It has been a long road since Q1 of last year when Blancpain teased our eager eyes with the new 500 Fathoms watch. This month the watch will finally see its official release. So far there has been a special one-off 500 Fathoms watch for the Only Watch 2009 charity auction, a limited edition version to celebrate the release of the 500 Fathoms Watch at the Cannes Boat Show, and now the standard watch, that itself seems to be in a limited edition of 500 pieces - at least for the first run.

The biggest change to the final version of the watch from the early renders is in the dial colors (note the nice looking reversal of the colors for the Cannes limited edition). Notice the gray on black sections of the watch? Those gray portions initially shared the same dull green lume color as the four large Arabic numerals. Still, the gray sections are lume covered - so they will glow after being charged by light. There should be lume also in the rotating diver's bezel. Starting with the newer 50 Fathoms watch, Blancpain has has one of the best looking and most durable diver's bezels available, as they are covered with curved sapphire crystals. You also have the optional rubber straps that are uniquely done for the 500 Fathoms watches (seen in the image). Both this and the water resistant canvas strap ought to deal with the 1000 meter water resistance of the watch quite nicely when spending time "in the deep." I have yet to see a brand new metal bracelet for the line. If one comes out, it will look interesting no doubt.

You will finally be able to find the Blancpain 500 Fathoms watches out now where Blancpain watches are sold. It is even a stark departure from their outgoing luxury dive watch line (50 Fathoms and Aqualung). Movement is the in house made automatic Blancpain Caliber 1315 movement with a 5 day power reserve. Price is likely to be over $12,000, but we will see how Blancpain responds to the current stubbornness to pay retail luxury prices.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

I have been continually intrigued by Clerc watches for a while - for they create my favorite style watches (diver watches) with unique designs and a whole lot of luxury. I have not been pleased with all of their models, and for me, this Clerc Hydroscaph Gold Tourbillon watch takes things a bit too far. This is especially true in this economy where timepieces such as this are quickly becoming an endangered species. The again, my discussion might be pointless as this limited edition of 28 pieces watch has already sold out reportedly. Still, with low production numbers (like 28 pieces) you can't be too surprised all are spoken for. Clerc wouldn't even be around if at least a few dozen wealthy watch lovers weren't willing to fund these expensive luxury diving watch endeavors. I simply feel as though the design overkill is verging too close to the Concord C1 watches that I was not especially pleased with. While by no means a stickler for simple classic designs, I just envision my eyes getting tired and strained staring at this dial for too long. You can make your own decision about it though.

The Hydroscaph Gold Tourbillon uses an almost 50mm wide case in rose gold with black titanium made up of over 75 parts. The watch is water resistant to 500 meters, but you really don't want to be taking this watch underwater do you? The strap is rubber, and the sapphire crystal has the hour markers etched on the back of it.

The apparent richness of the watch comes from the movement (manually-wound with a 120 hour power reserve) and its complications. There is a tourbillon (doubles as the seconds subdial), retrograde date indicator, and power reserve indicator. The watch also features a helium escape valve. The movement seen through the dial is nice, but in the end the complications are less exciting than the sum of the parts. If it was a real diver's watch, the dial would at least have some luminant right? For me, while I am sure the quality and construction of the watch are just super, this is the ultimate poser's watch. Being lauded as a super high-end luxury diving watch that you'll never actually do anything with. The price, I am sure will be exceptional.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Known for its azure blue waters, famous grottos, and dramatic vistas, the island of Capri has long been one of Italy's most visited and treasured destinations, especially among the jet set. Diplomat, journalist, and avid diver Patrick Howlett-Martin's new book Capri by the Sea, due out from Skira in May, offers readers a intimate look at the island he's been exploring for more than 15 years. Howlett features 14 seagoing itineraries around the island, giving readers a meticulously detailed guide to exploring Capri's grottos, beaches, and hiking destinations.

Each of the entries are carefully documented with detailed information about getting to the destination, diving notes, what to see and do, touring the grottos, and the paths that you can explore once there. This is a yachtsman's must-have to be sure. Every page is also embellished with fascinating trivia, including present day and historical photographs, documents, works of art, curiosities, and quotes from famous writers and poets inspired by this idyllic island. The book is currently available for pre-order on Amazon.

As The Classicist noted in a column on Officine Panerai, the watchmaker founded in Florence in 1860, the firm got its start by supplying timepieces (and other instrumentation) to the Royal Italian Navy or Marina Militare. However they also produced special commissions for the elite branches of other countries' armed forces. One highly collectible example of such is a model made for the Egyptian Navy in 1956, limited to only 50 examples. Panerai has now ressurected the watch, dubbed the Radiomir Egiziano (above), for a new limited run. Only 300 pieces will be available at about $30,000 each. The watch features features a large lightweight brushed titanium case, a hand-wound movement with an 8-day power reserve, and a bi-directional rotating bezel. It comes on a thick tan leather strap fitted with a titanium buckle.

The recent revival of Favre-Leuba watches also brought with it the V2 (version 2) of a favorite diving watch from years past - the Bathy. Last year saw the introduction of the new Favre Leuba Bathy watch using an in-house caliber FL 305 movement. Unique to the movement is the use of a beryllium copper membrane that functions as the mechanism behind a depth gauge, something that only highly exclusive mechanical diving watches possess.

Watch company Linde Werdelin has unveiled a new design they call the Sea Instrument, the world's first luxury dive computer. The Sea Instrument can be attached on top of the Linde Werdelin Biformeter watches, for divers of all abilities.

It has a transflective color screen with the display covered by sapphire crystal glass and is designed to be readable underwater. It doesn't protect the wearer from sharks but it does guide divers by tracking the critical pieces of information needed on any dive using an advanced 3-axis compass, CPU's and alarm systems. It shows depth, dive time, vital decompression stops, temperature, maximum depth and surface interval times, constantly keeping the user in a real time picture. It comes in natural or black anodized aluminum and a limited amount have been commissioned in solid 18K yellow gold. The Sea Instrument is water resistant to 1,000 feet and is powered by a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery with 28 hours continuous diving or five days standby. The aluminum version sells for 2,100 euros and will be available later this year.

BYM News passes on this interesting story, the 290-foot yacht Constellation has been detained in Panama after the yacht was involved in some illegal underwater exploration in the Galapagos Islands. A mini-submarine which was impounded and her crew was jailed in the incident.  The group had  also chartered the Panamanian support vessel Cebaco Bay and the mini-submarine from UK based Silvercrest Submarines. The Russians apparently paid $120,000 for a four-hour jaunt around the islands. The use of submarines in the area is forbidden.

Last Friday, the Cebaco Bay was stopped by the Ecuadorian navy off the island San Cristóbal.When the boat was boarded, the crew said that the permissions to dive had been organized by the Constellation.  The group on the Constellation denied this and the yacht left the scene but was later detained as it tried to enter the Panama canal. Meanwhile, the captain of the Cebaco Bay has been sentenced to 90 days in prison in Ecuador and the crew has thirty-day sentences.

The main question is who knew what and when. In the article in the Independent, the wife of the sub owner says that he did not know it was illegal and thought that permissions had been arranged by the Constellation and that his contracted stated that the tour organizers would handle all permits.
 

Our underwater loving sibling, Divester has a great podcast interview with Tim Simond, the author of  Dive In Style, a coffee table book that focuses on diving in some of the world's most beautiful resorts. Willy Volk interviews Tim about his book and the arduous task of exploring such scenic locales (the book contains 743 photographs).  The book covers 26 destinations around the world. If you are interested in knowing more about diving in luxury  play the podcast.