Sub Sea Asset
Scurfa Diver One Ti Review
About two years ago, when my obsession with watches was just starting to develop, I spotted something on the wrist of an officer who had just joined my ship. He was sporting a Scurfa Diver One. We got chatting and as soon as I’d put it on my wrist I wanted to know more. The image of that watch stayed firmly in my mind’s eye until I finally had the opportunity to get one for myself. Due to the nature of Scurfa’s small batch manufacturing, and the fact that the owner spends 6 months a year away diving, you have to be someone who can check a website’s stock list every few days in order to get one, or just be really lucky. I am neither of these things. Another side effect of the scarcity of Scurfa’s stock is the maniacs who like to sell them online for an extra two hundred percent on the retail price. (This seems to have calmed down a bit, you can find the odd pre-owned Scurfa for a reasonable price nowadays.) When I saw a Diver One Ti on Ebay at a price that didn’t make my eyes water I jumped on it. Fast forward a couple of days and I finally owned my very own Scurfa.
The new addition.
DISCLAIMER:
This is not a paid review, I have not received money, products or instructions from Scurfa while writing this review. I bought the watch pre-owned from a private seller with my own funds. I write this as an enthusiast.
The OEM bracelet is possibly the best one I’ve found in my budget watch collecting journey.
THE DATASHEET:
Right then boys, let's fire through the datasheet. I know you love this stuff, because so do I.
- Case: Grade 2 Titanium. 40mm wide, 47.7mm lug to lug, 14.4mm thick and a lug width of 20mm.
- Weight: 75g (negative bracelet)
- Crown: 7mm signed screw down crown with 4 gaskets.
- Valve: Automatic Heliox escape valve, personally tested by Paul Scurfield himself at decompressions of up to 154 metres.
- Depth Rating: 500m - 1640ft
- Crystal: Domed sapphire crystal with blue anti reflective coating on the underside.
- Lume: Grade A SuperLuminova BGW9 on the dial, hands and bezel pearl.
- Bezel: 120 click unidirectional T2 titanium bezel. Blue aluminium bezel insert with luminous titanium pearl.
- Movement: Swiss made ETA F06.402 3 jewel High Accuracy Quartz movement.
- RRP: £195 / ≈$250
A short history of Scurfa:
Scurfa is based in the North-Eastern of England and run by Paul and Alison Scurfield. Paul is a professional immersion diver and has spent his whole career around diving tool watches, this becomes increasingly apparent the more time you spend wearing one of his watches. In his childhood town of South Shields the local port was used by Comex diving ships, for docking and maintenance, and he spent his youth gazing at the pre owned ‘Comex’ Rolex submariners in the windows of local second-hand shops. Paul enrolled in a commercial diving course as soon as he turned 18 and in the early 2000s, during his career as an immersion diver, those same watches were still being used on the job. Big names in the Rolex world such as MilSubs, Comex Subs and Double Red Subs were almost commonplace, some being awards of underwater rescues. As the internet grew, uniting the watch world, these career divers started to realise how much these sought after watches had gained in value, and some wanted to cash in. (who could blame them.) This created a problem, many divers either sold their watches or didn’t want to continue submerging them, preferring to preserve the condition of their valued timepieces.
This presented Paul with an opportunity to fill the void and provide cheap, dependable tools for these professionals. And from that, Scurfa was born. In 2012 the first Diver One was produced, with a 44mm case. Over time this was shaved down to the 40mm case we see today. The first Scurfa watches were sold exclusively to Paul's diving colleagues but in January 2013 their website was launched and the watches began selling to the masses. Paul and his wife still manage the selling of the watches, and still sell exclusively on their website despite numerous offers from retailers to stock their watches. This is the definition of a micro brand with a true professional history and endearing family story.
Taking Delivery:
Since I ordered the watch pre-owned I can't fully judge the experience one would get when ordering a Scurfa new. However my watch arrived in the original box and instantly you get an idea of how these high quality watches manage to be sold at such a low price. The container is a German manufactured plastic twist case with Scurfa branding on the lid, the same boxes that Paul and his colleagues take delivery of spare parts in while on diving operations. There are no frills to the packaging at all, you simply get a box with a watch in it. Scurfa are certainly compromising in this regard, but if you’re getting a tool watch of this calibre for £195 you’d be spoilt to expect some sort of ‘unboxing experience’. This watch is designed for professionals with a job to do, not youtubers looking for a box to open.
- Sourced from scurfawatches.com
- The packaging you will receive the timepiece in.
Case:
The Diver One’s 40mm case is pretty chunky at 14.4mm especially when you consider there is a quartz movement housed inside. But 500 metres of water resistance doesn’t come for free and you certainly get the impression that this watch was not built to slip under a shirt cuff, that is simply not the Scurfa design philosophy. The solid caseback is particularly pronounced, but this does mean that the portion of the watch that rests on your wrist is smaller than the overall size of the case would suggest, the watch wears extremely nicely. There’s no intricately engraved caseback here, although you do see that sort of thing on the other Scurfa models, the sportier treasure seeker and Top Side Crew. The caseback is stamped with Scurfa’s logo in the centre with various boasts about the watch’s capability along the outer ring. Including ‘Sub Sea Asset’ and ‘Heliox Release Valve’. The Crown is signed with “D1” and has an aggressive knurl that allows for easy manipulation, especially while wearing gloves.
Bezel:
Bezels are a tough one to get right, we enthusiasts obsess with the ever elusive perfect bezel click. There's a fine balance to be struck between easy manipulation and a secure mechanism. On one hand the bezel on my Seiko 5 would have turned if you looked at it funny, on the other hand I tried on a Hamilton Khaki Navy a couple of weeks ago and was practically hanging off the bezel to get it to turn. (It was also 80 clicks, that's psychotic.) Scurfa has done well to create a bezel that could be easily manipulated in the dark, underwater and wearing gloves but won't be so light it turns when you put your hand in your pocket. It's not a big effort to turn, but it has a reassuring weight to the mechanism and is definitely something you have to think about doing. The bezel is titanium, to shave a gram or two off of an already very light watch.
