The Eterna Kon Tiki Concept Diver: A True Modern Classic, For Sale

In the popular (read: crowded and too often boring) dive watch market it seems that some of the most popular recent (and upcoming) releases have been trips down horological memory lane. One such stand out of 2010 was the reissue of the 1973 Kon Tiki Super, from Eterna, a great brand with a long history (they founded ETA before selling it to the Swatch Group). The Eterna weve found for you today was first seen in 2005 and is also called a Kon Tiki.

Say hello to the radically styled and technically impressive Kon Tiki Concept diver. Its most notable feature is its flip out case; the PVD titanium container pivots out from the skeletonized steel bridge. Why go to all this fuss? Well, aside from being pretty nifty in its own rights, its all about the bezel. You can only move the bidirectional internal bezel when the watch is flipped open, when in the bridge its solid as a rock. The crown for this watch is also impressive; it doesnt screw down, which is unusual for a watch rated to 1000 meters. Again the non screw down crown is all in the name of deep sea functionality (should you wish to adjust your bezel at depth). The method of achieving this remarkable degree of water resistance was actually pinched from technology developed for the automobile industry (More on that later).

This iteration of the Kon Tiki certainly does not fall into the trap so common with many dive watches; that of bearing a more than passing resemblance to other dive watches. In part this is understa! ndable g iven that they are, at least to some degree, intended as functional tools. Eterna have taken the requirements of a dive watch and made a genuine attempt to address these in a novel way. And for this they should be applauded.

The story of the Kon Tiki concept diver has an interesting postscript. From all accounts the model was not hugely popular when it was originally released, but it already has had its own little reissue under a different brand. Some very observant readers may have noticed that this watch looks rather like the Porsche Design P 6780 introduced at Basel last year. Turns out that Eterna make Porsche Design watches, and that the (watered down somewhat) design would be a better fit with the Porsche Design brand.

Click here for details of the Eterna 1000m Kon Tiki Concept diver for sale.


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