ELVIA Day/Date Military Divers Watch with Sapphire Crystal and Quartz Movement

SKU: ELVIA-QZ-DIV

The current ELVIA watches just like the original watches in the 1970s and 80s are closely based on a case pattern originally made by the famous Swiss case making firm MRP S.A, other than a few minor updates the case is much the same as in the late 1970s, MRP was named after its founders M archand, R oth and P etignat, it was founded in 1953 and bought by Georges Hauert in 1979. The entire share capital now belongs to Mr Patrick Hauert so unlike many other major companies in the watch industry this company is still independent and going strong, the company website is here https://www.mrp-sa.ch  In addition to ELVIA other watches using this case pattern have been produced by ourselves and companies such as Precista, Nilax and Heuer who were the predecessors to Tag Heuer and made the Heuer 844-1 in 1979, Chronosport another manufacturer made the Sea Quartz 30 – worn by Tom Selleck in the Magnum PI TV show, moving to other present manufacturers CWC also continue to use this case design as do various other companies. It’s interesting that few people realise how historically significant this case pattern is nor how well it has stood the test of time having been in continuous production for well over 40 years.

The watch measures 45mm including the crown and 40mm excluding the crown although it uses the same 20mm military nylon webbing strap as many other current military divers watches which enables you to choose from a vast variety of NATO strap variants. 

Dimensions and Specification:

• Casing: Stainless Steel with non reflective light sand blasted finish
• Crown: Screwdown Locking
• Water Resistance: 30ATM/300m/1000ft
• Movement: Swiss Ronda  517 Day/Date 
• Battery Life: 45 Months
• Dimensions: Width Inc Crown 45mm (Exc Crown 40mm)
• Thickness: 12mm
• Lug to Lug: 46.5mm
• Crystal Diameter 31mm
• Crystal Type: Sapphire with non reflective coating *
• Luminous Paint Type: Luminova
• 120 Click Unidirectional Bezel
• Weight: 89.5g
• Strap: Elasticated Nylon French Military Webbing Strap and also a standard NATO pattern strap.
• Spring Bars
• Guarantee: 24 Months

* A lot of people ask us what are the benefits of sapphire crystal over a standard mineral crystal? The answer is that synthetic sapphire is by far the best material for watch crystals because it is very strong and also shatter and scratch-resistant, these characteristics make it very appealing to military and security personnel, police officers, and people who lead active outdoor lifestyles, these groups account for over 70% of our customers. To get things into perspective we find that when clients have accidents with watches resulting in a cracked crystal over 90% usually watches with mineral glass crystals, even factoring in that we use hardened mineral crystals they still do not come close to sapphire for durability under adverse conditions. The reason that sapphire crystals are so strong is that after the sapphire glass is manufactured it is also heat-treated to remove its internal stresses—which can cause weakness—it is then made into the watch crystals and two layers of anti-reflective coating are applied, interestingly sapphire crystal is now used on the latest iPhone. Of course, sapphire crystal comes at a price hence you find that it’s normally only fitted to higher-end watches.

 ** MWC are official distributors for ELVIA watches.