Zodiac Announces Sea-Chron Watch for 2023
Thursday - 11 May 2023
Zodiac blows the cobwebs off its archives and reveals a limited production run of the famous Sea-Chron diver’s chronograph from the 1960s.
Zodiac has developed a beefed-up version of its current Super Sea Wolf case and redone it to recreate a classic from the past – the Sea-Chron chronograph watch. Thicker in size and packed with a reliable automatic movement, fans of the original Sea-Chron and the modern Super Sea Wolf watch will fall in love with this new diver’s chronograph for 2023. Surprisingly – it’s the first chronograph in the brand’s current collection. It encourages the wearer to engage with the watch in a totally new way, using a 20-minute elapsed timing bezel and a tachymeter scale that looks similar to its ancestor but with some useful modifications. Zodiac is not merely reinventing a popular watch here. Moreover, it is defining a new era for the modern dive watch with an enlarged case that now measures a 42mm as opposed to its former 39mm diameter and a tough sapphire crystal glass top that adds considerable strength to the new design compared with the mineral glass top of the 1960s watch. What’s interesting to note here is that the original 1960s Zodiac Super-Chron chronograph, if put on the wrist of a modern man today, would look cool despite its age. Now fans can delight in the fact that this new Zodiac Super-Chron watch for 2023 offers the reliability and robustness of the Super Sea Wolf watch – a profile that Zodiac has returned to in recent years to great success. The new Zodiac Sea-Chron watch for 2023 has been released in response to a demand from fans to see its return.
An unexpected movement
Since Zodiac is owned by Fossil Group and Fossil Group owns the movement maker STP, one would expect that the movement powering the new Zodiac Sea-Chron is an STP engine. But the Swiss movement maker has not yet produced its own in-house chronograph movement in the same way it has a simple three-hander (although rumours would have it that one is being worked on as we speak). So, for this watch, Zodiac selects a fine alternative choice – the SW510 B automatic chronograph movement. It’s a variation of the SW500 and operates at a rate of 28,800 vibrations per hour whilst producing an upgraded 62-hour power reserve.
A pumped-up case
The case of the new Zodiac Sea-Chron watch is not like the 40mm diameter of the Super Sea Wolf watch or indeed its former Sea-Chron 39mm size. The 42mm model is broader than both of these and has a thicker case that measures a depth of 16.5mm. That said, the brand has worked towards an architecture that doesn’t feel as big as this once on the wrist. Its heavier design produces a greater centre of gravity yet the rounded insert of the bezel and the curve of its lugs, together with a guard-less crown, all help to make the watch feel less imposing and more elegant on the wrist. The bezel also has a black ceramic insert with luminous marker paint that makes it easy to read under dark conditions. The plunger-style pusher are neat and tidy, giving a clean aesthetic that pairs well with a choice of two different dial colours; a black and white reverse panda and a blue and black dial.
The Zodiac Sea-Chron watch reference ZO3604 has a rich black dial and three crisp white-filled sub-counters arranged in the 3-6-9 layout. These sub-scales offer the 30-minute, 12-hour and small seconds functions, balanced by the vintage “Sea-Chron” lettering at the top of the dial. The surface of the rectangular and circular markers around the hour track, together with the central hour and minute hands, have been treated with Super-LumiNova to assist with timekeeping in the dark. The two pushers placed at 2 and 4 o’clock on the watch’s 200-meter water-resistant stainless steel case flank a central screw-down crown at 3 o’clock, stamped with the Zodiac logo. A black ceramic bi-directional bezel completes the dive watch look of this Sea-Chron – a feature that can be aligned with the central minute hand to measure elapsed time. The deep blue and black version of the Zodiac Sea-Chron watch reference ZO3605 is executed in the same style and features a black dial again but with deep blue-filled sub-counters. The watch also features the same black bezel insert and a tachymeter scale on the flange for measuring speed based on distance.
Lastly, the micro-adjust comfort springs on the stainless steel case of the bracelet featured on this new Zodiac Sea-Chron watch are just one of the advantages of the metal band. Designed for comfort and paired with a butterfly deployment-style clasp, it can be dressed on and off the wrist easily. The watches are being produced in a limited run that is soon to be confirmed by the manufacturer.
If you’d like more information on the new Zodiac Sea-Chron watch for 2023, you can check the watch out further on the product page here, or call and speak to a member of our Jura Watches sales team today on 01335 453453.
