The past and present always find a way to merge forces, whether it’s in the form a history repeating itself in a negative way or positive way. It would be an amazing if we as a human race can take lessons from the past, learn from them and make the necessary changes for the betterment of everyone. Until we can figure out how to truly do that, I will scale it down quite a bit, and apply this to a watch. There is a reason why we see the classics come back in different forms. Some companies take the lazy route and basically make a clone of the classic design while other companies take that vintage inspiration and infuse it with their modern DNA. Sometimes even the most subtle infusion of DNA can make a huge impact, even when the inspiration also comes from a source other than a watch. That is where the inspiration sources came from with today’s review. 

 

 

The Trieste inspiration came from Italian sources, but the main inspiration isn’t what you think. The Deep Sea watch main inspiration came from “In January 1960, man achieved an incredible feat when the deep-sea submersible, the bathyscaphe Trieste, reached the bottom of ithe Challenger Deep, in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. An underwater vehicle designed in Switzerland and built in Italy, the bathyscaphe Trieste is, to this day, the only manned submersible to have ever reached 10,916 metres below sea level.” The two pictures above are of the TRIESTE sub itself from its 1960 adventure. Hence where the TRIESTE name came from and where the white printed 1960 printed on the dial came from. What I find appealing about the Deep Sea’s dial is the combination of vintage charm influences from those early dive watches that started it all. I like the curvature of the word automatic illustating how TRIESTE gave a nod of respect to those early Tudor dive watches, but infused it with their TRIESTE touch. (Tudor Self Winding Rotor) The white printing on the dial is extremely legible thanks to the beautiful backdrop in the form of the matte black dial. 

Now the other influences that I found appealing on the Deepsea is a combination of early Rolex and Panerai watches. But since Panerai was producer of diving equipment for the Italian Navy but not actual watches, the early Radiomir movements, cases, crowns where produced by Rolex;therefore, I can technically say that the influences here are from Rolex. 😉 But I want to break it down this way in my own observations and interpretation. Most would agree that the case on the Deep Sea is reminiscent of those early Panerai Radiomir cases, but the signed screw down crown reminds me of the crown on the Rolex Mil-Sub 6538. These are those respectful nods that Trieste has done on the Deepsea that makes me appreciate the history represented here with their watch. I briefly mentioned earlier about the engraved case back, the Deep Sea has an engraving of the bathyscape TRIESTE descending into the Mariana Trench. A beautiful touch of detail on this watch that I absolutely love. It takes this case a step further into awesome in my opinion. 

Looking at this dial through the sapphire crystal is legible at all angles which is a must in my opinion especially when using this watch out in the field while your hands are occupied. With a nice hint of green, the applied markers and the gloss bordered hands are extremely easy to view at all angles and lighting situations. The orange arrowhead tip on the seconds hand easily reaches out to the white printed track allowing for down to seconds timing precision. The 44mm case definitely hits one of my sweet spots in size and it’s definitely comfortable on my 7 1/4” wrist. I swapped out the OEM strap with a Straps Co distressed rubber strap that I believe creates a killer and comfortable combo. The short, curved lugs allow this watch to hug the wrist nicely without wrist overhang. I love that the lugs are drilled and TRIESTE used screw bars to hold the strap in place.

This watch is full of dive watch combinations that work very well together without looking like a mixed match hodgepodge. I like how the Trieste Deep Sea brings together elements from some iconic dive watches of the past, paying tribute to the roots of dive watches, while maintaining Trieste personality. Being designed in Italy, it’s Italian inspiration is clearly apparent here. This watch is a good value in my opinion when I access the details and the quality of those details. These details include the signed screw down crown, the bezel/bezel insert, the lume, and the egraved case back. I am very fortunate to experience a lot of watches, from a wide variety of price ranges, seeing these type of details on a watch that is slightly over $500 USD is nice to see. Some might argue over the price and the NH-35A movement, unfortunately trying to stay to a price point you can’t possibly please everyone. The Deep Sea definitely help up fantastic during my review process, especially in the water and sand. The bezel and crown rose to the occasion with flawless function in the wet, gritty environment.

Thank you all for reading and as always your questions and comments are welcome below.

Thank you to the TRIESTE team.

Specifications 

•Movement: Automatic Seiko movement NH-35A

•Case: 316L surgical Stainless Steel, AR Sapphire Crystal, Screw-in Crown

•Case dimensions: 53 mm x 44 mm

•Dial: C3 Super Luminova Hands and Dials, Ceramic Bezel

•Crown: screw down crown

•Case Back: Stainless steel secured by six screws. Engraving of the Mariana Trench with the Trieste Bathyscaphe descending into the Challenger Deep.

•Functions: Automatic winding with ball bearing, clockwise and anti-clockwise winding with one-way clutch, hacking seconds hand; and shock resistance shock-absorber device for balance staff

•Number of Jewels: 24

•Frequency: 21,600 bph (3 Hz)

•Water resistance: 300 metres/30 bar

•Power Reserve: 40 hours

•Bracelet width: 24 mm

•Accompanying Watch Band Kit

•Designed in Italy