Good morning! As is my custom, I am starting my day with a piping hot cup of dive watch. Well, coffee too, but I picked up this nifty mug at the Zenea booth at Watches and Whiskey in Hagerstown, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to use it in my review of the Zenea Ula Diver.
Zenea is a Toronto-based brand that manufactures its watches in Switzerland. I met its founder, Jason Hutton while preparing for Zenea’s participation in the District Time watch show this past March. He is a great guy, a passionate watch aficionado, and the organizer of the Toronto Timepiece Show (September 27-28, 2024). To my knowledge, it is the first major watch fair in Canada, so if you are in that neck of the woods, I highly recommend you check it out.
But that is a story for another day. Let’s get back to the Ula Diver.
Diving is right in the watch’s name, so you won’t be shocked to find its 300m water resistance rating, 120-click unidirectional bezel, or screw-down crown. It has an AR-coated sapphire crystal, a ceramic bezel insert, and a traditional dive watch shape and layout. Inside is an ETA 2824 automatic, a smooth (28.8k bph) and solid choice. These are solid specifications and are not uncommon in the dive watch market. Where the Ula Diver truly excels is in its design details and near-flawless execution.
Zenea lists the case size as 41mm wide, 48mm long, and 12mm thick with a 20mm lug gap. That gives it a sporty stance on my 6.75″ wrist without appearing oversized. Thanks to its aggressive curvature, the watch maintains a low profile even with the bracelet fitted. The upper surfaces of the case and bracelet are brushed, while a brightly polished finish down the sides and over the beveled edges further enhances the illusion of slimness, making the watch look and feel thinner than its already modest 12mm measurement might suggest.
Closer inspection reveals the bezel ever-so-slightly overlaps the case, maybe 0.25mm on each side. It’s not enough to make the watch appear smaller, but it gives the wearer a welcome advantage when gripping its polished coin edge. The Bezel action is perfect, firm enough to be reassuring yet not overly stiff, and it snaps neatly into every detent without even a hint of wobble.
The polished crown is 5.5mm and decorated with the Zenea logo. I had no issues operating it, although I would have preferred a bit more width to get a fingertip grip without having to pinch it quite so tightly.
As visibility is paramount underwater, Zenea has outfitted the watch with broad sword hands and large markers, then filled them with a generous dose of Swiss BGW9 Super-LumiNova. This includes every mark on the bezel, not just the pip.
This review sample has the Snowcap Classic White dial. Snowcap is a bright, silvery white accented with red blacks on the chapter index and a matching red lollipop second hand. That hint of shimmer in the dial works well with the applied and polished markers, polished hands, and the glossy sheen of the ceramic bezel insert. I have to award extra points for Zenea’s clever Z/hourglass logo. Add all that to the polished elements on the case, and you have a lively panoply of reflections that raises the Ula beyond mere tool status. I wouldn’t call it a dress diver, but it is a diver you can dress up.
Turning the watch over reveals one of the better casebacks I’ve seen lately. Two polished dragon-headed fish circle the Zenea logo. The embossed image is finely detailed and stands in high relief against the sand-textured background. Watch designers take note: if you want something special on the flip side of your next creation, this is how it should be done.
The Ula Diver comes with a 20mm stainless steel H-link bracelet. It’s a quality piece with solid links, screw pins, and quick-release end links that terminate in wickedly fine edges fitting tightly to the barrel. I’ve got fairly small wrists, so the more articulation a bracelet can provide, the more I like it. H-links work very well for me, as they look modern and sporty, but the relatively short links provide a more natural drape than the more common three-link design.
The Ula Diver’s signed clasp features a push-button extension for adjustments on the fly, a real boon in the summer months when my wrist seems to swell like the Grinch’s heart. “It hit 101°, and in D.C., they say, Loren’s wrist grew three sizes that day.”
Of course, you can always swap the bracelet for a strap. Zenea used to supply each Ula Diver with red-stiched leather; however, they have replaced that with a new silicone strap. The switch makes good sense since the Ula is a diver’s watch. It’s soft, comfortable, and waterproof, and with a whopping 18 adjustment holes, it should fit almost any wrist. It comes equipped with quick-release pins and a signed buckle. If you want leather, you can add one to your order for $45.
Finally, there is the box. Zenea ships the Ula Diver in a padded wooden cube with a stamped metal medallion atop. Regular readers know I have no love for display boxes and generally save my praise for simple, compostable packaging. Yet, I have to admit, this box is pretty cool. I mean, it’s got the same awesome decoration that graces the case back. How can I stay mad at that?
The Ula Diver is Zenea’s sole model. It is offered in Volcanic Obsidian Black, Japanese Garden Blue, Ocean Hornet Yellow, Time and Space Meteorite, in addition to the Snowcap pictured here. I loved the shimmery white, but if you are more adventurous with your color palette, I’d suggest you look at the stunning Ocean Hornet. Really, though, there isn’t a bad color combination in the bunch.
The Zenea Ula Diver is available now for $889 US directly from the brand. That gets you the watch on a bracelet, the silicone strap, and a display box that even The Time Bum must begrudgingly admit is mighty impressive.
For more information or to order your own, visit zeneawatches.com. I think you will like what you see.
