Vulcain

Vulcain has reintroduced its iconic 1960s aquatic alarm watch, the Cricket Nautical, this time in Blue Lagoon (limited to 25 pieces) and sold exclusively at OCarat in Paris. While this model boasts modern watchmaking enhancements, it preserves the vintage spirit of the original. The watch features the renowned Cricket V-10 manual caliber, allowing the alarm to function underwater for up to 20 seconds.

In 1961, when Vulcain launched the Cricket Nautical it was a revolutionary diver’s watch. It not only calculated dive duration but also provided an underwater alarm, sounding like a cricket’s chirp, to signal divers when it was time to ascend. This innovation played a crucial role in the evolution of diving watches and popularized both the watches and diving as a sport. As diving evolved, challenges emerged, especially around the dangers of decompression sickness. To aid divers, no-decompression dive tables were developed to indicate safe depth-time combinations. Many diving watches in the 1960s used rotating bezels, some even integrated with dive tables. However, this method required divers to constantly check their watches, a task that could be distracting. Vulcain’s solution was the Cricket Nautical, a watch with an underwater audible alarm. It was waterproof up to 300 meters and was celebrated in the diving community.

This original design laid the groundwork for modern diving computers. This season, Vulcain has released the Cricket Nautical Lagoon with a beautiful blue dial, in collaboration with Ocarat in stainless steel. This watch caters to both contemporary diving enthusiasts who value the combination of dive safety and practicality and to those who admire vintage aesthetics.