Ferdinand A. Porsche designed the Aquatimer Ocean 2000 for IWC Schaffhausen back in 1982. With its avant-garde design, this extremely pressure-resistant diver's watch was years ahead of its time. In celebration of the 35th birthday of this style icon, IWC is now releasing a special limited edition with a thickness of just 14.5 millimetres.

Limited to 350 watches, the Aquatimer Automatic 2000 Edition "35 Years Ocean 2000" (Ref. IW329101) is the thinnest deep-sea diver's watch in IWC's collection. Despite the minimal case height, it functions reliably on dives of up to 2,000 metres - thanks to the new, improved shape of the titanium case. IWC pioneered the use of titanium for watch cases and boasts over 30 years of experience in processing this lightweight, extremely resilient material.

IWC Aquatimer Special Edition

A diver's helmet for deep-sea divers is engraved on the back of the watch, reminding the owner each day of its extreme pressure-resistance of 200 bar. Design features such as the black dial, the white hands and indices coated with luminescent paint and the red tip of the seconds hand are inspired by the Ocean 2000. The striking recessed grips on the rotating bezel and the lamellar-style rubber strap pay tribute to the Porsche original from 1982.

IWC Aquatimer Special Edition 42 mm

When diving with compressed air, divers must always keep an eye on the time to make sure they don't put themselves in danger by returning to the surface too quickly. On the Aquatimer watches from IWC, the dive time can be set using the rotating bezel for extra safety. The innovative SafeDive system ensures that the bezel can only be adjusted by turning it anticlockwise. So even if the bezel is accidentally moved, zero hour - the time at which the diver can return to the surface without the need for decompression stops - is never exceeded. Last but not least, the rubber strap on this Aquatimer model can easily be replaced with another strap thanks to the quick-change system.

Inside the 42 mm titanium case is Caliber 30120. This automatic movement has 21 jewels, a 42 h power reserve and runs at a frequency of  30120 28,800 A/h | 4 Hz.

The limited Aquatimer special edition will be available in IWC boutiques and from authorised IWC retailers from July 2017.