Spinnaker Piccard Automatic: a diving watch designed for the depths
In the world of automatic dive watches, some models cultivate discretion while others fully embrace their role as instruments. The Spinnaker Piccard Automatic clearly belongs to the latter category. With its imposing 45mm case, spectacular domed sapphire crystal, and water resistance of 550 meters, this automatic diver displays an exceptional personality. Its name and design pay homage to an era when engineers and explorers pushed the boundaries of underwater exploration. Spinnaker notably claims inspiration from the great deep-sea adventures of the 1950s and 1960s. It is available from €317.
Spinnaker Piccard: a watch inspired by deep-sea exploration
The Piccard collection draws its identity from the world of great underwater explorations and bathyscaphes. Its aesthetic is inspired in particular by experimental diving watches developed to withstand considerable pressure. This explains one of the Piccard's most immediately recognizable features: its impressive, highly domed sapphire crystal. Far from being a conventional diver's watch, this Spinnaker boasts a spectacular silhouette. In its Volcano Black version, the watch features a black dial that reinforces its instrumental character. Luminescent hands and markers ensure readability in low light.
A 45mm case with a spectacular presence
The Spinnaker Piccard Automatic is not a watch that tries to be discreet on the wrist. Its 316L stainless steel case has a diameter of 45mm and a lug-to-lug length of 52mm. But it is its thickness that is most striking: 21mm. These exceptional dimensions are largely responsible for the Piccard's distinctive character. The highly domed sapphire crystal gives the watch an unusual silhouette reminiscent of certain experimental watches associated with the early deep-sea explorations. The Piccard Volcano Black thus displays an aesthetic that is both vintage and radically atypical.
A 550-meter water-resistant dive watch
The specifications confirm that the Piccard is not only visually striking. Spinnaker announces a water resistance of 55 ATM, or 550 meters. This performance places this automatic watch among the dive watches capable of offering a particularly significant water resistance reserve. To complement this design, the Piccard also features a helium escape valve. This feature, historically associated with watches designed for professional saturation diving environments, reinforces the model's technical identity. The watch also has a unidirectional rotating dive bezel with a ceramic insert, allowing the wearer to track dive time.
Discover the complete profile of the Spinnaker Piccard Automatic Volcano Black
A Japanese NH35 automatic movement
Beneath its impressive case, the Spinnaker Piccard Volcano Black features a movement well-known to automatic watch enthusiasts: the TMI NH35. This Japanese automatic movement is particularly appreciated for its proven design and ease of use. It operates at a frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour, has 24 jewels, and offers a power reserve of over 41 hours. The watch also displays the date. This movement perfectly embodies the Piccard philosophy: a tool watch that prioritizes a robust and functional design.
Sapphire Crystal and Super-LumiNova: designed for legibility
Legibility is naturally an essential characteristic for a dive watch. Spinnaker equips the Piccard with applied hour markers and luminescent elements. The collection benefits from Swiss Super-LumiNova to facilitate reading the time in challenging lighting conditions. The spectacular sapphire crystal also receives an anti-reflective coating. This combination of sapphire crystal, AR coating, and luminescence allows Spinnaker to maintain the model's distinctive aesthetic without compromising its functionality.
Who is the Spinnaker Piccard Automatic for?
The Piccard Automatic is primarily aimed at dive watch enthusiasts looking for a distinctive timepiece. With a diameter of 45 mm, a thickness of 21 mm, and weighing in at 250 grams, it boasts proportions that command attention. It will be particularly suited to wrists capable of accommodating a substantial timepiece and to collectors who appreciate dive watches with a strong personality. Its appeal lies precisely in this bold approach. The Piccard doesn't aim to be just another run-of-the-mill automatic watch. It proudly proclaims its inspiration from underwater exploration and transforms this heritage into a spectacular contemporary timepiece.
Spinnaker Piccard : a diver's watch unlike any other
With the Piccard Automatic, Spinnaker offers a particularly bold interpretation of the automatic dive watch. Its 550-meter water resistance, helium escape valve, NH35 automatic movement, ceramic bezel, and domed sapphire crystal lend it genuine technical credibility. But it is probably its design that will remain this watch's primary selling point. Massive, atypical, and instantly recognizable, the Spinnaker Piccard Automatic draws on the imagery of the golden age of underwater exploration to create a contemporary diver's watch that refuses to go unnoticed.
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Editor: Éric Barse
Journalist, entrepreneur, and founder of the websites www.cafe-racer-only.com and www.scooter-3-roues.com, Eric Barse divides his time between his passions: motorcycles, travel, and watches. A graduate of the Saint-Cyr military academy and the 2nd RPIMA (Parachute Regiment) before pursuing a career in communications and digital media, he has a true passion for authentic watches that have accompanied his two-wheeled adventures for many years, from the Indian Ocean to Africa and Latin America!
