Super-Diver: Dressing The Superlative Dive Watch

There’s no denying that divers are one of the most popular genres of watches. Literally every watchmaker will offer several dive (and dive-style) watches in their catalogue. But how many actually make hardcore divers?… Not many I reckon… And in today’s story, an example of a super-diver. A watch designed from the get-go to outperform the garden variety divers – Addiesdive MY-H6. And before you ask, no, Addiesdive did not sponsor this article… Although we are open to future collaboration…

Close-up of the Addiesdive MY-H6, a super-diver. — Addiesdive MY-H6, a super-diver with a claimed 1,000m depth rating.
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What Exactly Is A Super-Diver?

Well, for one thing, it’s not a dressy diver, like the Orient Ray 2. It’s not even a stereotypical diver, like the Steinhart Ocean 2. Just think of super-divers as wrist mounted pressure vessels, built to withstand the tremendous pressure of the deep… How deep?… Deeper than most other popular divers… Deeper than the human body can survive without protective gear. Super-divers are, in short, over-engineered and over-built.

Side profile of this super-diver reveals its true intended purpose. The watchcase is simply massive. This watch isn’t slipping underneath any sleeve cuffs.
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Exactly how deep can a human safely dive? Well, take a look at this Wikipedia entry on deep diving. Most human bodies can’t dive beyond 12m without proper training and certification. Even with training and certification, recreational diving still doesn’t go beyond 20m. But dive watches are a different story altogether. Usually designed and built to withstand more than where their wearers will dive down to. Take a look at this “generally accepted” water resistance guide for watches.

Depth Rating	What It Actually Means
None declared	Keep it dry at all times
30m	Hand washing splash, exposure to light rain
50m	Shower, surface water sports, short immersion
100m	Swimming, snorkelling, skin diving
200m	Recreational scuba diving
300m	Commercial, technical, saturation diving
500m	Deep sea commercial, technical, saturation diving
1,000m	Bragging rights!…

Super-Diver Vs Regular Diver (The Watch, Not The Human)

What makes a super-diver stand head and shoulders above other “regular” divers? Well, it handles immense pressure of the depth extremely well. Recreational diving only requires breathing compress air (atmospheric air compressed into a tank). Deep sea diving (saturation diving) requires something a little more complicated – Trimix. A cocktail of oxygen, nitrogen and helium. The outlier here being helium, which generally isn’t present in atmospheric air. Helium makes your voice squeaky, but also penetrates into the watchcase at operational depth. When ascending (important), helium won’t have sufficient time to escape. Instead, it builds up pressure inside the watchcase… until it goes “pop!”… Hence the need of a specialised helium escape valve.

Close up of the left side watchcase, showing the automatic helium escape valve, on the MY-H6 super-diver. — Automatic helium escape valve (in red circle), sitting flushed on the left side of the watchcase. This makes the MY-H6 suitable for saturation diving.
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Then there’s the issue with ambient light in the deep… Or rather lack thereof. Between 200m and 1,000m deep (Mesopelagic (Twilight) Zone), ambient light is almost non-existent. Without proper illumination, your watch is essentially just paperweight. Hence, dive watches (note: not dive-style watches) generally feature great watch lume application. And the MY-H6 super-diver features excellent lume.

Close-up of the MY-H6 super-diver's face in total darkness, demonstrating the excellent lume. — The MY-H6 super-diver features excellent lume using the Swiss BGW9 Super-LumiNova equivalent on all the hands and indices.
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If super-divers can work under extreme circumstances, it’s definitely an overkill under “regular” circumstances. But that’s also the reason for its attraction too… No different from wanting to drive a massive SUV, fitted with off-road tyres, to pick up your kids from school… Especially if the school is smack right in the centre of the city, with well-maintained roads all around… It’s the ultimate “I can do it if I really wanted to” insurance policy.

Dressing The Super-Diver

Alright, let’s get on with the series, of pairing different watches with different levels of formality. And like the stereotypical diver, we’re not pairing it with wetsuits, flippers, dive masks, snorkels, scuba tanks, etc.

(1) Business Formal

Solid charcoal grey suit, solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square. — Two-piece, solid charcoal grey suit, with a solid white shirt, solid burgundy tie, and solid white pocket square.
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Close-up of a pair of solid black plain toe Oxford dress shoes. — Solid black, plain-toe Oxfords, are as conservative as you can go.
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NO – Next question?

(2) Business Semi-Formal

Solid olive green suit, solid blue shirt with white contrasting collar and cuffs. Burgundy tie with small repeating patterns, and pocket square. — Two-piece, solid olive green suit, with sporty, slanted hip pockets, and a ticket pocket above the right hip pocket. A pale blue shirt with contrasting collar and cuffs, small-patterned burgundy tie and coordinating pocket square.
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Close-up of a pair of whole cut in ox blood, with wingtip patterned brogue. Another type of typical dress shoes. — Whole cut in ox blood, with burnished toes, and wingtip patterned brogue.
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Again, NO – Next question?

