Last month, I had the opportunity to interview John Patterson, the owner and founder of Bathys Watch Company. This month, I had the privilege of reviewing their best selling automatic timepiece: The Bathys 100 Fathom.
The Head
The head of this watch is by far the selling point. It is fantastically well finished. The crystal is sapphire, slightly domed, and has an antireflection coating which glows blue in flashes of light. The real pièce de résistance is the ruthenium grey dial which has many subtle tones and is quite iridescent, flashing grey and brown. Although this is not the most popular 100 Fathom model (the black on black is their best seller), this dial is truly unique and like nothing I have seen on another watch. The markers on the dial as well as the hands are covered in superluminova, a paint that glows brightly in the dark. I wore the watch to "Live Free and Die Hard" and I can attest to its very capable luminosity which easily lasted the duration of the film. And then there's the stainless steel, black PVD-coated case which somehow both gives the watch a stealth appeal, and actually makes it stand out more than any of my more shiny watches. The PVD makes it scratch resistant and adds to the overall depth and quality of the piece. The caseback is also PVD-coated, and is engraved with a map of the Hawaiian islands. The watch is water resistant to 200 meters (about 660 feet, or roughly 100 fathoms, naturally), and is known to be very reliable in an aquatic environment as it was designed for divers and surfers.
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