Alpina Goes Vintage with the Seastrong Diver Heritage

The popularity of ‘heritage’ models from established watch manufactures is still going strong this year at Baselworld 2016, and Alpina has joined the fray with a strong entry. In 1967 Alpina produced an EPSA Super Compressor cased diver called the Alpina 10. This was one of many Super Compressor divers made during that era, and the Alpina 10 is a rare and desirable model for collectors these days. Now nearly 50 years later, Alpina has launched the Seastrong Diver Heritage, and modern interpretation of that classic Alpina 10. Much like Longines did with the Legend Diver, Alpina has taken their vintage classic and given it a modern update.

The Seastrong Diver Heritage is a sleek and understated diver. The stainless steel case is 42mm wide and 12.3mm thick and will have a sapphire BOX crystal, with a water resistance of 30 bar or 1000ft. This makes it much larger than the original, but as wrist shots show, it fits very nicely, and wears a bit smaller than expected.

The caseback is nicely engraved with the Alpina logo. Like its Super Compressor predecessor, the Seastrong has dual screw-down crowns and internal rotating divers elapsed time bezel. The crown at 4 o’clock is used to wind and set the watch, while the crown at 2 o’clock rotates the inner bezel. The dial will come in two color options, silver with a black bezel, and dark grey with dark navy bezel. The hands are luminous, and the minute has nice retro-styled arrowhead tip. There is a date window just off of 4 o’clock. As beautiful of a watch as this is, I do wish that they would have a no-date option in the future as I prefer the simplicity and symmetry of a non-date dial.

This Seastrong will be powered by the automatic AL-525 caliber with 26 jewels and a 38 hour power reserve. The AL-525 is a modified and refined version of the base Sellita SW200 caliber, a reliable and robust movement. The watch will be available on a waterproof leather strap.

It’s great to see another brand with a great history entering the heritage diver arena, especially with such a strong offering. The Seastrong Heritage speaks to the design roots of the brand, which we are slowly but surely seeing more of through the years. At around $1700, the Seastrong is priced competitively with other vintage style divers that have been released in the last few years, making it a decent value as well.