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Lot Essay
Accompanied by a Vulcain presentation box.
One of the most legendary and rare dive watches ever made, the Vulcain Cricket Nautical is a watch that is relatively unknown to the collecting community because so few examples exist. A rough count of known early versions conducted over the last five years suggests that less than 20 total are known to the market.
The watch was developed and designed by Hannes Keller, Arthur Droz, and Max-Yves Brandly. Keller was a record-setting diver and the man who developed the concept of using a combination of gases (beyond just oxygen) in their tanks to help divers reach new depths and stay underwater longer.
The watch was designed with incorporated dive tables and an alarm function. Remarkably, it was also the deepest-rated watch of its time, with a 300-meter depth rating versus the 200-meter depth rating of some of its Rolex counterparts. The alarm was also used for reminding divers of their time to begin returning to the surface and also was described in advertising as a way for divers to communicate with each other while underwater.
This version features the earlier case made by Piquerez with flowing lugs as was introduced in 1961. Later research suggests that in 1962 the case was updated by Piquerez to have beveled lugs and that case was identical in shape to the one used by Jaeger-LeCoultre for their Polaris diver introduced commercially in 1965 with a 200-meter depth rating.
In the world of historic dive watches, this could be considered an epic and exceptional piece.
One of the most legendary and rare dive watches ever made, the Vulcain Cricket Nautical is a watch that is relatively unknown to the collecting community because so few examples exist. A rough count of known early versions conducted over the last five years suggests that less than 20 total are known to the market.
The watch was developed and designed by Hannes Keller, Arthur Droz, and Max-Yves Brandly. Keller was a record-setting diver and the man who developed the concept of using a combination of gases (beyond just oxygen) in their tanks to help divers reach new depths and stay underwater longer.
The watch was designed with incorporated dive tables and an alarm function. Remarkably, it was also the deepest-rated watch of its time, with a 300-meter depth rating versus the 200-meter depth rating of some of its Rolex counterparts. The alarm was also used for reminding divers of their time to begin returning to the surface and also was described in advertising as a way for divers to communicate with each other while underwater.
This version features the earlier case made by Piquerez with flowing lugs as was introduced in 1961. Later research suggests that in 1962 the case was updated by Piquerez to have beveled lugs and that case was identical in shape to the one used by Jaeger-LeCoultre for their Polaris diver introduced commercially in 1965 with a 200-meter depth rating.
In the world of historic dive watches, this could be considered an epic and exceptional piece.