The ability of vintage watches to tell stories of mankind always fascinated me. I am particularly attracted to tool watches with the Portuguese import hallmark, as they connect me to my country and make each piece more distinctive.

Growing up in Portugal in the 80s, like every other kid I frequently watched Cousteau and Calypso on television and dreamt about being a deep sea explorer. The deepest I dove later on was 40 meters, but that sure was enough to continue to instill respect whenever I see depth ratings of watches that were actually used for their purpose 50 or 60 years ago.

Recently I got interested in timepieces worn by the Calypso crew. Besides the obvious Rolex, Omega and Blancpain, there were several other brands onboard. The Nivada Depthomatic, which was frequently seen on Bernard Delmotte´s wrist, immediately caught my attention. On the one hand, although I was familiar with the Chronomaster and the Antarctic, I had no idea that Nivada came up with the first watch with an integrated depth gauge back in 1964. On the other hand, it is probably still one of the most underappreciated of the group. So I started looking for one around the usual places.

A couple of weeks later, I had to go to my local watchmaker to pick up a revised watch. He was all excited about showing me something he had received from the son of a local big collector who had passed away recently. Et voila, out of the blue came a “Nivada Cousteau” in great condition! The watch is pretty impressive in the steel, with its 43mm super compressor case, bezel sitting on top of the plastic depth gauge and Navitimer-style lugs. The broad arrow hands characteristic to the brand are powered by an automatic caliber ETA 2472.

It is a relatively rare watch to find in good condition, but I think it is still fairly priced given its historical relevance.