No 150 - Helson Skindiver

This was a quick catch and release. I knew it probably wouldn’t bring anything new to the table compared to the MKII Stingray and bought it just because I had nothing else to buy at the moment. Helson had impressed me with the quality of their Sharkmaster so I expected nothing less from the Skindiver. The seller, who I had done several deals with in the past, gave me a couple of names of people who also had shown interest in the Skindiver and told me to contact them if (rather a question of when) I decided to sell the watch, to spare me from having to put it out for sale.

It was a Tuesday afternoon back in October 2012 and Swiss cheese fondue with the boys was scheduled for the evening. I hurried home from work to prepare everything but managed to stop by the post office and pick up the watch. I remember coming home, tearing the package open and putting the watch on the wrist thinking “Domed acrylic crystal! Sweet!” and then carried on with all the preparations. Sometime during the dinner I looked down on my wrist and paid attention to the teeth of the bezel. “Hmm… that’s some sharp teeth alright.” Dinner went on and I recall pouring Kirsch all over my suede Minnetonka slippers. “Damn!” Even though we were drunk and suffering from fondue coma I still managed to send a PM to one of those people, whose name I’d been given from the seller, and sold the watch the same evening. My head was hurting so much in the morning the next day when I was wrapping it up again that I totally forgot to take a picture of it before I rushed off to work.

I contacted both the seller and the new owner just a couple of days ago and they both managed to supply me with some pictures of the actual watch. Thank you guys! Much appreciated. 

#150 - The Helson Skindiver. (picture contributed by the previous owner)

(picture contributed by the previous owner)

(picture contributed by the previous owner)

Sweet looking lume! (picture contributed by the new owner).

So what about my thoughts regarding the watch? Well, it’s all a bit of a blur but I remember it was even better than I expected it to be. The finish was great, water resistant to 200m, bright C3 luminova, reliable movement (ETA 2824-2). But the best detail in my opinion was the domed acrylic crystal which I think contributed a lot to the overall impression. Is it a homage or a copy then? Well, let’s not get into that discussion right now.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 64 – Helson Sharkmaster

An obvious copy of the Omega Seamaster 1000m, also known as “The Grand”. Or copy might be the wrong word since the dial says ‘Helson’ but it’s not an homage either because it has borrowed the design to 100%. An homage to me is something that has borrowed elements from something well known but created something new at the same. This piece looks pretty much identical to the original. I can’t really say why I bought it. I was into big dive watches, sure, but except for being a big dive watch it didn’t have much else that spoke to me. I felt quite quickly that it was just wrong when wearing it. It was too big and couldn’t be mistaken for anything else but an Omega Seamaster 1000m. The only problem was that it wasn’t an Omega.

#64 - The Helson Sharkmaster.

Solid stuff.

Deep knurled case back for maximum grip against the wet suit.

Pretty thick. Didn't exaclty fit under the sleeve.

I wore it at work a couple of days but didn’t want to wear it anywhere else. I also remember I had a little bit of trouble selling it but finally found a buyer in Norway who gave me what I was asking. Felt pretty relieved when I sent it away without having to lose a whole bunch of cash.

I’ve had one more Helson after this one. I can’t say anything negative about the quality. Seemed to be pretty well built. It’s nice to see that the new Helson watches that have been released have been based on own design rather than already existing ones. Thumbs up for that!

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.