Hublot Oceanographic 4000 Diver Watch with 4,000 meters Water Resistance

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Hublot King Power Oceanographic 4000 Titanium After 18 months of research, development and testing Hublot has launched a Oceanographic 4000 Diver Watch. As the watch name suggests, the watch can be worn on dives to depths of 4,000 metres (13,120 feet). The Oceanographic 4000 was officially unveiled in the presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot. For the first time, the famous Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, with the Institut Océanographique Fondation Albert 1st Prince de Monaco, renowned throughout the world in the fields of marine studies, research and conservation, has agreed to be associated with a watch. Hublot has introduced the all-new 731.NX.1190.RX, a titanium housed watch will come with a price tag of $19,900 and the company will only make about 1,000 pieces of this model. The other watch in the Oceanographic 4000 collection is the 731.QX.1140.RX that has been fabricated in carbon fiber and will cost about $25,900 with only 500 pieces to be built for sale. In order to qualify as a diver’s watch resistant to the pressure exerted at the record depth of 4,000 metres, the watch had to meet the exacting specifications of the international standards of Swiss watchmaking (NIHS). Hublot tested the seal in a Roxer tank, submerged and pressurised to the equivalent of 5,000 metres. To ensure the watertightness of the watch and to resist this extreme pressure, the synthetic sapphire crystal is 6.5mm thick.

The case back is screw-down, essential for reaching such depths and is made of grade 2 titanium, an extremely strong stainless material. The case is made of titanium or, in its other, All Black version, carbon fibre (both materials chosen for their extreme lightness and technical features appropriate for the specifications), and as such the Oceanographic 4000 is still light on the wrist yet substantial with a 48mm King Power case. From the brightness standpoint, the time and elapsed time measured by the flange must be legible from a distance of 25 cm in the dark. To meet this requirement, the dial, the flange and the hands of the Oceanographic 4000 have been optimised to have a larger surface area treated with SuperLuminovaTM, a luminescent material emitting a green colour in the titanium version. The watch is fitted with two screw-down crowns (a protective measure that helps ensure water resistance by compression of an O-ring seal).The flange crown which sets the dive time is placed at the 2 o’clock position for easy access and more comfortable use.It is unidirectional, again for safety reasons, with a bayonet fitting and protected by an oversized crown guard, for extra safety and easy operation when handling diving equipment. The second crown, for winding and setting the time and date, is positioned at 4 o’clock to avoid obstruction. Finally, the Oceanographic 4000 has a helium valve, a feature essential to any diving watch capable of descending to great depths.An essential feature when the watch is used in diving chambers, the helium valve allows gases that have infiltrated the watch during the descent to safely escape during the ascent. The valve fitted to the Oceanographic 4000 is made of stainless steel, positioned at 10 o’clock, visible from the left-hand side lug.”