Hands-On: At Home and On The Road with The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic

Travel wise, the past few weeks have been incredibly busy. From a whirlwind of a weekend in Brooklyn for WindUp NYC, to hopping on a flight across the country for a press trip in sunny Hollywood, CA. From there, a flight back to home-base in New Jersey, where I stayed briefly only to get ready for a road trip to Boston. There was also a short stint in Connecticut before finally returning home and back to the comforts of my own bed. Oh and by the way, between all of that, I’ve had an eight month old baby boy keeping me on my toes. As you can imagine, this might not be an environment conducive to keeping a watch in pristine condition. Factoring in the flying luggage going into overhead bins, moving around in unfamiliar hotel rooms, and carrying a little one around, there’s surely a moment in there where a watch could would pick up a scratch or two. Scratches build character and add memories to a watch after all, right? (insert nervous laughter here) But none of the above would prove to be a problem. Why? For the bulk of the time, I was wearing the new Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic.

The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf is no slouch in the dive watch department. It has great size, solid water resistance, and a brand name that has legitimate dive watch chops that dates back to 1953 when the Zodiac Sea Wolf was introduced. But more recently, the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf has been known to be a canvas for clever uses of vibrant color on their dials and bezels. It’s clear that the brand isn’t afraid to let their hair down a bit. And in my opinion, nothing proves that more when Zodiac let us do our own version of the Super Sea Wolf last year which combined various colors and textures found in the gear that we love. It seems that Zodiac is keen on experimenting with different materials as well. They now have a Super Sea Wolf with a meteorite dial, a limited edition furnished out of titanium, and their latest foray with a new material, the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic.

From the look and feel, the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic is on the other side of the dive watch spectrum when compared to your typical stainless steel diver. Every millimeter of real estate on the dial and bezel has this peculiar shine to it. I wouldn’t call it polish, but it does have this deep tone of color and a subtle shimmer that can only be found in ceramic. From a tactile perspective, it feels as if you’re holding something very precious in hand. The case body has a calming smoothness to it, and in the cooler mornings we’ve been having here in the North East, the case has this cool-to-touch thing going on. I have never held an Onyx quartz in hand, but I have this gut feeling that both would look and feel very similar. And although Onyx quartz is found on this planet, I get this otherworldly vibe about the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic case.

Ceramic adds a whole new dynamic to the Super Sea Wolf. It’s very difficult to put scratches on ceramic, which is what makes the material so appealing. That said, ceramic does not do well during high impact situations and I’ve heard stories from my cohorts in the office of ceramic cases cracking when dropped from desk or waist height. With the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic, you do get the best of both worlds between ceramic and stainless steel. The diver actually uses a ceramic outer shell that surrounds the stainless steel case housing the STP1-11 automatic movement.

Despite the combination of ceramic and steel materials, the case keeps all the modern proportions in check. The case spans 40 mm in width and sits 13 mm off of the wrist. Without a bracelet present, the Super Sea Wolf’s long narrow lugs call attention to themselves. Lug to lug wise, we’re looking at a touch over 47 mm in length, which I found to be still manageable on my 6.25” wrist. The bezel stays within the case lines and the bezel teeth provide fantastic grip. As far as bezel action goes, it’s decent, moves unidirectionally, and makes one full revolution in 120 clicks.

Aside from the hour markers and the hour hand, the accents on the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic are “super” subtle. Muted gray markers are displayed on the bezel and a similar gray minute track frames the dial. I’m a sucker for blue dials that come off as black in dimmer lighting, and then reveal their personality against the sun. The dial on the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic is a very, very deep sunburst blue. You really have to put in some effort in order to see the hint of blue on the dial. For me, that’s a good thing. It follows the entire stealthy aesthetic of the case and bezel, but still gives you a hint of Zodiac flare when the light hits the dial just right. All of these features set the stage for the white hour markers, white seconds hand and the polished hour hand to stand out against the entire watch. As a result, the legibility is great at a glance.

During my travels, the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf was an interesting companion. Even with the ceramic shell, the watch still had a weight to it and was not lost on the wrist during daily wear. I found myself taking the watch off a few times just to get a feel of the smooth case. Oftentimes, it’s a dial that takes your attention away for a moment, but it’s the entire watch that does that because of the ceramic case. In a way, it’s sort of like wearing a dial on the wrist, if that makes any sense. And although it has that precious look to it, the diver definitely took its fair share of bumps at the W&W office, on the plane and during the multiple road trips without showing any ill-effect. Within the same time frame, I wore a new corduroy chore coat the same amount of times I wore the watch. It’s apparent that the jacket has gotten some miles on it, but the Zodiac Sea Wolf Ceramic … it looks as if it was just taken out of the box.

If we’re picking nits, it was tough for me to adjust to the lug to lug length and rubber strap combination. I couldn’t quite get the proper balance from the watch. But the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic on a NATO was a different story with a happier beginning, middle, and ending. The only caveat there is trying to find matching hardware. The asking price is another highlight for the Super Sea Wolf Ceramic. At $1,695, a Zodiac diver with a ceramic outer case, 200 meters of water resistance and a COSC movement is a lot of watch. Among the ceramic divers out there with an automatic movement, including the Longines HydroConquest ($3,725), the Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic ($3,800) and the Tudor Black Bay Ceramic ($4,725), the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic has the same appeal, but is half the price of its surrounding competition.

Ideally, I would love to have a GMT as a travel watch, but that’s still a glaring hole in the collection (Zodiac does make a handsome GMT). So nowadays, a dive watch is the go-to when I am moving through different time zones. The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic more than held up its end of the bargain. The watch is the right blend of fun and functionality. I guess it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic puts the “fun” in “functionality”. Pardon the dad wordplay there as I’ve naturally incorporated that into my daily conversation since becoming a father. Either way you slice it, the Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Ceramic is a cool watch from a brand that continues to think outside the box.