The Ultimate Shark Week Watch: 2023

Why do we pick an Ultimate Shark Week Watch each year?

For starters: sharks are awesome, watches are awesome — let’s not complicate things.  But yes, there is a deeper connection. In fact, when you peer beneath the surface, you find a rather profound link between diving, dive watches, and marine protection.

From Jacque Cousteau’s Calypso team to Sean Connery’s wetsuit-turned-tuxedo to modern profiles in the life aquatic with diver-journalist Jason Heaton, the mythology of the dive watch still goes hand-in-hand with both a readiness for adventure and a conservationist lens to ensure the hunt continues.

So for the last few years, we’ve celebrated our love for watches and fascination with summer’s biggest splash by naming an Ultimate Shark Week Watch.  Of note, Shark Week remains cable television’s longest-running show, now entering its 35th season on Discovery Channel.

On to the criteria:

1. A dive watch, obviously
2. A brand ethos of ocean discovery and sustainability that is as meaningful as possible

Past winners include:

• 2020: Lorier (Neptune Diver) who contributes portions of each sale to the Oceana Foundation
• 2021: Clemence (Photic Diver) who plants a tree in the UK with each watch sold
• 2022: Vaer (Solar Diver) who not only provides an eco-friendly solar option but also produced a short film chronicling an urchin diver and the importance of ocean kelp to healthy ecosystems

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Man, you have a type.”  Yes, I am a sucker for vintage-inspired divers on a NATO strap with a touch of gold.  It’s a gilty pleasure.

It’s also no coincidence that these come from microbrands or at least smaller independent brands. While it’s not an outright criterion, personally, I have found the effort made by these brands much more meaningful than those from the big fish.  The math is pretty simple: it counts more when a small brand with tiny margins still finds a way to participate.

Also, it’s worth noting that the watch industry is now swimming with models using recycled plastic plucked from the ocean and solar movements, which presumably reduce battery turnover.  All good moves.

This makes “storytelling x sustainability” the real test for naming an ultimate winner who can separate from the shiver.  Before announcing that watch for 2023, a few honorable mentions.

There are few shark tales better than the story behind the namesake for Seals Watch Company‘s “Dark Seal” line, and no, it’s not eponymous to owner Michael Seals.  Check out that story about halfway down here.  This year, Vero released a limited edition celebrating Baja California, which is not only one of my favorite places in the world but also the largest known great white shark nursery.

Of course, we can’t forget about Freestyle USA and their Shark line: the only brand that has an actual partnership with Shark Week and annually produces collaborations with surfers (catch a barrel, Luke Davis).  And a thank you to those in water rescue keeping us safe as we clearly swim in-and-around these squalene predators all the time (unknowingly, thank goodness) with the Hawaiian Lifeguard Association watch donating to their training fund.

Ok, but who sits atop as the Big Kahuna?

This year that honor goes to a new brand out of Hawaii… or Germany?  Hard to tell.  Whether they hang nein or hang ten, they are producing some of the most engaging, ocean-themed, creatively sustainable watches out here.  The price is tubular too.

The Ultimate Shark Week Watch 2023 is the Aloha Watch Company Snapper Rocks. I chose this model because it’s a clear departure from my usual vintage dive watch in gilt.

What began on the North Shore of O’ahu as two guys watching world-class surfers charge the waves at Pipeline turned into a partnership between surf aficionados Eddie and European financier, The Duke, which has produced an entire line of watches devoted to the coolest breaks in the world.

Each model bears the name of an iconic ocean wave, like Jaws, Mavericks, and Nazare, complete with the longitude and latitude to find them on Surfline.  It comes with surf videos, a history of the location, and of course, a commitment to sustainability.

But these guys got creative.  Many brands have found ways to limit packaging; Aloha gives you a waterproof dry bag.  Hello, beach trip, goodbye packaging trash.  Paper instructions and package insert? Yes, right there on your microfiber cloth.  Other than the box all this arrives in, nothing goes to waste.

There you have it, the Ultimate Shark Week Watch 2023, the Aloha Watch Company Snapper Rock, a fun and funky 149 € sports watch made by a band of surfers who are taking a bite out of ocean waste. Check them out at aloha-watch.com.