Ares Ascending: Looking at the Updated Diver -1
Disclaimer: This is my own watch. I have put my own money into this piece and I am a big fan of Ares watches. I will endeavour to be as fair and impartial as I can be in this review so as to convey the best sense of this timepiece to you, the reader.
Intro: Those of you who have been here for a while in the SBWC know that we love Ares watches. They’re tough, purpose built tools that are unabashedly capable of any mission you throw at them. Owner and founder Matt Graham prides himself on running Ares as an armoury not just a watch company. If you want to read more about the background and ethos surrounding Ares Watch Co, be sure to check out my previous article on the Ares Diver-1 GMT. For the sake of this review I will focus on the newest refinements to the Diver-1 model as well as Ares’ offered customization service.
Summary of the Model: The Diver-1 has been a cornerstone of the Ares catalog since the brand’s inception. It is an unapologetic 1000m dive watch with an insanely nice bezel and killer lume. Offered in a bead blasted steel or PVD coated 42mm made in America case, the Diver-1 has everything you could ever ask for in a sub aquatic utilitarian watch and nothing superfluous. Here are some quick stats straight from the Ares site:
DIVER-1 Movement
● Swiss Automatic: ARES currently uses ETA Swiss movements for our automatic DIVER-1 (ETA 2824) that are assembled, timed, and regulated by ARES watchmakers, including perlage & finishing.
DIVER-1 Case, Caseback, Crown & Bezel
● 4 case finishes in either “Urban” bead blast stainless steel; “Deep Black”; Combination Urban (case) & Deep Black (bezel);
● 41.0mm two piece case with individually serialized, engraved, screwback construction
● 42.0mm bezel, featuring countdown timer with C3 Superluminova, clear coat finish, aggressive ‘no slip’ teeth, and 120-click uni-directional countdown mission timer
● 49.5mm lug to lug 22mm drilled lugs with 1.8mm shoulderless spring bars, supplied with a 3-ring LASH ballistic nylon strap
● 10 o’clock ‘fat head’ 7.2mm logo’d screw down crown, featuring aggressive ‘no slip’ teeth and double Viton seals: Quartz timers feature stainless Deep Black crowns, based upon the model, while Automatic timers feature Red Mission Timer crowns
● 13.3mm overall thickness
● 3.3oz total weight with LASH strap
Crystal, Dial & Hands
● Flat sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective AR coating
● Brass dial with Super LumiNova C3 printed hour indicators, painted minute indices and logo
● Brushed hands with C3, with either brushed stainless (Quartz) or red seconds hand
(Automatic)
Performance & Testing
● Individually tested and certified, fully assembled, to 100BAR = 3345ft.
● Anti-magnetic rating 18.8Oe, shock resistant to NIHS-91-10 standards, and thermo-compensated -0 to 50+ C
What’s new?: So, what’s new with this latest iteration of the Diver-1? Well there’s a few things and all of them are awesome. First let’s start off with packaging. The Diver-1 now comes in a green grenade can style packaging. Once you have it open, inside you will find your watch wrapped in a black Ares travel roll made in the USA courtesy of ESSTAC (some of you would have managed to pick up our snow camo collab pouch that the SBWC did with Ares this last Christmas.) Inside the roll is your watch in whatever configuration you selected. My example is fully blacked out with a muted second hand and a custom SBWC dial (courtesy of the ARES customization program).
The watch itself also have some significant updates to it. One that I am the most impressed by and excited about is the integration of retention screws now to the Diver-1 bezel system. The use of retention screws in dive watch bezels isn’t new in itself. They can be seen in use from brands such as Breitling and Sinn, but the security and increased capability that it brings to the bezel cannot be understated. These tiny screws assist in ensuring the bezel does not get knocked off unintentionally due to impact. Further changes to the model include a deep red seconds hand and the deletion of the date feature. These changes in my opinion further solidify the Diver-1 has a purpose built utilitarian aquatic mission timer along the lines of the Tudor Pelagos FXD. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. One thing that I would like to see improved further is that with the deletion of the date window, the movement now has a “ghost” spot when you pull the crown out. Ideally, Ares would adopt a no-date movement that is time only and therefore remedies the issue. I imagine this will likely happen in the near future and is a simple easy change.
Customization Service: The Ares Watch Co customization service isn’t something new, but it is always offering new and better ways to customize your watch. My watch as reviewed for the sake of this article has some unique features that were important to me and Ares was eager and capable of accommodating. First off, the most significant feature of my custom Ares is the SBWC logo displayed proudly at 9 o’clock on the dial. The logo is precision lasered onto the dial and allows for high definition detail that is virtually unparalleled by anything else I have seen offered from other brands in the space. I swapped the red second hand for a muted metal hand that matches the other hands of the watch and provides a more subdued look to the piece. I retained the red crown at 10 o’clock. Overall, I didn’t go for any crazy modifications to my watch but nonetheless, the changes made resulted in a beautiful watch. Ares made the process simple and easy with excellent communication throughout. Whether you want a custom one off or are looking to design a unit watch, be sure to enquire with Ares and see what your options are.
Final Thoughts: Ares continues to be clear in its identity as a brand while still continuing to innovate and improve their offerings. The changes made to the Diver-1 while at a glance may seem minor, they are in fact tangible and worthy of praise. They show Ares’ dedication to honing their craft and a desire to offer the best tool that they can make to their customers. Ares continues to demonstrate why they are still at the top of the American tactical watch sector after all this time and why they will be for the foreseeable future. I wonder if there will be an Ares X SBWC collaboration watch in the near future. What do you guys think?
-Rico