Sleeping through your wake-up alarm might make you late for work, but missing warnings on how far and fast to surface from a scuba dive could cost you your life.
That was the thinking in the early 1960s when the nascent diving industry was relying on wristwatches to keep track of time underwater.
Vulcain came up with a solution in 1961 with the Cricket Nautical, a version of its alarm clock watch that emitted its characteristic chirping sound to remind divers when it was time to head for the surface.
Other watchmakers, such as Rolex and Omega, were focusing on making their watches highly legible in the depths of the ocean.
Vulcain went a different direction, cramming information onto the dial of its Nautical watch, but making key timing signals audibly.
Before a no-compression dive, the watch could be set with dive-depth information and an alarm for when it was time to surface.
The watch included an easy-to-use dive time calculator and was water resistant to 1,000 feet.
Effectively, the 1961 Vulcain Nautical wristwatch was a precursor to the modern diving computers.
That story is retold with the reissue this Fall of two new versions of the Cricket Nautical: one in all-black, the other a limited-edition “lagoon blue” turquoise piece with powder pink accents made in collaboration with French jeweler Ocarat.
Both watches are available for pre-order today with deliveries expected in the second half of October.
They come in 42.2mm stainless steel cases housing Vulcain’s manufacture V-10 hand-wound movement that powers hours, minutes, center seconds, alarm, and a decompression table calculator operated with a screw-down crown at 4 o’clock.
The movement has a power reserve of 42 hours, and is capable of sounding its alarm for 20 seconds.
Both have the same price of $4,500.
