BaselWorld 2009: Linde Werdelin's Oktopus
About a month ago, I had this lunch meeting in London with Jorn Werdelin and Sky Sit (cool name eh?) of Linde Werdelin watches. I had never seen Linde Werdelin watches in real, only on their website and on their press release(s). It is [always] difficult to determine whether you like a watch or not, if you have only see them in ads. Both Jorn and Sky were wearing a watch from their collection of course, and in my best memory a watch from their ‘Element’ series and one from their ‘Two Timer’ series. Let me tell you, that the photos you’ve seen on the internet don’t do justice to these watches.
Although the watches look a bit clunky at first, when you examine them, the (sharp) edged case, crown guard and lugs are totally in harmony and have a great finish. I can imagine these watches are a typical example of: you either love them or hate them. However, as I wrote some time ago, their Spidolite model [to be introduced in Basel] is perhaps a watch that is going to be liked by a broader audience. The skeleton case (I don’t have any other word for this :)) and dial look awesome on the pictures!
Anyway, I received this e-mail from Linde Werdelin, telling me about the Oktopus diving watch. I thought the Spidolite was going to be the watch they want to introduce in Basel, but to my surprise they are also introducing a new diver to their collection. The Oktopus will become available in stainless steel (222 pieces), titanium (88 pieces), DLC (22 pieces) and in 18kt gold (22 pieces). Although I wonder why someone would want to dive with a 18kt gold wrist watch of course 🙂 But I guess Rolex thought of that long time ago already when introducing a 18kt Submariner and Yacht-Master, and people bought (and still buy) them too.
The Oktopus is water resistant up (or down?) to 1111 meters. That should do it. It seems that the 300 meters we were used to, aren’t enough any more for the professional diver. Honestly, I don’t know what a professional diver would need to have for professional diving. But if you are over a kilometre under water, I guess you know what you are doing and which equipment to use.
The Oktopus also carries an integrated helium escape valve that ensures the watch endures the pressure during resurface time. Otherwise, the sapphire crystal may pop off for example. And, you are also still able to use the diving instrument called ‘Sea Instrument‘ by Linde Werdelin to snap on top of the watch for professional use.
As for the tech specs:
The Oktopus uses the ever reliable ETA 2892-A2 movement. This movement has proven itself since 1982 (the additional -A2 came later) and can be found in a lot more watches from various high end brands. It’s ETA’s work horse for no-nonsense hour/minute/seconds/date watches. The size of the watch is 46(w)x49(l)x13.5(h) mm.
The stainless steel version will cost 5900 Euro and the DLC version (as pictured above) will cost 7380 Euro. Make sure to visit stand A03 in Hall 4 if you are planning to visit BaselWorld 2009.
Too see the whole collection, order or pre-order a watch or instrument, visit the official Linde Werdelin website.
