Orange minute hand on dive watches?

[buddy13]

Another great feature of dive watches, is an easy to differentiate minute hand.

I like oversize minute hands like the Seiko's arrows, but particularly like bright orange ones like the one on the Ploprof.

So who came up with the idea and implemented it first on it's dive watch? Was it Squale, Doxa or Omega?

[number2]

Another great feature of dive watches, is an easy to differentiate minute hand.

I like oversize minute hands like the Seiko's arrows, but particularly like bright orange ones like the one on the Ploprof.

So who came up with the idea and implemented it first on it's dive watch? Was it Squale, Doxa or Omega?

Others may know for certain, but I thought it was Squale..

[Sinnlover]

Others may know for certain, but I thought it was Squale..

At a guess I would say correct although the Ploprof and Grand both had orange minute hands in the late 60s

[Wallasey Runner]

Does it stem back to military watches for easier counting of seconds.

[Sinnlover]

Does it stem back to military watches for easier counting of seconds.

Off the top of my head, nope.
Can’t think of a military issued dive watch that had an orange minute hand that was not an off the shelf buy apart from the Blancpain Bund (Squale / von Büren case) or the IWC Ocean 2000. Both were a lot later than the Omega

[SteveHarris]

Edit: Ignore me

[Wallasey Runner]

Off the top of my head, nope.
Can’t think of a military issued dive watch that had an orange minute hand that was not an off the shelf buy apart from the Blancpain Bund (Squale / von Büren case) or the IWC Ocean 2000. Both were a lot later than the Omega

The Omega Speedmaster Ultraman had an orange Chrono hand and that was around 1968. I do remember JJ having a 1981 CWC Navigator with a red second hand, but there was evidence that a white hand had been painted over, that’s probably why I was thinking military.

[Sinnlover]

The Omega Speedmaster Ultraman had an orange Chrono hand and that was around 1968. I do remember JJ having a 1981 CWC Navigator with a red second hand, but there was evidence that a white hand had been painted over, that’s probably why I was thinking military.

Yep it seems it was more common on Chronographs before divers. The flightmaster is seen with both yellow and orange chrono hands from 69 onwards
The OP asked re divers and I am trying to rack my brains on this. I think the first were the Omega the more it think about it.
Wasn’t there a paper written re colours at depth which is where the old wives tale about orange being the the last colour to disappear came from?

Edit it was by Kinney, Wisemann et al in 1967.
It can be googled.

[50kopek]

The orange version of the Zodiac Sea Wolf perhaps?

[buddy13]

The orange version of the Zodiac Sea Wolf perhaps?

What year is this watch?

[Sinnlover]

The orange version of the Zodiac Sea Wolf perhaps?

That’s a good shout.
The Super Sea Wolf came out in 70 this introduced the bright colours on dial hands and bezel.
The Sea Wolf that came before was usually a bit more understated but it was, along with the BP50FF the first watch to be made with a dive bezel.

[ralphy]

Yep it seems it was more common on Chronographs before divers. The flightmaster is seen with both yellow and orange chrono hands from 69 onwards
The OP asked re divers and I am trying to rack my brains on this. I think the first were the Omega the more it think about it.
Wasn’t there a paper written re colours at depth which is where the old wives tale about orange being the the last colour to disappear came from?

Edit it was by Kinney, Wisemann et al in 1967.
It can be googled.

The colour range disappears quickly as you descend, 2nd to go after red in fact.

R

[sweets]

vintagecertinas (the site) seems to indicate that Certina was using orange minute hands on Argonauts, pH200m, and pH500m Tektites from 1968.

[Sinnlover]

What year is this watch?

The super sea wolf was released in 1970, this version came out a year or 2 later I think.

https://thespringbar.com/blogs/guide...diac-sea-wolf/

A good guide to various Sea Wolf models can be read here

[Kingstepper]

Yep it seems it was more common on Chronographs before divers. The flightmaster is seen with both yellow and orange chrono hands from 69 onwards
The OP asked re divers and I am trying to rack my brains on this. I think the first were the Omega the more it think about it.
Wasn’t there a paper written re colours at depth which is where the old wives tale about orange being the the last colour to disappear came from?

Edit it was by Kinney, Wisemann et al in 1967.
It can be googled.

Never dived but don't divers use torches rather than rely on ambient light at such depths?

[Sinnlover]

Never dived but don't divers use torches rather than rely on ambient light at such depths?

The lack of light is not the issue the coloured hand is trying to solve. Colour perception in water changes with depth quite rapidly, the removal of certain light wavelengths with depth alter what we see. Some colours (blue) are visible a lot deeper than orange and red. - or at least that is my understanding, this led to the introduction (rightly or wrongly) of certain colours used in dive watch dials and hands. It’s to add contrast.

[ralphy]

Never dived but don't divers use torches rather than rely on ambient light at such depths?

You haven't specified what depths you're referring to, but during daytime it is usually light enough to see at depths far greater than recreational divers will encounter - and even most technical divers too. So torches are mainly needed for caves, wrecks and night diving - even for the latter there is still a certain amount of ambient light,
But a torch is useful for getting a clearer view of objects even before you reach the limits of recreational diving - and of course they form a part of the 'must-have' list of items for divers to take down with them.

The lack of light is not the issue the coloured hand is trying to solve. Colour perception in water changes with depth quite rapidly, the removal of certain light wavelengths with depth alter what we see. Some colours (blue) are visible a lot deeper than orange and red. - or at least that is my understanding, this led to the introduction (rightly or wrongly) of certain colours used in dive watch dials and hands. It’s to add contrast.

Contrast is indeed the most important issue wrt the ability to read dive watches underwater. So given that the colour is lost at depth, maximum contrast is of course black & white. ;-)



R