Divers and field watches are two of the most foundational styles in the sports watch industry. Despite being built for drastically different environments, the same challenges of durability, legibility, functionality, and protection from the elements face both dive and field watch designs. Because of this, crossover designs can and do offer a best-of-both-worlds approach, giving wearers a reliable companion for any challenge on land or sea. Delma is the latest brand to offer a diver/field watch hybrid, adding an outdoorsy flair to its ‘70s-inspired Cayman dive watch collection. The new Delma Cayman Field pairs a handsome blend of midcentury tool watch cues together with impressive capability and a wide array of options for a truly go-anywhere, do-anything design.
The 42mm stainless steel case of the Delma Cayman Field follows the pattern of the standard Cayman, with chamfered tapering lugs, an oversized unguarded screw-down crown, and a relatively narrow coin edge dive bezel. The black anodized aluminum bezel insert offers a full 60-minute scale with an aggressive, purposeful look in initial images. From here, quartz and automatic variants of the Cayman Field diverge noticeably, with the automatic model measuring in at 13.3mm-thick while quartz versions are substantially slimmer at 11mm. Interestingly, the two variants also offer wildly different water resistance ratings. The quartz model is rated at a solid 200 meters, but Delma goes far beyond this for the automatic model with a massive 500-meter depth rating despite its sapphire display caseback.
The dial of the Delma Cayman Field series is the largest departure from previous versions of the Cayman, reinventing the traditional diver look with a terrestrial military edge. Gone are the standard Cayman’s applied diver indices, replaced with a printed hours scale featuring a mix of rectangular indices and bold Arabic numerals. The Cayman Field also adds a 24-hour scale in a deep burnt orange, adding a busier and more compact feel to the overall design. Although the pointed baton hands and arrow tipped seconds hand are carried over from the base Cayman, if anything these elements fit the field watch personality of the new design better than their original pure diver application. However, in terms of pure utility, these hands still potentially suffer when compared to broader traditional dive-style hands, with less available real estate for lume possibly leading to reduced low-light legibility.
Delma offers the Cayman Field series with both the Sellita SW200 automatic movement and the ETA F06.111 quartz movement. The SW200 has been a mainstay of the watch industry for years, and while reliable this powerplant is beginning to show its age with a 38-hour power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate. That said, Delma does dress this particular SW200 up with a handsome signed gold-tone rotor. Like the SW200, the ETA F06.111 is a well-known workhorse in the luxury watch space, with simple robust three jewel construction featuring main plates and bridges in brass. Accuracy is solid by quartz standards as well, with the brand claiming a variance of +10/-10 seconds per year.
The Delma Cayman Field series is available with a trio of optional straps. The most field-oriented of the three is undoubtedly the khaki canvas strap, which gives the Cayman Field a rugged military edge in images. For those looking for something more water-resistant, the Cayman Field can also be paired with a signed black rubber strap or a polished Milanese mesh bracelet.
By mixing the durability of a dive watch with the easy legibility of a field watch, the Delma Cayman Field offers a versatile and handsome tool watch for a variety of environments. The Delma Cayman Field series is available now through authorized dealers at a starting MSRP of $650 for quartz models and $1,100 for automatic variants. For more details, please visit the brand’s website.