In Depth with the Singer Reimagined Divetrack
As the Name Suggests, the Dive Watch Entirely Reimagined
Announced at Watches & Wonders 2024, the Singer Reimagined Divetrack is one of those watches that just haunts us. The more time we've had to spend with it and just think about it, the more satisfying it gets. And that’s because it’s the most creative rethinking of a dive watch we’ve seen in our time collecting watches. That’s a bold statement to say the least. After all, the dive watch is one of the most well-trodden horological genres out there, with plenty of fantastic designs, innovations and executions.
In this article, we break down all the details that make the Divetrack so ingenious and refreshing, and answer the looming question: Just how wearable is this groundbreaking watch?
Watch shown on a 6.75in / 17cm wrist.
The Singer Divetrack combines fresh design, high-end watchmaking, and advanced engineering. In particular, it introduces the world’s first automatic 24-hour central chronograph, created to monitor a dive itself as well as critical time both before and after. Whether underwater, during surface intervals, or post-dive, the Divetrack offers support throughout.
A Purposeful 24-hour Dive Chronograph
At its core, the Divetrack is a 24-hour chronograph, with chronograph functions (i.e., seconds, minutes and hours) tracked at the center of the dial. For dive timing, the central seconds hand moves continuously, while the orange minute hand tracks the length of a dive. By centralizing these functions, the Divetrack improves legibility, allowing divers to quickly and easily see how long they’ve been underwater.
Surface Intervals and Post-Dive Safety
Beyond its underwater capabilities, the Divetrack is useful on the surface, and this is where the 24-hour chronograph comes in handy. During critical surface intervals—when divers must wait to allow nitrogen to safely leave their body—the chronograph keeps track of the time, ensuring divers don’t rush back into the water. Accurate tracking of these intervals helps divers avoid decompression sickness.
Additionally, the Divetrack monitors post-dive air travel safety. Following PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) guidelines, divers must wait at least 18 hours after their last dive before flying. The Divetrack’s design makes it easy to track this period and avoid post-dive complications.
Central Sub-Counter: Time Tracking in Three Zones
The Divetrack’s central sub-counter divides the 24 hours around a dive into three essential zones – before, during and after:
- "CHILL" (0h-6h): Tracks surface intervals, ensuring divers wait the appropriate amount of time before their next dive
- "DIVE" (6h-18h): Displays when the diver is clear to dive again after completing the surface interval
- "FLY" (18h-24h): Tracks the safe period post-dive before air travel, helping divers avoid decompression sickness by ensuring they wait at least 18 hours before flying
Bringing this all together, the photo above shows an elapsed time of 18 hours, 22 minutes (relative to both the running chronograph and the dive bezel) and 38 seconds, meaning it should be safe at this point for the diver to fly.
Easy Operation and Dive-Focused Features
Activating the chronograph is straightforward: a press of the button at 2 o’clock starts it. The button is shielded by a red ceramic-coated guard, preventing accidental activation. For added dive safety, the chronograph cannot be reset unless stopped.
Once underwater, the unidirectional bezel is used to track elapsed time, relative to the central chronograph's minute hand. The 60-minute ceramic aluminium bezel ring, filled with Super-LumiNova®, is both scratch-resistant and easy to read in low-light conditions.
Time Telling
Of course, all this begs the question of basic time telling. A 12-hour ceramic disk under the rotating bezel displays the time in running hours. The disk is illuminated with luminescent figures and indexes, ensuring divers can read the time without any distractions. For instance, the photo below shows the time is 9 o'clock.
Built to Endure Extreme Conditions
The Divetrack is designed for durability, using the highest-quality materials to ensure it withstands the demanding conditions of professional diving. The case is made from grade 5 titanium, known for its lightweight yet strong properties. The bezel and caseback are constructed from marine-grade stainless steel, providing resistance to corrosion and wear in harsh environments. Rated for water resistance up to 300 meters (1,000 feet), the Divetrack is suitable for deep dives.
The watch’s push-buttons are protected by double o-ring seals, while the screw-down crown ensures water cannot enter the case. The watch also features a helium escape valve for saturation diving, allowing trapped helium to safely exit the watch during decompression, preventing damage.
For versatility, the Divetrack comes with interchangeable rubber and hook-and-loop straps, easily swapped using traditional spring bars, making the watch practical for both diving and daily wear.
Dial Design for Optimal Readability
The black matte dial base enhances contrast, ensuring easy readability even in challenging conditions. To improve legibility further, the Divetrack uses Super-LumiNova®, a high-performance phosphorescent material applied to the hands, markers, and dial graphics. This guarantees visibility in low-light environments, crucial for underwater use.
The daytime indication ring is crafted from ceramic aluminium, providing a lightweight yet strong material that resists corrosion. This ring contrasts sharply with the Super-LumiNova®-filled figures and indexes, which are milled directly into the ring for a sharp, clear appearance. At 6 o’clock, an applied triangular index offers a quick reference point, ensuring divers can read the time both in bright daylight and the darkest depths.
Powered by the AgenGraphe Movement
The Divetrack is powered by the customized 24-hour AgenGraphe movement, a legendary mechanical automatic chronograph consisting of 479 meticulously-finished components. This movement centralizes the chronograph functions into one display, improving readability and minimizing clutter. The jumping hour and minute indicators provide precise time measurement, essential for accurate dive tracking.
A unique horizontal clutch mechanism integrates the chronograph with the watch’s gear train, offering smooth operation. This friction-based coupling is compact, robust, and delivers performance comparable to vertical clutches. The Swiss lever escapement, operating at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), ensures stability and accuracy, making the Divetrack a highly dependable timepiece. And it will go the distance with a 72-hour power reserve.
Wearability
Now, let's address probably the biggest looming question: Just how wearable is the Divetrack? To do that, let's start with the case dimensions:
- Diameter: 49mm
- Height: 19.67mm
- Lug-to-lug: 49mm
Of course, there's no getting around the fact that this is a large watch, and that's no surprise given its robust capabilities, engineering and build. But dimensions alone can be misleading. While the watch's diameter is 49mm – due to the protective titanium outer case – the lug-to-lug is also 49mm. (Almost identical to the lug-to-lug dimensions of Singer's Track 1 chronographs.) For those who swear by lug-to-lug dimensions, that makes the Divetrack a manageable proposition for many wrists.
In all these ways, the Divetrack proves it's a complete reimagining – see what we did there? – of the dive watch. Every aspect of the watch is carefully considered and creatively approached. There's always more to learn about and be surprised by, making it just so satisfying.
The Singer Reimagined Divetrack is available at collectivehorology.com. As always, feel free to get in touch with your thoughts and questions. And thank you for supporting independent watchmaking.