There’s a Good Reason Why This Retro Dive Watch Is So Colorful

Those colors can actually keep you from getting sick.

Published July 1, 2024

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Most of the time, the colors on a watch are simply a stylistic choice. But once in a while, you’ll come across a watch whose colors are meant to serve a purpose.

This purpose doesn’t always work out as intended. Doxa’s iconic Sub 300 debuted in the 1960s with a bright orange dial to improve legibility, but it turns out orange is one of the least visible colors underwater. Oops.

The brings me to Wolbrook and the newest incarnation of its classic Skindiver. The watch has a multicolored dial featuring rings of red, yellow, green and blue, and while it certainly looks fetching, there’s actually a practical reason behind its rainbow-esque design.

Wolbrook Skindiver Decompression

$469 at Wolbrook

This watch’s job? Tables

Wolbrook and its sister brand Douglas were active tool watch manufacturers in the mid-twentieth century, but like many mechanical watch brands, the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s forced them to shut down.

Wolbrook and Douglas returned in 2019 as a single brand part of an ongoing trend in resurrecting defunct watch brands and found success with new versions of its Skindiver, the brand’s most memorable watch from its heyday (Neil Armstrong even wore one).

Now, Wolbrook has launched a new version of its Skindiver that looks like a vintage reissue but is actually an entirely new model. The watch’s colorful dial displays decompression scales based on the French Marine Nationale’s MN90 diving tables from 1990. It marks the first time these specific diving tables have appeared on a watch dial.

wolbrook decompression diver closeup — Wolbrook’s new decompression timer marks the first time the French Marine Nationale’s 1990 dive tables have made their way onto a watch.

How does a decompression timer work?

While they were never super common, the category of decompression divers experienced some popularity in the 1960s and ’70s. The most notable is Mido’s “Rainbow Diver,” a watch whose own revival in recent years has brought renewed interest to the genre.

These watches incorporate abridged dive tables on their dials to inform divers of the decompression stops they need to make when ascending to properly off-gas the excess nitrogen they’ve taken on during their dive. Failure to do so can result in divers getting “the bends,” also known as decompression sickness.

These watches visually represent dive tables via differently colored concentric rings on the dial, with those colors corresponding to different depths. The rings also feature various numbers at different points, along with a vertical row of numbers at twelve o’clock.

To go over what all those numbers and colors mean, and how to use a decompression timer, let’s take a closer look at the new Wolbrook’s dial.

wolbrook dive watch over water — While confusing at first glance, a decompression timer dial is simple to use once you decipher its colors and numbers.

As you can see from the labels at 12 o’clock, the red circle represents a depth of 25 meters (m), yellow is 30m, green is 35m and blue is 40m. Wolbrook chose these colors on purpose based on the order in which they disappear from the visual spectrum when descending, meaning the colors representing deeper depths will remain visual the further down you dive.

At 1 o’clock, there’s the text “MN 9/6/3m.” This is giving you the format for this particular dive table. You’ll be making decompression stops at 9m, 6m and 3m. At some depths, just one or two stops will be required, but they’ll always be represented in this order and separated by forward slashes when making more than one.

For example, let’s say you’re going to dive for 30 minutes at a depth of 35m. If you look at the green circle for 35m, you’ll see there’s a 1/20 indicator at the 30-minute mark on the dial. This means you’ll stop for one minute at 9m and 20 minutes at 6m during your ascent, with no stop at 3m required.

To use the timer properly, you should set your minute hand at 12 o’clock at the start of your dive. Then, once you reach your desired spot on the dive table, use the countdown bezel to time each decompression stop.

wolbrook dive watch on a diver's wrist — The bright colors of the Skindiver Decompression’s dial aren’t just for looks.

The Wolbrook Skindiver Decompression

In addition to its rare and quirky tool watch functionality, the Wolbrook Skindiver Decompression offers a lot of value for an affordable dive watch.

Its stainless steel case measures 40mm across and 48mm lug-to-lug, giving it a versatile size for many wrists. It has a domed sapphire crystal and C3 Super-LumiNova lume on its hands, indices and bezel pip. The watch is powered by the Miyota 8315 automatic movement, which is protected from shocks by the floating, rubberized HexapleX anti-shock system.

The watch is water resistant to 150m and meets the ISO 6425 standard to be classified as a diver’s watch. It’s available on a beads of rice stainless steel bracelet or a Tropic-style rubber strap available in classic black along with bright blue or yellow to match the playful colors of the dial.

The Skindiver Decompression is available to order now from Wolbrook’s website for $511 on the bracelet or $475 on the strap. Additionally, the brand is currently running a launch special where you can get the watch for 10% off and receive an extra strap for free, but only until July 6.