A complication is anything that your watch does other than tell you the time. Sounds simple enough, right? A date window is a complication; a chronograph is a complication; a moon phase is a complication. These are all relatively commonplace, of course — even the highly, ahem, complicated perpetual calendar mechanism is well known to collectors. But what about an analog depth gauge — one that indicates the depth in meters or feet without the use of electronics? Does such a thing even exist? It sure does! Though highly uncommon today, in the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, several companies made them for the burgeoning SCUBA market. One such company was Nivada Grenchen, a company whose fortunes waned during the Quartz Crisis, but was revived in 2018 and continues to make beautiful watches. The particular Nivada Grenchen, a Depthomatic Reference 104, is an extremely rare analog depth gauge watch from circa the 1960s. Housed in a near perfectly sized 39mm stainless steel case with an acrylic crystal and a bidirectional acrylic dive timing bezel, it features a satin silver dial with ‘telephone’ tritium plots around black 'Arabic' indices, a matching ‘lollipop’ handset, and an outer depth gauge rehaut. The plastic crystal features a small notch that allows for water ingress, which, in turn, gives the depth rating on the dial. An innovative, wildly cool instrument made in a contemporary size and powered by an automatic ETA 2451 movement, the Depthomatic is truly a gem of a tool watch. We dare you to tell us it ain’t cool as hell!
