For 2018 Victorinox Swiss Army added some really nice additions to the INOX Professional Diver collection by debuting the INOX Professional Diver Titanium. The INOX Professional Diver is a diver’s style variant of the popular INOX collection, which has been a best seller for Victorinox Swiss Army for a few years given the collection’s price point, durability, and of course, style. Victorinox Swiss Army overall is rounding out the INOX collection with a large assortment of versions including the smaller INOX models (the INOX V) for women. aBlogtoWatch has covered the majority of INOX models and the original INOX Professional Diver (in steel) was reviewed here.
Hands-on images by Ariel Adams
Victorinox Swiss Army originally came out with a version of the INOX in titanium and for 2018 releases the INOX Professional Diver in titanium as well. Both of the INOX watches are extremely similar from a functionality and wearability standpoint. The Diver is slightly larger at 44mm wide, has a diver’s style unidirectional rotating bezel, and of course a more diver’s style dial design. With that said the lines between the standard INOX and Diver continue to blur as the INOX Professional Diver Titanium also optionally comes on the paracord strap which was for the standard INOX until recently.
More so, Victorinox Swiss Army is homaging a recent limited edition model they produced which quickly sold out being the INOX Titanium Sky High which also had a white dial theme. While it isn’t the exact same watch, the reference 241811 INOX Professional Diver Titanium has a white dial, deep gray titanium case, and matching white strap (not paracord this time).
For 2018 Victorinox Swiss Army released four versions of the INOX Professional Diver Titanium and what I find cool is that each of them is a bit more than just a different color. Victorinox Swiss Army wanted each of the models to have a slightly different personality. For example, the black-dialed model on the paracord strap (reference 241812) has a black and yellow striped seconds hand which none of the other models have. The blue-dialed model on the matching paracord strap (reference 241813) has a “blue marine” themed camouflage-style dial which none of the other models have.
The white-dialed model has an outer scale around the dial which, rather than just being red in color, has a gradient that goes from red to light orange. It’s something cool that is not only unexpected but something I’ve not seen in the past.
Those familiar with the INOX collection know that Victorinox Swiss Army designed them to be more or less analog G-shock watches with a more European design. What do I mean by that? Just as Casio’s famous G-Shock collection was meant to be useful and extremely durable, so is the INOX to Victorinox Swiss Army. The INOX Professional Diver is designed to survive the same “battery of tests” as all INOX models – which is good to know since a lot of people who buy a tool watch might enjoy it for the style but like to know that it is a product that can put up with a lot of abuse. The paracord strap option is stylistic of course, but the strap can also be unwoven and used as a rope during a survival scenario should the user need it for that. After unraveling the strap you’ll need to get a new one unless you have serious paracord weaving skills.
Why titanium over steel? The price premium for titanium over steel is $100, which isn’t too bad. The titanium material is lighter than steel and also darker in color. If you have an existing steel model of the Victorinox Swiss Army INOX Professional Diver, I’m not sure the titanium model merits an upgrade, but it does offer a nice new flavor if there is a new color you like. The steel version of the diver continues to be the only model available on a matching steel bracelet, but the hip aesthetics of the titanium version certainly make it the trendy choice amongst the larger INOX model collection.
The most conservative version of the new INOX Professional Diver Titanium is the gray with green luminant reference 241810 that comes on the rubber strap. This is the most “military” styled model (although you might argue that the black version on the paracord strap gets that honor as well), and nicely harmonizes the color of the titanium case with the dial and strap color. All of the INOX Professional Diver Titanium models are extremely legible with correctly-sized hands, markers, and an overall sense of good case and dial proportions.
Recall that while the Victorinox Swiss Army INOX standard model comes in a 43mm wide case, the Professional Diver is 45mm wide. My only continuing issue with it (and it is just a watch nerd thing) is the 200m versus 300m of water resistance given the “Diver” part of the name, as well as the fact that the non-Diver version of the INOX also has 200m of water resistance. Victorinox Swiss Army told us that this was because the additional 100m of water resistance would have required a thicker sapphire crystal which would have increased the cost of the watch to a point they didn’t feel consumers would be happy with. For the majority of recreational diving purposes, the Victorinox Swiss Army INOX Diver Professional (titanium or steel) will serve anyone totally fine as a backup timing instrument underwater.
Inside the INOX Professional Diver watch is a Swiss quartz movement that offers the time and date. Over the dial is an AR-coated sapphire crystal. Part of the theme of the watch is that it comes with a clear plastic magnifier attachment which goes over the case and dial to better protect the watch. It is sort of gimmicky but also cool at the same time. If you are legitimately worried about damaging your watch while wearing it, then the attachment is actually useful to have for the Victorinox Swiss Army INOX Professional Diver titanium.
Once again, the 2018 Victorinox Swiss Army INOX Professional Diver Titanium debuts as four models with two coming on a rubber strap and two coming on a paracord strap along with an extra rubber strap. Price for the references 241810 and 241811 on the rubber strap have a retail price of $695 USD and the references 241812 and 241813 on the paracord strap have a retail price of $750 USD. victorinox.com
