# Riedenschild Dark Sea Diver



## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

Iâ€™ve had this watch for a few days now so thought it was time that I post something about it. Roy has already covered this so Iâ€™ll just be repeating much of what he has already said, and his photos are better than mine.

Case 316L Stainless steel, 45mm exc crowns, 49mm with. 13mm thick. Brushed finish.

Screw-down crown caps (signed) with security links.

Screw down case-back

Mineral glass crystal with DFC (Diamond firm coating)

Matt black dial with overlapping Guilloche centre sections.

Mercedes hour hand.

Superluminova on hands and dial.

20 bar/200m pressure rated to DIN-norm 8310

22mm bracelet in 316L stainless steel ingots, signed clasp.

Automatic movement (Citizen calibre 8215-21 jewels)

24 month warranty

Authenticity certificate.

First impressions of the watch are very good indeed, everything appears to be very robust and well finished. The case is massive, at least it seems that way to me, my only other diver being an Invicta, and in combination with the 22mm bracelet, gives this piece enormous wrist presence.



















The DFC crystal does a reasonable job of reducing reflections, this is the first time Iâ€™ve heard of DFC coatings and a google search reveals that they are most widely used in the manufacture of spectacle lenses. I assume that it is intended as a cheaper alternative to sapphire crystals, given the diameter of the crystal I canâ€™t imagine a sapphire coating doing a significantly better job.

The dial is very nice and Riedenschild have avoided putting too much text on there, a mistake which IMO they have made on several of their other models. Everything is very clear and the twin overlapping guilloche sections relieve what could otherwise be regarded as quite a bland dial. The divers bezel, rotated by the upper crown, moves smoothly and maintains its position when set. The manufacturer has, however, failed to align the red â€œcross-hairsâ€ centrally in the smaller guilloche section, itâ€™s a small fault but once noticed its quite annoying.

















Continued......


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

One other criticism, and a considerable failing in a divers watch, is the lume quality, whilst I was not expecting Seiko-like luminosity I had expected better. Even given the limited surface area of the superluminova it still seems rather feeble and fades within a few minutes. The following photo was taken after several minutes under a halogen desk lamp f/5.7 shutter speed 2.8s, the Riedenschild is on the left, a Seiko 5 on the right. The Seiko remains luminous far longer.










The brush finished bracelet is 22mm at the lugs tapering to 20mm at the clasp, and is composed of individual 316L ingots, the push button clasp has a safety lock, which is signed. Quality is, again, very good with no sharp edges and no â€œhair pullingâ€. I removed about 1 inch when sizing the bracelet for my 8 inch wrist.










I donâ€™t feel that it is necessary for me to comment on the movement, the 8215 is widely regarded as both robust and reliable and is used by many manufacturers. Over the last few days this one has gained an average of 4s per day which seems remarkably good straight out of the box.

Overall Iâ€™m very pleased with the watch and feel that the generally high quality more than makes up for any shortcomings with the lume. I donâ€™t doubt that Iâ€™ll be adding further Riedenshild watches to my collection over the next couple of years.


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Thanks Simon - very helpful. Hope to get one at some point.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Interesting review Simon, I also would like to get one of those sometime


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

Thanks guys, upon re-reading my review I'm a little worried that it has a more critical tone than I had intended. I wouldn't want anyone to be put off by my minor quibbles, that's all they are, minor quibbles. I have seen watches costing several times the price of the DSD which I could find a great deal more to pick at. Unfortunately the photo compression seems to have lost all of the detail on that lovely guilloche dial, so I'll have another try......any excuse eh!










Oh well, not perfect....but better.


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

Interesting reading Simon & great pics.


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## Ironpants (Jul 1, 2005)

Thanks for the review Simon.

Excuse my ignorance but is the 8215 hand windable?

Toby


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

Ironpants said:


> Thanks for the review Simon.
> 
> Excuse my ignorance but is the 8215 hand windable?
> 
> Toby


Yes it is Toby, which is great because I change watches so often that I rarely wear an auto long enough for it to get a full charge and I'm not putting this one in the winder case. I think it might be a bit more than those little Chinese electric motors could cope with.


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## Ironpants (Jul 1, 2005)

unlcky alf said:


> Ironpants said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the review Simon.
> ...


In that case how about a picture with the protective caps removed







I am interested to see how easy the crowns are to use with those caps hanging around

Toby


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

Ironpants said:


> In that case how about a picture with the protective caps removed
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I don't have the camera today Toby, but Roy took this one:










The caps don't get in the way, the crowns are obviously smaller than those on non-capped watches but still not a problem to use.


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## Ironpants (Jul 1, 2005)

Thanks for spotting that Simon.

Cool watch









Toby


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## the strap (Feb 21, 2007)

I'm tempted also. It's that mixture of posh and brash that I like.

What is the pupose of the red cross hairs? Or are they just decoration?


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## unlcky alf (Nov 19, 2006)

the strap said:


> I'm tempted also. It's that mixture of posh and brash that I like.
> 
> What is the pupose of the red cross hairs? Or are they just decoration?


They're purely decorative, I guess they are intended to emphasize the smaller guilloche section and give the surrounding text something prominent to frame, but they are also reminiscent of a sub-seconds dial.


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## Junior (Mar 17, 2006)

Helpful review. Thanks.


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## equis (Mar 8, 2008)

thanks but maybe too big for me


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