I've always really liked the Swiss Army Dive Master collection of watches. Over the last few years the brand has released a range of these models in both quartz and mechanical form. I personally reviewed a Swiss Army Dive Master 500 watch here. For 2012, Swiss Army has "re-launched" the Dive Master 500. Nothing radically new, but the cool watch remains... cool.
Most people seeing the new Dive Master 500 versions will first notice the quartz models with the new dials. The sword-shaped hands have been replaced with a fat arrow hand and a baton style hand. There are also new hour markers and dial decor. On most (but not all) versions, the orange minute hand is a sporty white color. What do you think of it?
Some of my favorite Dive Master watches came on metal bracelets (such as here). Those were really cool, and I like that the gunmetal color of most of the cases has endured. You can find other Swiss Army Dive master men's watches from previous years here on ShopNBC. For 2012, a new case size for the Dive Master 500 is available. Think of it as a ladies' model. The men's version is still 43mm wide while the new smaller case is 38.5mm wide. It comes in most of the same colors, as well as ones like purple. I guess a guy could still pull that off. The Dive Master 500 was never the largest wearing watch - so I think most men should check out the 43mm wide version first.
The watch is still a good value for what it is. 500 meters of water resistance, sapphire crystal, good design, and highly legible dial. The cases are all steel with PVD coatings for the various colors. Inside all of the watches are Swiss made movements. All the smaller pieces and the one's with the arrow hand come with Swiss quartz movements while the three automatics (red, gray and brown), have Swiss ETA 2892 automatic movements inside. The automatics further have outgoing dials - which may have been modified a bit. Hard to tell. Would be nice to have the new dials available as automatics as well.
The 9 new Swiss Army Dive Master Models for 2012 are mostly style and color additions. Perhaps in a few years we will get a totally fresh Dive Master. It really is a strong collection and I like where Swiss Army goes with the design. Price for the quartz models is $795 each, and $1,250 for the automatic models.
