Alpina is updating one of their dive watches for Baselworld 2016, and the result looks great in all four styles, which is saying a lot in a crowded field like vintage-inspired dive watches. The Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic watch forgoes the extreme monicker as well as the triple-date display, looking cleaner and more contemporary.
The cushion-shaped case of the Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic seems to be just the right size at 44mm wide, and the redesign choices are right on the nose. The single date window is discreet enough to be tolerated by even the staunchest date window detractor, and each of the four color options are downright handsome. The options are: grey, navy blue, or burgundy bezel, each with white luminous markers, and finally, a black bezel with beige luminous markers.
Whichever you prefer, all of the Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic watches feature the unidirectional diving bezel, 300M of water resistance, a transparent case back (which we don’t have a shot of yet), and a screw in crown. The watch sits a hair over 13mm on the wrist, which is substantial without being overly bulky. The movement is unchanged, with the AL-525 automatic caliber, which operates at 28,800 vph and offers a power reserve of 38 hours. It’s a shame that power reserve is just short of a weekend-length 42 hours, being a real practical sweet spot.
Interestingly, the watch does not come standard on a rubber strap anymore, but on a leather strap. Alpina is going to offer a strap set with four different rubber straps, but unfortunately we don’t know the color options yet. Between the different color options on the watches and the straps, I just really can’t wait to see these in person. Moving on to the crown, it is so aesthetically pleasing, and is likely a hallmark that is not going to change for a while.
The Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Automatic is a casual enough dive watch to wear around in most social situations. But in case you forgot, it’s a serious diver, it doesn’t look out of place at all gently dangling from the handle of your dive knife like in the above press photo or proudly posing next to the dive knife in the picture below. But seriously, this is one attractive watch that would look out of place at a very formal event but not many others.
Alpina watches always look better in person than in photos, and that’s not a knock on the photography but a praise of their attention to quality and detail. We expect price to be just around 1,450 CHF, the price of the outgoing model, but we’ll update once we have an official figure. alpina.com