Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Edox North Sea 1978
A deep-sea dive watch honouring “The Inverse Moon Landing” in Norway.
Landing on the Moon is among mankind’s greatest feats, but deep-sea exploration is often considered comparably difficult. Extreme pressures and an overall hostile environment require very specialized equipment and know-how to dive to 300 metres and beyond. The Edox North Sea 1978 pays tribute to the “Inverse Moon Landing” when explorers dove 320 meters under the frozen waters of Norway in 1978. It also recalls legendary Edox dive watches like the 1960s Delfin and 1970s SkyDiver that could descend to 500 metres with an innovative double O-ring system. Edox is also an official partner of Norwegian North Sea Divers.
The North Sea 1978 is a typically sizable watch for a deep-sea diver at 43mm in diameter and 14mm in height. The brushed stainless steel case has a black DLC coating (Diamond-Like Carbon) and a stealthy aesthetic, but the requisite legibility is (mostly) there. The ceramic rotating bezel has a detailed 15-minute scale and maintains the all-black look, but has no contrasting colours or lume, making it potentially difficult to see in dark waters.
The dial, however, has large and bright golden Arabic numerals at 12, 6 and 9 o’clock set against a black background with Super-LumiNova on both the hands and indices. A date window blends in well at 3 o’clock with white print on a black background. A sapphire crystal protects the dial and the polished steel case back features an engraved logo of the North Sea Divers – a stylized dive helmet – and the words, “The Inverse Moon Landing”. The knurled crown has a partial guard and screws down, and water-resistance is rated at 320 metres, the same as the famous 1978 dive. There are two strap options available, either black nylon or brown leather with tan stitching.
Powering the watch is the Edox Calibre 80A, based on the Sellita SW200 automatic (ETA 2824 alternative). It has 25 jewels, beats at 28,800vph (4Hz) with a 38-hour power reserve. Functions include central hours, minutes, hacking seconds and date. The maximum accuracy margin is 30 seconds per day, but these movements generally run well within those parameters.
The Edox North Sea 1978 retails for EUR 1,490, which isn’t cheap, but well priced for a Swiss saturation diver from a brand going back to 1884. For more information, visit the Edox website.
5 responses
That 1978 sticks out like a flare, just for the birth year nuts,it works every time! Nice marketing.
Nice enough basic diver, the lack of lume on the bezel isn’t going to be a problem to 99.999% of us. Interesting that the movement has fewer jewels than the base sw200 (confirmed on manufacturer’s website). I think it’s a little pricey, but surprised that you do considering how many we see from you at CHF 250,000 plus
Dial design is attractive but size and price would not make me buy this one. Have too many Selittas in my collection. Pass for me.
Sellita SW200 movements are absolute turds.
Phahht Dohgng, sounds like you’ve had a bad experience. I have an Sw200 and an Sw220 both rock solid, keep good time and I know that parts are cheap and easy to come by so if I do have problems down the line I can repair them myself. Not that I expect to on their current behaviour.