Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Mecha diving watch

For the year 2009, the maker of famous Swiss army knives has updated collection of diving watches the new Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Mecha diver.

Available in three different colors and coming either on a color-keyed rubber strap or a metal bracelet, the Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Mecha is a nice alternative much more expensive models like the dressy TAG Heuer Aquaracer 500m Calibre 5 or, say, the more professional-looking DOXA Sub 600T-Graph.

The watch has a diameter of only 43mm, however its lugs seem to be on the longer side, so one should actually try the 500 Mecha on his/her own wrist before ordering one on eBay or from some other online retailer.

Its 3-dimensional dial with large luminous hour indices and broad sword-shaped hour and minute hands offer enough contrast even in poor lighting conditions: a nice feature for a diver rated for 500 meters. There also seems to a generous amount of lume on them and on the first 20 minutes on the the diving scale of the outer rotating bezel.

The watch comes powered by a time-proven ETA 2892-A2 automatic movement.

Both reliable and accurate, the caliber is often employed not only in its pure form, but also serves as a base movement for much more expensive watches that are offered by Omega, Breitling, Perrelet and even Ulysse Nardin.

Of course, movements that go to Omega or UN undergo stricter quality control procedures and sometimes have their stock parts replaced with exclusive high-grade components, but even watches powered the most basic ETA 2892-A2 calibers rarely give their owners too much trouble.

The watch’s transparent caseback offers good view at the movement, but, judging by the available photos, there is not much to look at. Besides the company’s logo painted on the rotor, there is no additional decoration. Well, you didn’t expect one on a watch priced below $1000, did you?

Photos: Victorinox Swiss Army

Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Mecha diving watch’s specification:

Price range: $1000
Movement: ETA 2892-A2, automatic, 28800 vph
Complications: Date
Power reserve: 42 hours
Case material: Stainless steel, PVD-coated
Case size: 43 mm
Case height: 14.5 mm
Dial: Black, red or orange
Water resistance: 500 m
Strap: Rubber strap or PVD steel bracelet
Crystal: Sapphire