The Dan Henry 1975 Automatic Skin Diver is a fun, colourful and retro styled skin diver, meaning it features only 150m of water resistance as opposed to the typical 200-300m of other dive watches. This means that whilst you can certainly swim with it, I wouldn’t recommend diving whilst wearing it. However this lack of water resistance is a trade off as it features smaller dimensions than many other divers (39mm diameter, 11.5mm thickness, 20mm lug width, 42mm lug to lug) which is a worthy trade off in my opinion (even as a diving enthusiast).These dimensions combined with the excellent supplied strap contribute to a very comfortable overall wearing experience, though I must stress that the watch is available with an FKM rubber strap, FKM tropical strap or a bracelet. If none of these options are appalling, then bear in mind that the 20mm lugs allow a massive variety of third party strap options to be fitted easily (the supplied strap is quick release).

The overall design is based on the long discontinued Omega Admiralty and features retro styling throughout the design. The indices are all legible and the hour indices are well lumed (using LumiNova), and the Indices at 12, 6 and 9 feature different coloured lume, as well as the hour and minute hands. In addition to this the markings and numbers on the bezel are also lumed. As far as I can see, there are no mistakes in any of the text or markers present throughout the watch.

The case of the Dan Henry 1975 Skin Diver is constructed with 316L stainless steel and features a variety of finishes all over. The stainless steel caseback is screw down and features an intricate 3D engraving of a “Scaphtopus” according to the website. The crystal is a high domed sapphire with a cyclops and anti reflective treatment and the bezel is also sapphire (though a steel bezel version of the watch is also available).

On the inside, the automatic version that I own is powered by a Miyota 9015, which has a high beat rate of 28,800 vph (4Hz) and a quoted accuracy of -10/+30 seconds per day however, my watch is running at roughly +20 seconds per day. It features 42 hours of power reserve and hacking + handwinding. There is also a mecha-quartz version of the watch available.

Overall the Dan Henry Skin Diver is hard to seriously fault for the price, $450 / £343 for the auto and $290 / £221 for the quartz (plus $80 / £60 if you want to add a bracelet) and the only criticisms I have are minor compared to how much the watch gets right. This will make an excellent addition to any collection or would make a good first automatic watch for beginners to watches (such as myself).

Pros
– Comfortable, wearable case

– You can swim with it

– Cool, retro styling

Cons
– The crown can be hard to grab

– The bezel is unidirectional

– The bezel features minor backplay

Quality
85

Style
90

Value
70

Wearability

90