Vulcain Cricket Nautical Lagoon Ocarat & Full Black

Vulcain Cricket Nautical makes a bouble splash! Dive back in time. To the sound of a legendary aquatic alarm watch.

Vulcain invites you to discover – or rediscover – its 1960s aquatic alarm watch in two fresh takes versions: Lagoon in a limited edition of 25 pieces, or Deep Black limited to 50 pieces. Both models embrace the latest watchmaking advances, yet retain the original Cricket Nautical vintage spirit, starting with the legendary Cricket V-10 manual caliber that ensures its hallmark alarm rings for up to 20 seconds underwater.

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Lagoon Ocarat

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Full Black

A story that made history

Divers will tell you of a strange sound underwater in some places, that of crackling twigs in a fire. It actually comes from the cavitation bubbles produced by the snapping shrimp (also called pistol shrimp), but that’s a different story. This one begins in 1961, when Vulcain introduced the first diver’s watch that not only made it possible calculate how long you could remain at a specific depth without having to make decompression stops on the way back to the surface: the Vulcain Cricket Nautical also cut through all the din underwater with its characteristic chirping to remind you when the time came to head up. With this innovative and essential watch, Vulcain strongly influenced the development of diving watches and greatly contributed to democratizing them as well as the sport.

The Cricket Nautical, a watch that pays tribute to the history of scuba diving

The human yearning to explore the world under the waves reaches back long ago. As safe as it was to stay underwater only as long and as deep as the air in your lungs permitted, things became more complicated when the technology came along that enabled you to breathe compressed air. While this opened a whole new world of freedom, it also created a risk. Past a certain depth and a certain lapse of time, nitrogen bubbles begin to form in the blood. If you return to the surface after this point is reached, you must do so gradually, putting in decompression stops as you rise to allow these bubbles to dissolve – otherwise, they begin to expand in the bloodstream, causing pain and disorientation (also known as decompression sickness or ‘the bends’), often with a fatal outcome. Hence, the importance of ensuring a safe dive without having to stop on the way up by knowing beforehand how much time you have at which depth. Scientists rose to the challenge by developing the no-decompression dive table, still in use today, for determining the safest depth-time combination.

By this time, we are well into the 1960s. Most high-performance diving watches available at the time had a unidirectional rotating bezel, some even with an integrated dive table, to calculate safe dive durations based. While this was an important advance, it still created a mental workload both before and during the dive – especially since it required you to remember looking at your watch from time to time, which is not always easy when you are completely absorbed in experiencing the wonders around you or doing an underwater repair job. Here, Vulcain showed they had thought the issue through: after calculating the right dive-depth combination, how about an alarm to remind you that it’s time to safely return to the surface? Using a perfectly watertight case, Vulcain created the perfect dive watch, featuring:

An alarm that can be heard underwater – thanks to the legendary Cricket alarm caliber with the ‘triple caseback’ that acts as a resonance chamber;
An easy-to-use no-decompression dive time calculator;
A stainless-steel case rated to a depth of 300 meters (close to 1,000 feet).

The land version of the Vulcain Cricket was already known then as the Presidents’ Watch, owing to President Harry S. Truman’s Cricket chirping away suddenly during a press conference, and US Presidents subsequently adopting this singular watch. Which begs the question: do US Presidents dive in the Bahamas? That will remain a state secret.

In any case, when it was launched in 1961, the Vulcain Cricket Nautical was acclaimed in the diving world as an exceptional product. For the first time in history, a wristwatch was capable warning its wearer audibly when it was time to get back to the surface – and being waterproof to a depth of 300 meters, it came with plenty of safety margin. This original instrument was the precursor of the modern diving computers that would appear almost 30 years later and prove an indispensable diving buddy.

Key contributors to the development of the Vulcain Cricket Nautical were:

Hannes Keller, renowned mathematician and deep diving pioneer (holder of numerous diving records);
Max-Yves Brandily, explorer and film-maker; and
Arthur Droz, national diving instructor and C.I.A.S. (Centre d'Investigations et d'Activités Sous-Marines – the Center for Underwater Investigations and Activities in Switzerland) delegate.

Together, they all drew on their experience, working with Vulcain to create the famous Nautical Cricket. Indeed, on 3 November 1966 in Toulon, France, Hannes Keller reached a depth of almost 250 meters with a Vulcain Cricket Nautical on his wrist – a record validated by none other than the legendary ‘Commandant’ Jacques Cousteau, who witnessed the feat.

This autumn, Manufacture Vulcain is pleased to present two new versions of the Cricket Nautical: an all-black version and a limited-edition turquoise version with powder pink accents – the latter a collaboration with French retailer OCARAT. Avantgarde scuba-diving enthusiasts, who appreciate the genius of combining the mental gymnastics of no-stop decompression with the pragmatism of an audible alarm, will be sensitive to its engineering prowess; lovers of vintage timepieces will be sensitive to its aesthetics.

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Lagoon: A French exclusive (Ocarat)

For French retailer Ocarat, Vulcain created a magnificent version of the Cricket Nautical with a ‘Lagoon’ blue dial, a smoked finish offering a subtle blue gradation. A hue of turquoise as intense as it is fresh, somewhere between blue and green on the color wheel, with a hint of yellow. See for yourself... A lagoon in the Maldives. An ode to David Hockney’s swimming pools that beckon you to dive straight into their turquoise waters. "Lagoon" is the color par excellence for all those who dream of escaping to a paradise of limitless seas and sun. The discreet pink detailing completes the appeal. The watch is available for pre-order now on The Ocarat website. Delivery mid-October.

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Full Black

The Full Black Nautical reedition - a true tribute to Vulcain's pioneering spirit in diving watch history. Building upon the legacy of the original Cricket Nautical, this contemporary masterpiece encapsulates the essence of underwater exploration and safety. With its sleek all-black design, it's not just a timepiece; it's a statement of style and innovation.

A full black version now completes the permanent Vulcain Cricket Nautical. The watch will be available for pre-orders from 11 October. Delivery at the end of October 2023.

Technical specifications

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Lagoon "Ocarat"

Limited edition of 25 pieces

Case

Material: 316L stainless steel
The ‘Triple Case Back’ acts as a resonance chamber, allowing the alarm function to be used underwater or in a sapphire crystal version embellished with the stylized Vulcain "V"
Diameter: 42.20mm
‘Triple Case Back’ thickness: 17.35mm
Crystal: Sapphire, domed, with anti-reflective coating (or domed plexiglass version)
Water-resistant to 300 meters (30 ATM)

Dial and hands

Turquoise dial
Faux-patina indexes and hands
Powder pink details

Movement

Caliber ‘Vulcain Cricket Manufacture V-10’
Hand-wound alarm movement
Diameter: 12 lignes or 27.07mm
Double barrel, equipped with the Exactomatic system
Number of parts: 165
Decoration: Nickel-plated treatment, blued screws, skeleton ratchets (on sapphire case back version)
Frequency: 18,000 vibrations/hour
Power reserve: 42 hours
Alarm duration: approx. 20 seconds

Functions/Indications

Hours, minutes, center seconds, alarm
Decompression scale adjustable via screw-in crown at 4 o'clock

Strap and buckle

Black leather strap, water-resistant carbon texture
Steel pin buckle

MSRP

CHF 4'200 / USD 4'862 / EUR 4'356.60

Technical specifications

Vulcain Cricket Nautical Full Black

Limited edition of 50 pieces