The hunt for the 'Summer watch' an orange faced diver

Now back in the depths of January I went to a watch fair,and in amongst all the vintage goodies(and baddies) I came face to face with one the most famous dive watches(and one that's hommaged to death) an orange faced doxa 600, did I pull the trigger, no. A bit out of my price range and without much knowledge of market prices, problems,serviceability etc I did the sensible thing and walked away(with a slight regret). But it got me thinking of summer days, bbq's, beach and fun. And what better watch to have summer fun with than an orange faced diver.

So the hunt was on. Plenty of mainstream choice,seiko make some great affordable watches that would fit the bill, but having a good few seikos I wanted something different.

Enter the WT Author 1973 dive watch.

WT Athor is a British microbrand that makes limited numbers of, shall we say watches on the wild side, cool and interesting designs that are different from the normal offerings out there. And hand built to order in good old Blighty. Cool designs,cool packaging and you get some cool design sketches with your watch, did I say cool too much, well it is so there!

On to the watch itself, it comes with 2 nato zulu straps, black and orange and with most substantial metal work of any nato I've seen. And it's a substantial watch 45mm diameter, 50mm lug to lug and 15mm in depth,and with those nato's nearly 17mm. It's no shrinking violet this beast, which gets me onto the styling. The face absolutely pops, no it screams. Plenty going on, but not too busy

Silver indices that catch the light, an interesting day night indicator, a great addition that works with the styling,plenty of super luminova for great lume,thick hands for legibility all under sapphire glass. All surrounded by a super styled 120 click bezel with great feel. And I do like the style of the indices on the face and bezel, a little retro but bang up to date.

Exhibition caseback.

And the case is awesome,the curves down to the lugs and then the madheads put knurling round the base, totally bonkers but brilliant,add in the red anodised crown

And you see its building into something quite special.

Bold n brash with some brilliant touches, this is becoming the summer watch, no you won't be sipping a GnT with bits of dead plants in it to show your sophistication(get that pinky up) in some overpriced posh bar, no with this it's ice cold lager, pornstar martini's and shots,lots of em. It's a fun watch,bbq's,loud music, jumping in the pool with all your clothes on(or maybe non at all😱) propping up the bar in an all inclusive whilst planning nights out in Cancun. No point dressing this watch up for smart

It's natural territory.

With a lug width of 22mm let's try on some straps

Luckily I had a few just kicking around lol.

The things a beast,a monster in fact a strap monster n then some( I know some of you hate the term, but it is,so there).

200m of WR and a 24 month warranty so no worries. And what's inside this behemoth of fun, well it's not Swiss n it ain't pretty it's the Miyota 8217, I can hear the doors shutting but wait on. It's expensive to produce watches in small batches and especially here in the UK with all the costs. And the real beauty of this watch is how it looks and what it is, underneath well it doesn't matter, it looks fab, stands out n screams fun, and fun is what it's all about this isn't a peice of high end horology, I've got 4 other watches with this movement in them and they perform flawlessly. And if the worst happens,cheap to replace. Put it this way I'd rather keep the gorgeous fluted case,the red anodised crown and the mad knurling and lose the kudos of having a 'serious' engine, I mean who in the real world shakes their watch vigorously just to say oh look it stutters, you don't clap the end of an opera then stare at the second hand and then throw yourself off the theatre balcony through shame, no its a decent movement,not the best,but decent. And a watch shouldn't just be determined by the insides but the whole package.

I love this watch,its perfect for summer and the great times that will be when the sun shines and the music plays. And why am I showing this now when it's grey and cold,well this is only 1 of 100 in orange so if you like them get in. They do other colours, blue,black,yellow and a mad mad kermit green.

Here's some others that WT Author do,all a different take on traditional designs, I really think it's a great brand with some wild designs, different,standout and a bit shouty, and why not. Not quite avant-guarde more Ave it!! And I'll definitely be Avin it this summer with this baby.

He approves n so do i, so let's Ave it!!