Trends and hypes come and go. In the nineteen fifties, a 34mm timepiece was seen as a large men’s watch. Today, 34mm is seen as a size for women. Another example is two tone: Two tone was hot in the nineties, but is much less popular today.
Dive watches however have been hot since the day they were invented. For many brands, the dive watch is often the most popular and best-selling model in the line-up. Even if you sit at a desk all day, it’s nice to look at your dive watch and dream about subaquatic adventures.
Breitling took notice quite quickly, and was in fact one of the very first watch brands that released a rugged and usable dive watch: the SuperOcean.
The SuperOcean was introduced in 1957. This is impressively early, since the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms (the world’s first dive watch) was introduced in 1953. This gave Breitling 4 years to spot the potential and develop their own version with their own DNA.
It seems they did a decent job, considering the Superocean is still one of Breitling’s flagship models more than 60 years later. Today, there are a few different modern takes on the popular Superocean. Let’s look into the most popular variations.
Superocean Heritage 57
The Superocean Heritage 57 is the closest modern variation of the original model released in 1957. Breitling tried to take as much inspiration as possible from the original first model. Combine the aesthetics from the nineteen fifties with a modern sapphire crystal and a COSC-certified Caliber 10, and you have yourself an impressive everyday-watch.
Recently, a few new women’s models in 38mm and flashy colors were released.
Superocean Heritage
The Superocean Heritage is an older, more established model than the Heritage 57. This model also pays tribute to the original and iconic 1957 model, but with a more noticeable modern influence. The watch is much beefier and comes on either a mesh bracelet or mesh-textured rubber strap.
Superocean
The ‘regular’ Superocean is a completely different watch compared to the Heritage models. The watch feels much more modern and low-key. The contemporary style, big letters and sometimes colorful bezels make this as excellent modern dive watch.
