Spinnaker Watches has created a timepiece to pay tribute to Engineer Henry Fleuss. The Diver’s watch is the Fleuss Automatic Marlborough Limited Edition; only five hundred will be available.
The Fleuss Automatic Marlborough Limited Edition is a tribute to the Fleuss collection’s namesake, celebrated diving pioneer Henry Fleuss (1851–1933). Fleuss was born in Marlborough, in Wiltshire, in the United Kingdom. At sixteen, he went to sea, eventually becoming an officer with the P&O Company.
Whilst watching divers recovering lost cargo in their heavy and cumbersome apparatus, Fleuss was inspired to make the Diver independent of the surface, dispensing the heavy pump and the large crew of men needed to operate the appliance.
Applying knowledge of physiology and chemistry, Fleuss worked to incorporate a source of compressed oxygen for the absorption of carbon dioxide – in doing so, he was freeing the Diver from any external support needed while diving.
He proved to be both resourceful and innovative, building much of the apparatus himself, and without any previous diving experience, he would nonetheless test his equipment by himself to much acclaim and publicity. Eventually, as an engineer and Master Diver for Siebe, Gorman & Co., he further developed the self-contained diving apparatus.
Robert Davis created The Davis Submarine Escape Apparatus, a neat and compact derivative of the Fleuss apparatus. The apparatus was recognised as the first practical closed-circuit breathing apparatus. The equipment would pave the way for World War II’s Frogmen and Human Torpedo riders.
The Fleuss Marlborough diver watch, limited to just Five Hundred pieces, explores an aesthetic and design language of the late 1800s and early 1900s. A semi-see-through dial delivers a clear and legible view of the time, with a date window positioned at 6 o’clock.
A cathedral-style hour and minute hands on the dial are cohesively matched with a set of hour indexes layered in Swiss Super-LumiNova for optimal visibility in low-light conditions.
A solid marine grade stainless steel case, 43mm in diameter, is topped with a scratch-resistant sapphire lens and features an updated custom-built 7-link solid stainless steel bracelet with a fold-over diver clasp. In addition, this limited edition features an extra genuine leather, water-resistant strap for added versatility and wear.
All this comes together within the resolute, robust, and reliable engineering synonymous with Spinnaker’s purpose-built dive watches. The Fleuss Marlborough features an era-appropriate “pumpkin” style crown accentuating an early 19th-century vibe to the watch.
The watch is water resistant to 15 ATM (150M) and is powered by the workhorse, reliably enduring the quality of a TMI NH35 automatic movement.
Available in two colours, each watch is only produced for a limited edition run of 250 pieces and is available from 24 February 2023 at a price of £380.
If you would like to find out more information on the range of Spinnaker watches, please visit https://spinnaker-watches.co.uk.
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