Ernest Borel Diver

So many wild watches from the 1960s and 1970s have been lost to time. While many are reissued by their parent companies, others are fished out of drawers to be discovered by the next generation of budding watch enthusiasts. Lots of these pieces are wildly affordable next to their more famous brethren, making them compelling entry points into the watch-collecting universe. This diver from Swiss firm Ernest Borel may look like a Fifty Fathoms knockoff — but that's not quite the whole story. Back in the mid-20th century, many companies used the same parts suppliers for their watches, which explains why this neat tool watch does in fact look like the spitting image of Blancpain's famous diver. Measuring 39mm in stainless steel with faceted lugs, a large, unsigned crown, an acrylic crystal, and a bidirectional bezel with a fully-hashed dive insert, it features a black dial with an open, outer minute track, luminous and applied indices, a framed date window at 3 o'clock, and a luminous 'sword' handset. Powered by a reliable automatic movement from ETA and paired to a black Tropic dive strap, this genuine piece of dive watch history is in truly excellent condition for its a age. Inscribed on its caseback with the name of its previous owner, it's a memento of a wildly exciting time in tool watch development. Wouldn't you love to own a little piece of that? We know we would!