My review on the Dievas Kampfschwimmer

[Tricolore]

Extracted from my blog (thehorlogychronicles.wordpress.com). For bonus pictures, do visit my blog!


Wow, it's been nearly a month since I last published an article. August has been a very hectic month for me, with revisions and examinations. I hope this review is able to satisfy you all after having wait for so long.

The Dievas Kampfschwimmer. One of the watches that I have been lusting since a few months back, after seeing fellow forum members posting pictures of their Dievas California Dial watches online. I've been fascinated by its simplicity and of course, its vintage looks. It took some time for me to acquire this watch, as I was trying to save up for it. So finally, I managed to get it a couple of months back...

From my collection, I am sure all of you have seen a pattern in terms of the size of my watches. The biggest watch I own is the Submariner (I just sold off my Seiko this afternoon, so look out for the new watch that I am going to acquire soon!), which is only about 40mm. The Dievas Kampfschwimmer is gigantic in my opinion, for its diameter is a whooping 47mm! While I maintain that I am pretty overweight, but my wrists are still considered small. That's why I have never ventured into collecting big watches. I guess this was an exception.





Ok, the following is my personal opinion (Please, Dievas and Panerai or any watchmakers that make similar, big watches. Don't kill me. Hahaha!) It is way too big for me. Yes, many people can pull off a 47mm watch. I can't. No doubt the wire lugs made it more comfortable to wear, but it is just too big. This is tantamount to lugging a piece of small rock on my wrists! And the buckles. They are way over-sized! Some people thinks that it is nice, but in my opinion, this is overdoing things already. I don't see why there is a need to inflate the size of the buckle to such a proportion.





I admit I was biased. If not for the vintage and simplistic looks, I would not have even considered buying the watch. Admittedly, the watch looks good in this proportion, and I think if it was shrunk to 44mm or even 40mm, it would have looked slightly queer. But still, as long as my wrists are not big enough (surprisingly), I would not be able to pull a similar sized watch. On the brighter side, I can at least save some money, since these "Pam Homages" or Panerai watches are not really cheap. And the straps. Don't even get me started on that.



But lets move on. There are several noteworthy point of this watch. I have seen many "Pam Homages", but this is definitely one of the better ones. The finishing is very well done, and it feels very solid. Dievas even bothered to decorate the Unitas 6479 movement with the "Cote de Geneva" finishing, which was really remarkable for a fairly affordable watch.





The lume of the watch is exceptional too. The lume is applied onto the dial itself (there are other variants for this watch, in which some have the "sandwich" dial), and it illuminates very well at night. Another interesting feature would be the blue hands on the watch itself, for it is unable to turn into different shades of blue under different lighting condition! (Fine, I may have exaggerated this point, but it is really cool)





At just slightly over a grand (And I got mine at a cheaper price, since this is a "used" model), the attention to detail was fairly amazing. This is definitely very valuable for money, and if you have bigger wrists, you might want to consider this watch. From fellow forum members, I have heard that it is very comfortable to wear (which I can't attest to, unfortunately...), since it is cushion shaped and the leather from Dievas itself is very soft. So, if you all have the time, you all can head down to Gnomon watches to try it out yourself.



Specifications (from Dievas website):

Maker: Dievas Watch Company
Movement: Swiss Unitas 6497 mechanical movement with Côtes de Genève and blued screws
Dial: Black California dial. Blue hands.
Luminance: Vintaged lume. Luminova.
Case: High polished 316L stainless steel. Contoured sides.
Case Back: Display or Steel back. Dievas signed polished screwdown stainless steel
Bezel: High polished 316L stainless steel.
Crown: 3mm Diamond shaped crown
Lug: 26mm. Removeable.
Crystal: Domed scratch resistant sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
Strap: Thick calf leather strap with vintage knife edge sewn-in buckle
Water resistance: 30m
DimensionsL47mm in diameter, 52mm lug to lug, 13mm thick
Power Reserve: ~42 hours
The Good:

- Excellent Finishing

- "Cote De Geneva" Stripes

- Really comfortable and nice leather strap

- Value for Money

The Bad:

- Not much, except the size (for me)

The Ugly:

-The Buckle. Oops.

Thanks for reading the review, and do keep a lookout for my next review! Do subscribe and follow my blog as well. :)

[AWA]

great review

[Tricolore]

Originally Posted by AWA

great review

Thanks!

[Psmith]

Nice review of a nice watch. I had the '3646' version which I sold, to my regret. Had it on a couple of Toshi straps, which worked well. It ran very accurately, although difficult to be exact given that it's a 2 hand model

[Psmith]

A pic of my 'Vintage 3646'