A Look at the Angelus New Dive Watch

Angelus has announced the “Angelus U50 Diver Tourbillon”, which is the brand’s debut into the dive watch industry. This isn’t the first time a tourbillon has been included in a dive watch — both MB&F and Richard Mille have previously done it. However, it’s still a rare look and showcases the sort of high-concept watch and design that Angelus has striven for since it came back in action in 2011 by Manufacture La Joux-Perret.

The details

The 45mm watch is titanium made with two screw-down crowns; the 2 o’clock crown controls the uni-directional rotating bezel and the one at 4 o’clock controls the time. A helium escape valve that allows the watch to reach diving depths of up to an impressive 300m is located just opposite the crowns. The dial is skeletonized and has a polychromatic aesthetic. Yellow and blue lacquer dominate the interior hands, bezel, and seconds subdial. The middle of the hands and indices feature white SuperLuminova.

The history

Rather than opting for a cut-out version of an existing movement, the team at Angelus spent four years of R&D building the A-300 Caliber as a skeleton specifically. What is allowed was a better reduction in the total weight width which helped produce a lightweight watch whilst still appearing substantial when worn on the wrist. Allowing the use of beam-type bridges and barrel and the wheels fastened securely between two plates has helped in the movement’s overall rigidity. A major focus here for Angelus was to maximize the total mechanical resistance of the movement.

The Angelus in-house six-spoke design further strengthens the product and reinforces that the wheel train protects the skeletonized barrel and ratchet. The big surprise, however, is the specific size of the movement. As with lots of dive watches you expect a robust caliber. However, the A-300 was able to keep the movement to a thickness of only 4.3mm. It even features detailed finishing such as chamfered edges and snailed black ADLC coating, adding to its overall quality.

A roundup…

It’s very impressive that Angelus didn’t stick to a typical nautical look for their first attempt at a dive watch. The fact they engineered and produced a distinct product with their own design ethos is testament to their unparalleled vision. Four years of development is a significant amount of time to invest; however, this watch has a lot of details and style so it’ll be interesting to see how it performs.

If you’re in search of a high-quality and unique dive watch, then this a great investment to make.