News: The Aquascaphe Gains A Crown – The Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown
Microbrand Baltic might only be a few years old, but it has done a great job at winning over the hearts and wallets of vintage watch lovers everywhere. Riding on the high of its latest releases—the HMS 002, Bicompax 002 and Aquascaphe GMT—Baltic has just announced another watch. Introducing the new Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown.
Dual-crown—or Compressor—watches have been around for decades and have recently seen a resurgence. The market is full of them. To name a few: the Jaeger-LeCoultre Polaris, the IWC. Aquatimer, and the Longines Legend Diver. So, if there are so many available already, why should you care about the new Baltic? Well, this watch costs €550, over €1000 less than the cheapest watch I mentioned—the Longines Legend Diver.
The Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown has a 39mm brushed steel case—which, if you’ve ever owned a #ScratchMagnet polished tool watch, brushed sounds like a godsend. Looking at the watch, you will also see its two large crowns. The crown at two controls the internal diving bezel, whereas the crown at four allows the user to adjust the time and wind the watch.
Next, we move to the dial. The first thing we notice is, of course, the rotating internal 60-minute dive bezel. Proceeding past that, we stumble upon brushed hands and oversized hour markers. The large surface area of the hands and markers allows larger amounts of Super-LumiNova to be used—increasing the watch’s legibility when light becomes scarce.
Flipping over the watch reveals, well, steel; because this doesn’t have a display case back—but hey, neither does the Polaris Memovox, Aquatimer or Legend Diver. Beneath the steel, however, lies the beating heart of the Aquascaphe Dual-Crown: the automatic Miyota Calibre 9039. Running at 28,800 vph and sporting a 42-hour power reserve, the Calibre 9039 is a reliable movement fit to serve this classically styled tool watch.
For those wanting a dual-crown dive watch that can accompany them to the deepest, darkest depths—just maybe don’t take it past 200m—and one that most importantly doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, then look no further than the new Baltic Aquascaphe Dual-Crown.
