Horological Meandering

WHL
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Visconti Scuba Abyssus 3000M Review

I recall the time about 5 years ago when I came home with a Bell & Ross BR01-92 Heritage on my wrist. I loved the novelty of something that looked more like an aircraft instrument than the classical, elegant watches with which I was accustomed to wearing. The deviation from my usual habits was noticed by my wife, and the dismayed, withering, WTF look on her face when she saw it was priceless.

While my time with the B&R was short, and not repeated in terms of adding other watches where the design departs from the classically elegant, I still find designs that are more architecturally or industrially conceived to be fascinating, whether on the high-end independent side with the Horological Machines of MB&F or the creations of Urwerk, or from the more easily attainable pieces of Bell & Ross, Romain Jerome, and the focus of this review, watch newcomer Visconti, who is best know for writing instruments.

There are two styles of watches in the Visconti collection: the Bridge Over Time pieces are characterized by two bridges arching over the dial of the watch, and the Abyssus collection of dive watches. I will focus on the Abyssus today.

There are no two ways about it - this is a statement making watch, with oversized case with a massive crown, visible gear teeth for the rotating bezel, contrasting colors, and sculpted lugs. The case in the model photographed herein is stainless steel, but there are also titanium and bronze variations, and each of the three is limited to 399 individually numbered pieces.

The stainless steel case is 45 mm (add another 9.4 mm for the crown!) and a quite thick at 17.8 mm.

The two components that really capture attention are the visible saw teeth of the external aluminum bronze rotating bezel and the massive crown.

Water resistance is 3000 meters, and yes, there is a helium escape value on the case at 6 o’clock.

To operate the bezel the user must push down on the lock at 4 o’clock on the case:

Unlocked Position - The Bezel Will Rotate

Locked Position

and then once the bezel is set, push it back up into the locked position. This is not a watch I would wear with long sleeves, as I fear the teeth would damage the fabric of my shirts. But if I’m wearing this watch, I’d want everyone to see it.

As for the crown, rotate counterclockwise to unlock it for the usual crown operations (winding; quickset date; time setting). The gaskets that ensure water resistance for the crown make for more than the usual resistance when winding the watch, which is to say, I would keep this one on a winder when not on the wrist so as to minimize crown use.

The dial has some bold styling, with the flared V for Visconti at 3 o’clcock, a mix of markers with Arabic 4 and 8 along with luminous block squares, and flared hands. There is a power reserve display at 10 o’c,cock, and date at 2.

The movement inside is an automatic Soprod 9340/A10-2

I like the look of this watch on my wrist:

The brown sharkskin strap looks great and the watch comes also with a black rubber strap. A steel bracelet is also an option. 

I wouldn’t choose the Visconti Abyssus 3000M as my first dive watch, but in the context of a larger collection, or for someone looking for something boldly different, it has a lot to offer.

Bill