The latest limited edition from RedBar, the global network of watch meetup groups, is a nearly radioactive release made in partnership with Zodiac. It’s a subtle nod to a piece of Zodiac history that is not particularly well known while simultaneously paying proper respect to RedBar itself, all in the familiar trappings of a Super Sea Wolf diver. And, yes, the whole thing glows, and quite impressively.
Officially unveiled last night at a release party in New York, the Zodiac x RedBar Super Sea Wolf Pro Diver takes the brand’s most professional, 300 meter water resistant and ISO certified diver and effectively turns it into the type of brightly glowing orb many of us would have been obsessed with as children and still get pretty excited about today. Lume dials, when done well, have a pretty fun charm to them. There’s just something about seeing a larger than normal concentration of this stuff activated in a dark room. And the lume on this new collaboration is truly impressive, and that’s coming from someone who is on the record as not being a hardcore lume guy (I don’t even travel with a little UV light).
Like any good execution of a full lume dial, we have multiple colors of lume at work for contrast in both well lit situations and total darkness. The dial itself appears as a pale shade of green in the light, and glows an electric blue/green when charged. The hour markers, hands, and bezel hash marks are white in the daylight, and glow bright green. Importantly, those latter three elements are all set off by black borders for a helpful contrast in any lighting condition.
The red dot at 4:30 serves a dual purpose, thematically. It’s of course a nod to RedBar’s colors, and continues their tradition of limited edition watches featuring a red accent of some kind. But it’s also a core piece of recent Zodiac history. The “Point Series” watches were produced by Zodiac in the 1990s, with different dot colors on dials representing different tiers in their sports watch lineup. The red point watches were the most tool oriented, with gold and silver points being positioned slightly upmarket and often featuring more ornate, dressy, or “fashion watch” oriented style cues (it was the 90s, folks). The gold points were noted as “Elegant Sports Watches” in Zodiac’s marketing materials, and you can find full gold plated divers if you search on eBay or elsewhere. We ran a story on these different “point” tiers all the way back in 2016, and it was a somewhat vague delineation between points then as it is now.
In any event, the red dot watches are the most collected by today’s enthusiasts as they most closely resemble the straightforward sports watches that remain popular today. And this new execution of the Super Sea Wolf Pro-Diver is a watch that’s very much in that vein. As mentioned, it’s 300 meters water resistant and has an ISO certification for diving. The case is 42mm and it comes mounted to a matching stainless steel bracelet and a black and red Velcro strap is also included in this edition.
The Zodiac x RedBar Super Sea Wolf Pro-Diver is available beginning on May 20 in a limited edition of 200 pieces. The retail price is $2,295. Zodiac
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