired C65 Aquitaine, and as such, it’s technically a capable dive watch.

The watch boasts a 41mm stainless steel case and bracelet (plus a rubber strap), a 120-click unidirectional bezel with a sapphire insert, a generously domed sapphire crystal, a screw-down crown and caseback, an automatic movement from Sellita, gobs of high-octane Super-LumiNova lume and a robust 200m of water resistance.

But despite those specs, you won’t get much practical use out of the watch underwater. That’s because the dial and bezel have been reconfigured to get you through your workday rather than survive a dive.

Christopher Ward watch on the wrist of a man at a water cooler — Will the Desk Diver become the talk of the water cooler at your office?

Built for a 9 to 5

Instead of hash marks and numerical markings, the bezel breaks up your day with a mix of images and words. First is a picture of a mug for your coffee or tea break, followed by the phrases “Say Hi,” “Power Nap,” and “Say Bye.” Next is an image of a knife for backstabbing coworkers, then comedy and tragedy masks to represent office politics, then a person stretching to remind you to move. Lastly, there’s a line graph showing your rising dopamine levels and fading faith in humanity.

The silliness continues on an inner bezel, where your day is divided into six sections: Break, Meeting, Gossip, Office Politics, Move and Doomscrolling. Inside this bezel is a scale showing the daily recommended dose of each. Three breaks are recommended, two exercise sessions, zero doomscrolling, etc.

Christopher Ward watch dial closeup — On the first day of the month, coins appear in the date window to represent payday.

The bezel and scales certainly represent the most fun aspects of the Desk Diver, but there are a few other cheeky bits here. For one, there’s a depiction of a yellow Post-it note at 6 o’clock with “The Desk Diver” written on it, Sharpie-style. Christopher Wards says this serves as a reminder to write down that thing you forgot to record. Just below that is a date wheel, which shows a cartoon image of coins on the first of the month to represent payday.

Flip the watch over, and you’ll find a closed caseback with an embossed image of a diver similar to the ones you’ll find on some vintage dive watches. But look closer, and you’ll see that he’s not a real diver at all: He’s got a paperclip on his back instead of a scuba tank.

Christopher Ward watch caseback — The caseback’s embossed diver is a bit different from the one you’ll see on vintage dive watches.

Pricing and Availability

The Desk Diver comes on CW’s regular (and excellent) Bader bracelet or a black Tropic-style rubber strap, along with a “Post-it Yellow” rubber strap from luxe Singaporean strap maker Delugs. The watch also ships with a custom box that includes branded pencils, paper clips, Post-it notes, highlighters and thumbtacks.

The Christopher Ward x seconde-seconde Desk Diver is limited to just 500 pieces in total, and is available to pre-order starting today (these will likely sell out fast). On the rubber strap, it’s priced at $1,195 and is $200 more on the bracelet. Again, both versions include the Delugs yellow strap.

Christopher Ward watch on a yellow strap — The watch includes a rubber strap from Delugs in “Post-it Yellow.”

Although I don’t think this watch will be for everyone, I personally think it’s great. It has just the right amount of comedic styling without being too over the top; from a distance, this is just going to look like a handsome dive watch.

If you do wear one of these to the office, it should make for a great conversation starter, and who couldn’t use a little laugh at work? It might even help you skip the doomscrolling portion of your day (maybe).