Visually, the bezel is colour matched to the dial with large numbers etched out in a muted titanium grey. The pip at 12 o'clock is SuperLuminova BGW9 and stands out well against the hands and indices in the dark. This along with the chunky font of the numbers on the insert gives the bezel a high level of daytime legibility that makes up for the lack of lumed numbers.
Dial:
When you look at the spec sheet there are a lot of words that deserve a place on the Scurfa’s dial, the depth rating for instance, or a boast about the high end Swiss quartz movement. Instead, these details are saved for the case back and the dial is empty save for a large Scurfa Logo under the 12 o’clock mark and ‘Diver One’ on the bottom half in the distinctive Scurfa font. This leaves the dial free of clutter and gives a strong tool watch feel. The large square indices and broad sword hands glow brightly with SuperLuminova BGW9 and make for the most legible dial in my collection. The Plain metal chapter ring leaves the minute markers nestled between the hour indices making for easy to the second timing. The hands are a broad sword style with the minute hand being long enough to almost reach the outer end of the minute markings. The hour hand is just over half the length, reaching to where the point of the minute hand starts to form, making for a well proportioned handset. The shape of the hands themselves are unique, achieving a sword shape but not in a traditional way. The lume does not cover the hands in their entirety, but just over three quarters starting from the tip.
Strap & Bracelet:
The watch comes on a Rubber strap that matches the rich Cobalt blue of the dial. While it does not taper it has a slight bevelling on the top side which adds some visual depth to the strap, and saves it from looking like every other boring rubber strap. The rubber is genuine, and high quality. The clasp is titanium which brings the whole package together quite nicely and while the clasp is not signed, the underside of the strap is. I’m not a fan of rubber straps so it was not long before it got swapped out for a NATO, and later the OEM Titanium bracelet. But even as someone who doesn’t like wearing rubber at the best of times, it was clear this strap was high quality. Scurfa certainly isn't compromising in this regard. On the topic of NATO straps this is a mid size MilSub style diver we’re talking about, of course it looks good on one, so I won’t waste too much time on that subject.
Shortly after taking delivery of the Diver One I bought the OEM Titanium bracelet. This is designed to fit all Diver One Ti models and presents the same brushed titanium appearance as the head of the watch. It has a five link design with elongated centre links that bring a Seamaster look to the whole thing. It has a satisfying clasp action with a push button release and no lasting clasp, making it quick and easy to operate. The clasp has three micro adjust points that can be easily changed with a spring bar tool. Overall it’s a very comfy bracelet and it does a lot to dress up the Diver One, making it an incredibly versatile timepiece.
- Diver One on the OEM Rubber strap
Functionality:
Nestled in the titanium case is the powerhouse of the watch, a Swiss ETA F06.402 three jewel quartz movement. This movement is capable of +- 10 Seconds a year with a battery life of 5 years making it an ideal grab and go option in anyone’s collection. The debate between quartz and automatic for tool watches isn’t a place I’m willing to go today but the accuracy and functionality are certainly attractive. The watch also comes equipped with an automatic helium release valve. If you don’t know what a helium release valve does, don't worry, neither did I. In short, it allows trapped helium molecules built up during a dive to exit the case in a controlled manner rather than damaging the working parts during decompression. Most professional divers watches will have a similar system although not all have been made by a professional immersion diver who tests them on the job. The release valve on the Scurfa has been tested during decompressions from as deep as 154 metres.
- The Superluminova BGW9 never fails to impress.
Shortfalls:
I really, really struggled to find any negative points about this watch. But seeing as this is an honest review, not a paid promotion, I feel obligated to prove it. And there is one specific bone I have to pick with this watch. The spring bars are not traditional spring bars, they do not have a handy collar to gain any purchase with a standard tool, luckily the lugs are drilled so you avoid any problems during removal. It was putting them back in that really caused some issues. It is nearly impossible to use a standard tool to put the bars back in without it slipping. Now I don’t mind scratching the backs of the lugs, use your tools and all that, but when I get the nasty end of a spring bar tool embedded in my finger I start to get angry. This is easily fixed with some spare spring bars, and is more of a personal preference than anything, so I won’t complain too much. The other small snag I noticed with this watch is the spring bars sit very close to the case, making straps with a bit more thickness such as a hook and loop arrangement tricky or even impossible to get on. Complaints over.
-The pesky spring bar in question, no doubt durable, but bloody annoying sometimes.
To Conclude:
The Scurfa is interesting, visually it reminds me of a lot of the legendary luxury divers watches that we all know well. The hands and case shape have a MilSub feel to them, The Dial and Titanium build has Pelagos written all over it and the bracelet brings a bit of Seamaster to the table. But with all this considered I simply can’t bring myself to refer to it as an ‘homage’ to any of them. I feel like it would be an insult. I may get mobs with pitchforks outside my front door for saying this but, in a ‘best dive watch’ competition I fully believe the Scurfa kicks the ass of all of those I just mentioned. It is not only far better on paper but tried, tested and used by the very professionals it is targeted to. Not to mention at a price point that won’t make your eyes water. The fact that a titanium divers watch of this calibre is at such an accessible price absolutely boggles the mind and can make you question what you’re paying for above the 4 figure price mark. If you are the type of watch collector who appreciates high quality at a budget then yes, you should get a Scurfa.
As always,
That is all. (And Stay Sketchy)
-BWK