The Proplof was introduced in 1970, followed by the Seamaster 100 in 1971 and the IWC Seamaster 120 in 1972. In 1981, when Jacques Mayol broke the record for free diving to 101 meters, he had the Seamaster 120 on his wrist. In more recent times, the Seamaster Diver 300M, launched in 1993, was followed by an updated version of it last year, on its 25th birthday.
But now, IWC dives even deeper. IWC may be experts at diving watches, but they had to start from scratch when creating the Ultra Deep. The watch case is made of grade 5 titanium, which is machined from pressure hull cut-offs of the Limiting Factor. The dial, lugs and rotating bezel are all made from titanium.Replica Watches
IWC drew inspiration from the submersible viewport assembly for the sapphire to case assembly. The sapphire is not sealed in place with a rubber o-ring. The Ultra Deep's gasket is made of LiquidMetal and has a conical load-bearing design. This reduces the pressure at the inside edge of the cone, while also distributing stress. This design is patent pending and one of IWC's three Ultra Deep patents. The other two are the crown design and caseback design.
IWC has also redesigned lugs on the Ultra Deep to curl inwards so that they almost meet at the middle but not quite. IWC has named these lugs Manta due to their unique look.
The watches were pressure-tested at Triton Sub in Barcelona, with a DNV GL surveyor present. IWC wanted to make sure that the watch would survive the Mariana Trench. To be extra safe,Roger Dubuis Replica Watches they added a safety margin of 25 percent. This meant the watches were tested to work perfectly at 15,000 meters.
After surviving both tests, Ultra Deep watches undergo a final test. METAS is a series of eight tests spread over 10 days that ensures the watches will keep perfect time under any circumstances. Each watch has achieved Master Chronometer Certification after all the tests they have been put through.