Let me give you a rare glimpse behind the scenes. I am always thrilled to receive press releases in advance and under embargo. As a watch nerd, there’s nothing better… (well, the best case is to be able to see the actual piece in the flesh beforehand) than getting advanced knowledge of what’s coming. Yes, we’re weird like that. And I am willing to wade through hundreds of adjectives and flowery prose because it’s part and parcel of what makes a press release. Generally, I don’t like to regurgitate what I read, rather I pick out an interesting angle of attack, so to speak.
Not discounting the latest deep dive watch from Tag Heuer, given the engineering required is not insubstantial. However, with Omega having only just presented their deep deep dive watch (6000m – probably a little more than most of us desk divers will actually need or use – worst case we get pushed into the pool by a drunken reveller), 1000m seemed kinda… meh. Even though again, that is about 900m more than what is literally needed in daily life.
All the necessary design cues are present. Lots of lume. Big arrow hour hand. Orange minute hand. More orange on the bezel (because it is the colour most visible underwater). Clear, legible dial (because you need it underwater), helium escape valve, additional crown guard to protect the screw-in crown, adjustable clasp… it’s all there. Even an antimagnetic shield for the movement (very practical). There is even an ISO 6425:2018 certification.
I keep scrolling down the press release and then something caught my eye and made me sit up and take notice. No, it wasn’t the heavy-duty watch box that is both crashproof and waterproof. It’s quite something but that’s not what caught my eye. It’s the name Kenissi.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, I did a deep-dive (pun intended) here a couple of years ago – link (http://thesydneytarts.blogspot.com/2020/06/talking-shop-new-kids-on-block-kenissi.html) TL;DR – Kenissi is a movement supplier, that is also partly owned by Tudor and Chanel. Their first movement was for Tudor North Flag back in 2015 and has subsequently supplied Chanel, Breitling, Norqain, and Fortis to name a few brands.
We can now add Tag Heuer to that list. Now I’m not expecting huge volumes of the Aquaracer Professional 1000 Superdiver, but this portentous long-term movement partnership means reduced reliance on Sellita, at the same time re-positioning at a higher price bracket, and clearer differentiation from the other Sellita-powered brands. The movement, dubbed TH30-00, is basically the same movement found in Tudor Black Bay and Breitling Superocean Heritage B20. Reading between the lines though, this places a question mark on the in-house carbon hairspring technology – the Isograph (fitted to Calibre 5, based on ETA 2824-2/ Sellita SW200), which was introduced back in 2019 and was briefly available on the market.
The use of the Kenissi movement is to me, the most interesting part of this release, and I wait with bated breath to see what’s to come.
Reference: WBP5A8A.BF0619
Specification:
- Case: 45 mm
- Case Material: Titanium grade 5 polished, fine-brushed case, Steel black DLC Helium escape valve at 9 o’clock and Black ceramic & Orange hybrid ceramic unidirectional turning bezel with 60 minutes scale
- Dial: Black sunray brushed dial
- Crystal: Sapphire Crystal
- Water resistance: 1000 meters
- Movement: TH30-00, COSC-certified
- Power reserve: 80 Hours
- Strap: Titanium grade 5 3 rows bracelet and Titanium grade 5 folding clasp with double safety with fine adjustment system
