While the vast majority of dive watch designs are content with 200 or even 300 meters of water resistance, there is a devoted portion of the enthusiast community dedicated to exploring the outer limits of case engineering through extreme depth ratings. Family-owned Swiss brand Delma has long catered to this hardcore end of the diver spectrum, and for its latest release, the brand dresses one of its highest-performance dive watch designs in stealthy tactical black. The new limited Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition combines an ultra-capable case with beefy proportions and a moody blacked-out colorway to create what may well be the brand’s most aggressive diver to date.

At 47mm-wide and an immense 18.5mm-thick, there’s no denying that the black DLC-coated stainless steel case of the Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition carries an imposing presence. Its muscular stance, wide lugs, oversized claw-like crown guards, and simple matte brushed finish heighten this sense of mass and scale in images, but while this may not be a watch for the faint of heart this oversized aggressive approach carries its own brand of charm. The Blue Shark III Black Edition’s bezel design contributes much of the case’s character in images, with its prominent radial brushing, layered insert, and a vibrant hazard yellow dive scale. Taken as a whole, the case feels weighty and seriously purposeful, solidly reflecting its capabilities. Around back, Delma adorns the case with an intricately engraved solid caseback featuring a stylized shark motif, but it’s the watch’s water resistance rating that really steals the show. Delma rates the Blue Shark III Black Edition for a mind-bending 4,000 meters of water resistance, ensuring this case’s proportions are more than just for show and providing far more underwater capability than the human body could ever possibly endure.

The dial of the Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition follows the usual pattern for the Blue Shark III series, with the brand’s distinctive “snakehead” ladder hands in bold industrial yellow complemented by matching applied Arabic numerals at 12 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock. These high-impact yellow elements make for a highly legible design in images, while the simple applied wedge indices and matte black dial surface keep the dial from feeling overcomplicated. To better match the black DLC exterior of the watch, Delma renders the dial text and minutes scale here in low-contrast gray, further reinforcing the aggressive tactical ethos of the design. Smaller pops of yellow in the outer minutes track help to visually unify the watch while highlighting important five-minute intervals.

Delma powers the Blue Shark III Black Edition with the tried and true Sellita SW200 automatic movement. Although the SW200 remains a reliable and easy-to-maintain powerplant, the movement is beginning to show its age performance-wise, with a below-average 38 hours of power reserve at a 28,800 bph beat rate. To complete the package, Delma pairs the watch with a three-link oyster-style bracelet in black DLC stainless steel.

Deadly serious in both capability and aesthetics, the Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition is one of the brand’s most aggressive dive watch offerings ever and should make for an immensely durable underwater companion. Only 300 examples of the Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition will be made, and the watch is available now through authorized dealers at an MSRP of $2,750. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.