Razor-sharp slab, 5 am lume, and a V2 that costs more for less: Helson's Shark Diver
The sausage
My last attempt at reviewing this was pathetic, so here we go again. The Helson Shark Diver 42 mm. This one's mine, serial 1622, bought in 2017, and it's a great watch and I love it. It comes in a plastic tube with a floppy rubber gasket that serves no purpose, a laminated guarantee disc that's started to delaminate, and a big foam sausage hiding a proper Helson tool with a screwdriver for the links, plus a Helson-engraved Cuda rubber strap. Isofrane style at a fraction of the price. The double keeper's a pain to fit, mind.
A true beast on the wrist
A tool watch, rugged and beyond compare. Comes in 38, 40, 42 and 45. Ladies, maybe the 38 or 40; for most of us, 42 will suffice. Be warned about the 45: even this 42 is 51.5 lug-to-lug, and it swallows the wrist like nothing you've encountered. My just-over-seven-inch wrist fits it perfectly. 14.5 mm tall, 22 mm lugs, 258 grams with all the links. It's heavy. Only my OSD beats it.
Look at those crown guards. Massive. The case is razor sharp; no corners cut. It'll literally cut your skin. 500 metres and a helium escape valve for all you divers who go to 500 metres on a regular basis. Not ISO certified. Is it really 500? Who's going to check? I've never gone deeper than the sink.
Lume to light the ceiling
If you've had a Seiko you know how good Lumibrite is. This is Swiss Super-LumiNova, and it outshines everything. It will literally light the ceiling in your bedroom. Put it on the nightstand at 9:30 pm and you can still read it at five in the morning. I've got a lot of watches. None of them can do that. Some of the best lume I've ever seen.
The bezel's fully lumed too, very snappy, virtually no back play, lines up perfectly. Are you listening, Seiko? Inside, a Miyota 9015, 28,800, eight ticks a second, look at that sweep, better than a Seiko. Mine runs plus four a day. Pay more for an ETA 2824-2 and you get no better performance. Only gripe: the crown winds the wrong way round.
V1 versus V2: the one thing they had to get wrong
Bracelet: screwed solid links, thick as you like, and I haven't had to tighten them in four years. Milled, etched double-deployant clasp with a ratcheting extension. Great. Then the V2. Sapphire bezel now, lovely, but the lume's less generous, so the V1 wins the lume shot clearly. And look at the V2's end links: wobbly, as if it's not finished. Disgusting. Slimmer pushers, no milling on the clasp, three micro-adjusts that ruin the look, and the price has gone up about a hundred dollars. A downgrading in quality and an upgrading in price.
Verdict
You're really getting a lot for your money with this watch, and unlike most Helsons it isn't a direct homage of anything I know. Two glorious pieces, impeccable timekeepers, both absolutely great and saluted by me. Stay freaky and never give up.
