IWC Aquatimer WR2000m Homage : Prometheus Poseidon WR3500m

In the world of horology, us collectors are bombarded with plenty of watch choices on a daily basis. So which pieces do we spend our hard-earned monies on? Occasionally, some watch makers came out with re-intepretations of classic designs; with micro-brands leading the charge when it came to such homages. But as with re-interpretations, it would be great if the original design was subjected to changes or improvements; instead of a blatant copy being replicated upon.

And henceforth came to the story of our blog today- the subject being the Prometheus Poseidon 3500m.

Prometheus Watch Company (PWC) started off in 2008 by a watch enthusiast i.e. Mr Carlos. I've read in one of his postings in a forum that his first mechanical watch was an IWC; so it may not came as a surprise that the name PWC sounded similar to IWC's. However, thank goodness the name Prometheus was registered on the dial of his watches rather than PWC. If you looked closely at the above pictures, you would easily spot that there were similarities in the Poseidon's bezel, crown, hands and lugs with that of the Aquatimer's. The dial was its own though, and the minute track between dial and rehaut was an appreciated design. The Aquatimer had a WR of 2,000m. The Poseidon stated its WR at 3,500m. Was that a typo?!

Well, the Poseidon 3500m was Carlos' most ambitious project todate, which aimed to have WR of 3,500m. While it may not be impossible to scale towards deeper and deeper WR, to do so with a small budget in mind may not be the easiest of task.

Let's take the Rolex Deepsea Sea-Dweller 116660 with its world-renown 3,900m WR. This was Rolex's famed engineering at its best, and it had to be housed in a chunky case and carried a price tag of circa RM44k, for one to have the bragging rights of having a diver watch with such WR.

The Poseidon achieved 90% of DSSD's WR, at less than 10% of its price tag. Yup, the Poseidon retails at just Euro629/RM3,000 (or if you preferred the Bronze version at Euro675/RM3,300). That's a steal of a price if you considered its WR rating.

The mechanicals used in Prometheus watches were sourced from ETA, Seiko and Miyota (Citizen), all of which were reliable and easily-serviceable movements that could be accessed by your preferred watch smiths anywhere in the world.

Of course, Prometheus had to keep its cost low, so it utilised the mass-made Japanese movement i.e. Miyota 9015. It's a great movement wth the below specifications :

• Automatic winding and hand winding
• 28.800 BPH
• 24 Jewels
• Hour, minute and sweeping second hands
• Second stop mode (hacking function) when setting time
• Shock absorber for balance staff
• Running time of more than 42 hours when fully wound

If you prefer the Swiss ETA movement, the 2824-2 with similar specs as per the Miyota 9015 was an option too. Prometheus had the ETA 2824-2 movement fitted into the Poseidon OceanicTime LE, with an asking price of USD950/RM4,200.

The Poseidon's current dial was finalised with watch enthusiasts' comments in forums. Initially, the dial was busier as per below :

It was a 3-liner instead of the current 2-liner.

And you could gauge that there were no lug holes for changing straps as per the early prototype as per below :

No lug holes for changing straps.

Subsequently changed to allen key lug holes.

An original buckle design.

The domed sapphire glass was an added bonus.

It finally transformed into the Poseidon 3500m that it was today, pursuant to much input from watch lovers. In a subsequent blog post, I shall write about the early impression on my Prometheus Poseidon 3500m Bronze. Keep your eyes peeled here.

Poseidon 3500m Bronze- blends in, whether at pool or mamak.