Eaglemoss Military Watches Collection.
Issue 28 - 1980s British Royal Navy Diver
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, Mar 12, 2015 at 09:32 PM (8468 Views)
The specialist British naval divers undertake a very demanding role performing under the toughest conditions.
Between 1982 and 1989 around 3400 Precista PRS watches were supplied to the Navy.
Early on they would have been mechanical but due to the harsh nature of the divers work environment they were soon superseded by cheaper, more reliable Quartz movements.
Case.
Deeply brushed 42.4mm asymmetric steel case, 44.5mm including the partly recessed crown, 50.8mm lug to lug, 11mm deep. 36.8mm interior aperture.
Non rotating 41.4mm bezel has a 3.2mm wide black insert with silver coloured Arabic numerals at 10 minute intervals. Bezel edge is deeply grooved and rough cast.
5mm dia grooved crown.
Case back engraved with description of the watch. 31.2mm flat glass.
Dial
Black 32.5mm dial with printed, luminous green hour marks. Triangle marker at 12, Arabic numbers at 3-6-9, circles at other hour marks, white printed minute scale.
Sword style hours and minutes hands (with triangle tips, and luminous green infill.
Slim straight seconds hand.
Epson AL55a movement.
Strap
20mm black nylon ZULU style strap with three polished rings and Buckle, aprox 170-230mm fitting.
To reduce to chance of accidents causing watches being lost, the strap bars on dive watches are often solid and fixed in place and standard straps therefore could not easily be attached.
In these applications NATO/ZULU straps are employed. The secondary advantage is that even if a strap bar is dislodged the strap is not compromised and the watch remains attached to the wrist.
Thirdly these straps are generally long enough to be worn over bulky dive equipment, but still easily adjusted to a bare wrist.
The face is slightly small and relies on its spacer
Divers watches were supplied to the Royal Navy by Precista and CWC (Cabot Watch ℅.)