A Closer Look At The Vulcain Nautical Alarm (+ @soulamite72’s Insane Black-Light Watch Photos!)

Even with the whole world at our fingertips, a lot of people end up liking the same things. This conformity even stretches to 'Watch Instagram,' with many collectors going after the same five or ten brands and watch models.

So it was really a revelation to run across Berlin resident @soulamite72’s black-light photos of vintage watches in the last days of 2020. Far from being standard Instagram fare, these pics absolutely jump off the page with their almost-psychedelic high-contrast colors.

Out of all of his photos, our favourite here at CC is of a rather interesting piece, a ’69 Vulcain Nautical Alarm. Of course, one can’t mention said brand without speaking of the 'Cricket,' the watch traditionally worn by many U.S. Presidents.

Back in 1962, Vulcain decided to hot-rod the Cricket Alarm watch by placing its MS-R movement inside a Piquerez case. This 'marriage' created the brand’s first underwater dive watch alarm, made possible by 16 holes that were drilled through the piece’s triple-stacked waterproof caseback.

Obviously, the convenience of an underwater alarm watch made a lot of sense during the times before dive computers. But what really catches the eye with the Cricket Nautical is the dial; it possesses a sort of 'snail' or 'snake’-like set of numbers placed within concentric circles that really give the watch a unique look.

So what are those numbers, and what’s the story with them being there? As the photographer pointed out to us personally, they’re actually decompression tables. Reading these tables was (and is) important to avoid 'the bends,' the sickness that occurs when one surfaces too quickly from a deep SCUBA dive.

Basically if you’re involved in a deep dive, and breathe high-pressure gases at depth, you’ll also have to slow down on the way up. The gases you inhaled need to dissipate, and basically 'balance themselves out' on the ascent or you’ll hurt yourself.

The basic rule is to ascend no faster than 10 meters (or 33 feet) per minute, but by turning the knob on the case and reading the table on the dial, one can ascertain a more precise number. This scale on the dial helped the Vulcain Nautical watch distinguish itself from the competition.

And what competition it was! The most famous 'dive alarm' watches of that era were made by Jaeger-LeCoultre; the famous Polaris and Deep Sea Alarm pieces. In actuality they all shared the same Piquerez case, so the distinctive look of the Vulcain helped it stand out in a jeweler’s case.

The alarm function has a lot of real-world utility, but one must remember that it’s a 12-hour alarm. (Meaning, it goes off twice a day. After it happens once, you’ll remember to turn it off.) And if you think you’ve seen similar 'dive tables' on a watch before, you’re probably not wrong; Mido recently re-released an Ocean Star watch from '61 that has a similar dial.

Thanks again to @soulamite72 on IG for the great original photos, original vintage advertisements, and info about the watch. Follow him on Instagram! Thanks again for reading, and cheers from Curated Classics.