Gucci has unveiled its 2017 Dive collection of watches – which bring the powerful animal themes seen on their fashion catwalks to your fashionable wrist…

For 2017, the Gucci Dive collection new models that seek to combine the appeal of a sport watch with the look of embroidered fabric or printed rubber. Duty Free Hunter regulars will have seen some of these emblems appearing on the more recent accessories lines (see story).

As reported by ABTW – This year, Gucci will release a few watches that have embroidered nylon dials as well as the two rubber ones. Consider these the ideal timepieces for those who have a serious nylon NATO-style strap fetish (actually, if you want to be hyper-technical the straps on these Gucci Dive watches are Zulu-style, and not NATO-style). Most of these products will be in the Gucci Marché des Merveilles collection, which are 38mm-wide “unisex” watches in polished or PVD-coated yellow gold-coloured steel cases. The embroidered nylon dials come in green or blue with the animal motifs of a bee, tiger, or snake. There is also one model with a leather dial and a snake image that continues on the leather strap.

Most of these watches adopt the theme of continuing the motif of the strap onto the dial for a neat-looking, cohesive design that certainly has potential. I’ve seen this in other watches where a stripe on the dial is mirrored on the strap (or vice-versa, however you want to look at it), and in many instances it looks quite handsome. In addition to the Gucci Marché des Merveilles collection, the brand is also releasing at least four new versions of the Gucci Dive, with these animal-decorated dials.

 

There are two main versions of the Gucci Dive for 2017, a 40mm-wide model that features rubber as an accent material, and a 45mm-wide model that features embroidered nylon as an accent material.

The smaller, 40mm-wide model is water-resistant to 200 meters and comes in a steel case with rubber flanked sides colored in black or yellow to match the strap and main dial color. Over the dial is a sapphire crystal and around the face is a rotating diver-style bezel – which, in addition to being sporty, actually helps make the dial legible, since it lacks hour markers.

The dials of these 40mm-wide Gucci Dive watches are textured rubber and printed with a detailed tiger’s face. Gucci says the printing technique is done in a sort of relief, which gives the dial a three-dimensional effect. Inside the watch is a Swiss ETA quartz movement. The yellow Gucci Dive is the reference YA136317 while the black version is the reference YA136318.

The 45mm-wide Gucci Dive watches with the nylon embroidered faces come with all-black PVD-coated steel cases that are also water-resistant to 200 meters with a sapphire crystal. These are a bit more maturely masculine-looking with the larger size and dark colors. One version has a blue woven nylon dial with red strip through the center that has an embroidered tiger (reference YA136215) or a snake (reference YA136214), and the other model has a green woven nylon dial with a red stripe that has a Gucci-style bee (reference YA136216) embroidered on it. Both come with matching blue-and-red or green-and-red woven nylon straps. These are NATO/Zulu-style straps in the traditional sense, and it is interesting to see how watch companies both of the fashion or classic variety continue to treat this trend. Gucci prints “L’aveugle Par Amour” on the NATO/Zulu-style straps.

While the 45mm-wide Gucci Dive watches also have Swiss quartz movements (Ronda versus ETA in these), Gucci decided to remove the seconds hand, which likely makes the dials feel a bit more elegant – especially as focus should be on the dial design. Note that there is a piece of “black glass” as the rotating bezel insert. These really aren’t the types of watches I would normally be drawn to, but I think they are pretty cool-looking and original. Certainly, they are a hip statement that combines the look of a traditional sports watch with something more trendy and fashionable.

Prices for the 38mm-wide, more traditional-looking Gucci Marché des Merveilles watches for 2017 are $790, $850, $870, or $1,100 depending on the version. Prices for the Gucci Dive watches are $1,120 for the 40mm-wide model and $1,350 for the 45mm-wide model. Most of them are currently available for purchase online.

See more at gucci.com

Source: A Blog to Watch / Gucci