Wolbrook

Nice watch! I believe the first Skin Divers came out in the late 1950's & were so called as they were of a lower water resistance than a professional divers watch such as a Rolex Submariner & intended for Snorkeling or other recreational swimming activities. Some of the earliest ones appear to be made by Longines but whether they made the first Skin Diver I don't know. Hope this helps!

I sometimes wonder if it’s a reclassification that happens as newer, higher Depth, divers watches came along and pushed earlier models into the category that then sprang up. Especially once certification comes along. So would be quite curious to know myself really. 

Thanks for the info.

I would agree with that, it does make sense. Thanks

Skin diver is a style that became popular in the 1950's with the rise in scuba diving as a hobby. They are usually slimmer than a conventional divers watch and have limited depth ratings.

One technology that progressed from skin divers were compressor watches, these used a case developed by E.S.P.A. As the wearer got deeper the pressure increased and forced the case tighter. As materials and manufacturing techniques inproved, compressor cases became unnecessary and although compressors are still available today, (Christopher Ward does one) Its mostly a style thing with duel crowns as in Dan Henry's 1970 diver.

Agree with the terminology around skin diver since it was not as deep a depth rating as the other divers in the 1960s.

However, Douglas and Wolbrook are both owned by the same company and were in businesses in the 1960s/1970s. The current designs are based on the Douglas/Wolbrook designs from that era. The company was impacted by the quartz crisis of the 1970s and was recently revived.

Here is an example of a vintage Wolbrook reference in my collection...it is a skindiver world timer...

Probably the most famous celebrity to wear a Douglas/Wolbrook was Neil Armstrong...Here is an image of the Douglas skindiver/worldtimer worn by him...

So the brand has great heritage...I have several of the reissues in the collection...including a reissue of the famous Neil Armstrong Douglas reference... 

Nice watch 👌

The Zodiac Seawolf apparently was one of the first skin divers, released in 1953.

I believe higher depth rated dive watches came first such as the Fifty Fathoms & the submariner for diving with tanks & then Skin divers were developed for the recreational diving/snorkeling market

The early sub had a depth rating of 330ft/100m (or 10atm) which is where these days we would put a skin diver though. That’s what I mean — tolerances and tech got better, depth ratings got better, and the goalposts essentially changed over time. This allowed for watches made with what was the older ratings and tech to still be sold, but also keep the prestige at the cutting edge. Even the concept of ‘skin diving’ is essentially that — until Scuba became publicly available and caught on, everything was just ‘diving’ and it just varied what you were doing it for. ‘Recreational diving’ is a bit of a mouthful and not very sexy as a marketing term. ‘Skin diving’ sounds much cooler, and catches on as sport.

Don’t forget how much is attached to marketing and the ‘cool’ factor of various certifications, particularly in the Rolex approach that shaped the market.(COSC for example) A pro watch from sixty years ago wouldn’t touch a pro watch from the last twenty years, and now we have Deep Sea stuff that is another layer on that. 

I have read somewhere that the term " skindiver" refers to the fact that these early watches were worn directly on the skin of the wrist as opposed to over a wet/dry suit?

I'm not sure whether this is factual but it certainly sounds plausible?

A very nice skin diver buy the way!

These are very cool 😎

Glashutte original probably wasnt the first to produce a skindiver, but the similarity is 😱

Thanks

Yes - this was a popular continental European style in the 1960s/1970s. Many French watches in this style. Here are a couple of examples from the French brand Le Forban who were famous for delivering dive watches to the French Navy...

Le Forban was revived in recent years and have reissued this style again...

That blue and white is beautiful!

I've been wearing a Wolbrook Skindiver auto for a few months now and I love it. Hope you do as well!