Company: Archimede

Model: SportTaucher GMT

Price: $575.00

website: http://www.archimede-watches.com/archimede-watches-collection-pilot-deckwatch-klassik-diver-outdoor-automatic-handwound-chronograph-2824-6498-7750/sporttaucher-automatic-diver-watch-gmt-compass.html

 

About Archimede:

In April 1767, Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden laid the groundwork for the development of the watch industry in Pforzheim, Germany. Already by that time, more than 240 years ago, the early foundation of the watch and jewelry industry had taken place, with the construction of a watch factory housed in an orphanage. He wanted to give the orphans the opportunity for economical independence by teaching them a valuable trade.

Pforzheim’s worldwide importance as the center of the German watch and jewelry business was established by the beginning of the 20th century. Karl Ickler founded the Ickler family business in 1924. He had previously worked as head of the manufacturing department for foreign companies.

Almost 90 years of experience in the watch industry underpins ARCHIMEDE excellence. Founded 1924 in Pforzheim, Germany, ICKLER bring their decades of experience of quality manufacturing and creative potential to this brand.

Starting with the design, through the production till the final control: Everything is made in Pforzheim / Germany. Here the prototypes are built, the ICKLER made cases manufactured and finally the whole watch assembled and controlled. And if an ARCHIMEDE needs a service it is done thoroughly in the factory in Pforzheim or in one of our service centers abroad.

This wide range of manufacture in Germany is an integral characteristic of ARCHIMEDE. Only few watch brands can offer such a high in-house added value.

The ARCHIMEDE collection offers functional pilots watches, classic marine watches, elegant dress watches, robust divers and sports watches with automatic, hand wound and chronograph versions. All cases are manufactured by ICKLER – Made in Pforzheim, Germany.

High quality Swiss movements such as Eta 2824 or Sellita SW 200 (automatic), Eta 6498 (hand wound) and Eta 7750 (chronograph) are carefully regulated and assembled.

Please browse through the ARCHIMEDE collection of fine mechanical watches with detailed specifications and order your watch directly from us in our online shop. And when you are in Germany, visits us in Pforzheim and see the high quality timepieces on-site.
About the SportTaucher from Archimede Website:

This professional, tough, 30 ATM rated divers watch has won many friends all over the world.

The brushed stainless-steel 41.5 mm case, manufactured by ICKLER / Germany, is only 12 mm thick, making this not only a serious diving watch, but also comfortable every day wear. The screw-down crown is at four o’clock for protection and the case features a crown guard. The clean dial ensures easy readability. The unidirectional bezel with luminous dot at 12 o’clock is offered in 4 different versions:

’60’ with 60 minutes as classic divers watch
‘GMT’ with 12 hours for 2. time zone
‘K’ for compass with display of the cardinal directions
Bronze for ’60’, ‘GMT’ and ‘K’
The SportTaucher is robust diver and it uses the robust Swiss automatic movement SW 200-1. The profiled crown, which carries the ARCHIMEDE logo, underlines the SportTaucher’s distinctive appearance. Straps are crafted from genuine sharkskin or rubber. A stainless steel bracelet with safety clasp and fold-out extension, to enable wearing it over a wetsuit, is also available.

 

The Packaging:

The packaging is pretty straight forward with the SportTaucher, a simple white cardboard outter box and inside a leather watch box labeled with the Archimede name. Watches at this price point typically keep packaging simple to keep the cost down, which is fine with me because most of my watch boxes end up in a closet anyway.

The Case:

The SportTaucher has an attractive 41.5mm brushed stainless steel case that has the look of a dive watch and the orange highlights immediately grab the eye. The case is small for my tastes, my sweet spot is 43mm-45mm, especially when it comes to dive watches. The signed screw down crown has the Archimede ‘A’ on it which is a very nice detail. I personally can’t stand unsigned crowns and Archimede doesn’t disappoint here. The crown is very easy to grab and unscrew with smooth spinning action both in and out. A screw down crown is a must on a dive watch which helps keep a water tight case if using the watch for diving other than desk diving.

The bezel features the GMT/Second time zone 1-11 with a faux pearl triangle marker at twelve. I have really grown accustomed to painted pearls and have a new appreciation for that style. In my experience with dive watches with the faux pearl is that they eventually always fall out. The unidirectional ratcheting bezel is easy to grab due to the machined edges that aren’t uncomfortably sharp. There’s a tiny bit of play with the SportTauchers bezel, but not very much where it’s noticiable with normal use. The GMT/Second time zone feature can be used to mark departure time or mark hours left for activities. It’s a very useful feature.

The lugs are short and slightly curved allowing the watch to hug the wrist ever so gently. I really like how the lugs were done on this watch especially on the tips. The tips of the lugs are squared off and not pointy so that they don’t poke into the wrist at all. The screw down case back features the ARCHIMEDE name and model. It also features stainless steel, 300m, sapphire crystal and made in Germany.

The Dial:

The dial is my favorite part of the SportTaucher and I will explain why. The orange, black and white all work together in beautiful harmony. The dial is very balanced and not to busy. It is easily readable from all angles thanks in part to the AR sapphire crystal and the orange hands and 12, 3, 6, 9. The orange color is very crisp and clean and has the matte black dial background to set it off perfectly. I love the date window at the 4 position because it keeps the balance of the 4 major hour markers which doesn’t break up the harmony. It’s all about harmony people. Cue the music maestro.

The dial features white markers at the other hour positions and yet again harmony comes into play. The white background on the date dial gives the illusion of the white marker of the other hour positions at quick glance. The dial also features Archimede under the 12 position and above the 6 position it features SportTaucher 300 M/1000 FT which is a nice amount of water resistance.

The hands are polished sword style hands which are coated nicely with lume. The lume is evenly applied on the hour and minute hand and the tip of the arrow seconds hand. The hands are just the right size, which is a something I’m very nit picky about on watches. There’s nothing I can’t stand more is when you have a robust watch with the beetlejuice shrunken head syndrome hands. A tool/dive watch should have burly hands and they should be easily seen in light and dark.

Lume is charged from a minute blast from my 365 lumen Eagle Tac flashlight.

The Strap

 

 

The  strap is a nato style strap with a Orange stripe on black background. The buckle and keeper are stainless steel which are brushed to match the case. The Orange is a shade darker on the strap compared to the Orange on the dial. Not a big deal. Nato style straps are pretty straight forward, not a whole lot to go over.

The Movement:

The SportTaucher uses automatic 200-Swiss 100 movement. Not familiar with this movement? It’s basically the same movement as the ETA 2824. The movement is made by Sellita and since ETA has dialed back producing movements for everyone, this is a great low cost alternative. Rest assured that it’s just as reliable as an ETA movement.

Overall thoughts/conclusion

this is a very nice offering from Archimede. A German made diver with a nice water resistance rating with a reliable automatic movement and under $1000 price point. It’s a winning combination. Honestly I wouldn’t change anything on this watch except for the faux pearl. I can’t find anything else that I would change especially at this price point. I would recommend this watch to someone looking for a rugged, diver at the under $1000 price point.

Additional Photos:

 

wrist shot 7 1/2″ wrist