SpotlightDiving In Sporty Style: Introducing The Versatile New Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diver

This week, Jura-based watchmaker Maurice Lacroix released their Pontos S Diver in three stunning new variants, two in stainless steel and one in bronze—now quite the dive watch staple. This release is based on the brand’s 2013 Pontos S Diver, which made quite the splash back when it was released, and was followed up with limited-edition diver’s watches. Now, 10 years later, with the new Pontos S Diver, Maurice Lacroix’s dive watch seems to be here to stay, in a much-improved and more versatile rendition than its older sibling.

Sporty Pontos Style In The Pontos S Diver

Maurice Lacroix’s Pontos line was first released in 2000, and has since become a well-known collection featuring chronographs and day-date timepieces. After the launch of their stylish and sporty Pontos S chronograph last year, this year the brand have released their equally stylish diver’s watch. And they took their time to do it right, even roping in world champion free-diver Lidija Lijić, who holds the record for staying underwater for five minutes and 43 seconds. “When developing this latest Pontos S Diver, we were keen to retain the spirit of the first-generation model, but push the performance envelope with various product enhancements,” says Stéphane Waser, managing director, Maurice Lacroix.

“It seemed logical to ask Lidija Lijić to test the new model… exploring its full potential, deep underwater. While I was already aware of her achievements and immense talent, I was struck by her sheer dedication, not only to her sport, but in everything she does. She proved to be the perfect test pilot for this diver’s watch, which is water-resistant to 300m,” Waser adds.

Pontos S Diver—Brilliant In Bronze

The new Pontos S Diver comes housed in a new 42mm case size, down from previous versions’ 43mm, making this timepiece more versatile and wearable, with a better fit with a suit as well as under a cuff, for a narrow wrist or a broader one. The watch comes in a limited-edition bronze case, or a more mainstream stainless steel case. In recent years, bronze has emerged as the preferred option for diver’s watches, as it develops a beautiful patina over time, in addition to being the alloy that was used in diving gear back in the day. The bronze Pontos S Diver, though, is limited to only 500 pieces.

The beautiful deep blue graining on the dial stands out against the bronze of the case, while the stainless steel versions come with a dial in grained black or lacquered white. The baton-shaped, Super-LumiNova-filled, applied indexes offer easy legibility underwater as well as above the surface. Then there’s the minute hand, filled with lume and bordered with a contrasting colour in the stainless steel versions—orange on the black dial and blue against the white. And, at six o’clock, the date window stands out with its debossed border.

Versatile Adaptability

The crown at two o’clock can be used to adjust the internal rotating dive bezel with a count-up scale marked with crisp Arabic numerals and markers to measure elapsed time spent underwater. This crown also has a gorgeous blue (for the white and blue dials), or an orange (for the black dial) colour-coordinating circlet, to ensure visibility underwater. The main time-setting crown, to also adjust the date, and to manually wind the movement if required, is at three o’clock.

The baton-shaped, Super-LumiNova-filled, applied indexes offer easy legibility underwater as well as above the surface

The crown at two o’clock—featuring a colour-coordinated circlet to enhance visibility underwater—can be used to adjust the internal rotating dive bezel

Water-resistant to 300m, each case houses the in-house automatic ML115 calibre. Mounted on a vintage dark blue leather strap with light grey stitching and the ‘M’ logo in 4N gold, the bronze and blue model also comes with an optional dark blue nylon strap with tone-on-tone stitching, or a blue rubber strap. The stainless steel variants come with rubber straps in white and orange. What makes the watches more versatile is the brand’s easy-change system, allowing the wearer to interchange between straps without the use of additional tools.

This is the watch that Maurice Lacroix were missing in their repertoire, and with these new Pontos S Divers, they’ve proved that there’s no limit to progress. Inspired by Lidija’s search for improved performance, it has been tested in the most extreme conditions. “Lidija also informs us that the watch makes a strong statement on dry land too,” concludes Waser.