(3) Business Informal

Solid navy, double breasted blazer, with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie, solid grey trousers, and pocket square. — Double breasted navy blazer with 6 X 2 gold buttons. Solid pale blue shirt with navy and yellow regimental striped tie. Solid medium grey trousers, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close-up of a pair of brown double monk-straps. A less dressy dress shoes. — Brown, double monk-straps, to exude a more playful vibe.
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Sigh!… And again, NO – Next question?

(4) Business Casual

Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave, a solid pink OCBD shirt with block stripe knit tie in autumn colours, and a pair of solid burgundy chinos. — Grey sport jacket in mini-Glen check weave. Solid pink OCBD shirt with a knit tie in autumn colours. Solid burgundy chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close-up of a pair of brown penny loafers. One of the least dressy dress shoes. — Brown penny loafers, a typical “less dressy” dress shoes.
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MAYBE – Not exactly my first choice, but if absolutely necessary, then proceed with caution.

(5) Dressy Casual

Unstructured, charcoal brown flannel sport jacket, denim OCBD shirt, and khaki chinos. — Charcoal brown, unstructured sport jacket with an open collared denim OCBD shirt. Khaki chinos, and a contrasting pocket square.
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Close-up of a pair of khaki canvas derbies. — Derby shoes in tan canvas stretch what it means to be “dress” shoes.
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YES – A regular dive watch would pair better with this ensemble. But then again, a super-diver will still do too.

(6) Just Casual

Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and solid olive green jeans. — Denim trucker jacket, solid white t-shirt, and olive green jeans.
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Close-up of a pair of white trainers. — White trainers, with a thin red and black stripe. A stereotypical pair of casual footwear.
Image by Daniel Storek of Unsplash

A definite YES – A super-diver, any super-diver will pair very nicely with this ensemble.

And The Best Pairing For A Super-Diver?

The natural habitat of all super-divers is underwater… Or at least engaged in underwater activities. Hence, the best pairing for this super-diver is your swim attire.

A pair of swim trunks and a pair of swim goggles, to indicate water activities. — Swimming, with a pair of swim trunks, a pair of swim goggles, and a super-diver on the wrist.
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Close-up wrist shot of the MY-H6 super-diver, at a swimming pool. — Granted this is merely swimming just under the surface of the water, and nowhere near the rated 1,000m depth. But it’s still water sports nonetheless.
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This super-diver is capable of diving down to 1,000m in the open ocean. Unfortunately, the human wearing it is unlikely to dive beyond 2m at the local swimming pool… But it’s the same adrenaline rush… Similarly, driving an oversized SUV, with off-road tyres, and on urban roads?… Yeah, it’s exactly the same adrenaline rush…

How Do I Personally Wear This Super-Diver?

Similarly to a stereotypical diver, I keep the rest of the ensemble casual with the super-diver. Just understand that you can’t hide it underneath your sleeve cuff. So just leave it out on display for everybody to see… Not that many people will recognise its full potential anyway.

Unstructured, brown/black puppy tooth pattern sport jacket, blue/grey roll-neck jumper, and a super-diver on the wrist. — Pairing the MY-H6 super-diver with an unstructured sport jacket in brown/black puppy tooth pattern. Underneath the jacket, a blue/grey roll-neck jumper.
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Close up of the MY-H6 super-diver on the wrist. Brown/black puppy tooth pattern sport jacket, blue/grey roll-neck jumper, and a super-diver on the wrist. — That’s how it looks like, strapping a brick to the wrist. The MY-H6 super-diver will never slip underneath the sleeve cuffs.
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Just like the Steinhart Ocean 2, a stereotypical diver, this is probably another relic of the golden age of horology. People who actually dive (especially at extreme depths) will most likely wear a dive computer. Only diehard romantics will strap a diver, any type of diver, as a mechanical back-up, on the other wrist… So I suppose I’m exactly that, a diehard romantic. Especially when I can’t even dive a fraction of what this super-diver is capable of…

Disclaimer – This Is Not A Sponsored Article

Again, Addiesdive did not sponsor this article. I purchased this MY-H6 super-diver myself, as a personal watch. Whilst I’m not a desk-diver, I won’t exactly test this super-diver to its limit. I’m just happy to wear a watch that’s capable of diving down to the crushing depths… Even when I can’t personally do it myself… You know?… The ultimate “I can do it if I really wanted to” insurance policy?…

Leave your comments, critiques, or questions below. And if you enjoyed the wild sea stories of this series, I’d appreciate you buying me a coffee. Just follow the link below. Anything to keep this caffeine-fuelled engine churning along. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the next episode on the field watch. No, not a field-style watch, but a true field watch.