Along with producing its personal limited-edition colorways, Zodiac additionally companions with quite a lot of different entities to create thematic collaboration items that supply recent and distinctive expressions of its most well-known and recognizable fashions. For its newest launch of 2024, Zodiac has teamed up with the Los Angeles-based classic watch vendor Craft + Tailor-made to create a duo of limited-edition fashions which can be simply essentially the most vintage-themed choices within the Swiss model’s trendy lineup. Impressed by the unique reference 691 Sea Wolf from the Fifties, the brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 watches function correctly compact 36mm circumstances, and reasonably than having computerized calibers like Zodiac’s standard-catalog watches, the Craft + Tailor-made collaboration fashions are powered by a brand new manual-wind motion.
Whereas shiny and playful colours typically characterize Zodiac’s standard-catalog fashions, the model’s collaboration items permit Zodiac to take an extra step outdoors its common design ethos and create thematic watches that may have in any other case by no means existed with out the collaborating celebration. Previous collaborators have ranged from style manufacturers like Rowing Blazers to fanatic teams like RedBar, and aBlogtoWatch’s founder Ariel Adams has beforehand created two completely different Zodiac Tremendous Sea Wolf dive watches generally known as the Aquamarine Dream and the Pineapple Dream, which have been launched in 2021 and 2023, respectively. Every collaborator brings a unique aesthetic to certainly one of Zodiac’s signature designs; nonetheless, since Craft + Tailor-made is all about deep-cut classic watches with era-correct elements, the brand new Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 isn’t a thematic rendition of an exiting Zodiac mannequin, however reasonably a devoted re-imagination of the very first Sea Wolf diver.
Crafted from chrome steel, the case of the brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 measures 36mm in diameter by 12mm thick, with a lug width of 18mm and an total lug-to-lug profile of 44mm. Like the unique reference 691 Sea Wolf from the Fifties, the brand new collaboration mannequin options a stainless-steel bezel with a 60-minute countdown scale, reasonably than an elapsed-time bezel just like the model’s trendy dive watches. A stable screw-down caseback closes up the reverse aspect of the watch, whereas a signed screw-down crown sits on the 3 o’clock location; nonetheless, reasonably than having an acrylic crystal just like the classic ref. 691, the brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 encompasses a domed sapphire crystal defending its dial, and it additionally options an elevated depth score in comparison with its Fifties predecessor with 200 meters of water resistance.
The brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 is obtainable with both a black or cream dial, though each variations provide the identical basic design and format, which is closely impressed by the dial discovered inside the unique reference 691 Sea Wolf diver from the Fifties. Each dials function utilized hour markers paired with a set of dauphine-shaped arms, and Tremendous-LumiNova is utilized to the entire arms and indexes to offer the brand new mannequin with a green-glowing show ion the darkish. The black-dial Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 encompasses a pretty conventional look with a gloss black floor, white luminous materials, and silver-colored arms and hour markers. Nonetheless, the cream-colored dial relies on the patina-tinted white dials that may be discovered on the unique ref. 691 watches, and it options tan-colored lume with gold-finished arms and markers to additional lean into its vintage-themed inspiration.
Powering the brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 watches is the Swiss-made STP 1-21M manual-wind motion, and this launch represents the primary time that we’ve seen this hand-wound caliber seem inside the model’s catalog. Whereas Zodiac lists the ability reserve of the brand new STP 1-21M motion at 40 hours, the model doesn’t embrace a point out of its working frequency; nonetheless, there’s a pretty good likelihood that it runs on the similar 28,800vph (4 Hz) that characterizes STP’s different mechanical choices. Whereas a hand-wind motion is hardly extra sensible than the automated calibers used contained in the Zodiac’s different current-production fashions (particularly when paired with a screw-down crown), the Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 is all about classic particulars, and I personally discover the manually-wound motion to be a spotlight of this new collaboration mannequin.
Fitted to the 18mm lugs of the brand new Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 is a three-link chrome steel bracelet, though the black and cream-dial fashions function bracelets with barely completely different hyperlink designs. Whereas the cream-dial Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 receives the model’s traditional three-link chrome steel bracelet, the model fitted with a black dial has a vintage-inspired design that emulates the rivet-style hyperlinks that characterize many mid-century watch bracelets. Regardless of their aesthetic variations, each of the three-link chrome steel bracelets hook up with the case with built-in quick-release springbars, they usually each obtain the identical type of folding clasp, which encompasses a butterfly-style design with a push-button launch and an built-in extension system.
The black-dial model of the Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 (ref. ZO0001) shall be produced as a restricted version of 400 examples, though the cream-dial mannequin (ref. ZO0002) shall be a restricted version of 100 items, and every watch could have a caseback engraving with its particular person quantity out of 100 examples. Moreover, whereas the black-dial Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 shall be offered by retailers and on Zodiac’s personal web site, the cream-dial model shall be completely out there from Craft + Tailor-made. With that in thoughts, regardless of their completely different manufacturing numbers, bracelet kinds, and retail availability, the 2 fashions price the very same, and each variations of the Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691 have an official retail worth of $1,695 USD, which locations them instantly in step with the remainder of the model’s entry-level dive watches. For extra data on the Zodiac x Craft + Tailor-made Tremendous Sea Wolf Ref. 691, please go to both the Zodiac web site or Craft + Tailor-made web site.
