Herbelin Cap Camarat Diver blends 1970s heritage with tough modern tech
The Cap Camarat dive watch first appeared in the 1970s. The latest version is water resistant to 200m, with diamond-like carbon coating and a super-tough strap
The Cap Camarat Diver is designed to be worn with both suit or wetsuit.
If you’re a yacht-racing fan you’ll have avidly followed this year’s America’s Cup in the Mediterranean between the defender Emirates Team New Zealand and the challenger INEOS Britannia – the latter being the first time the UK has had a crack at ‘the Auld Mug’ since 1964.
And if you’re a long-term yachtie, you may also know that the well-to-do Rhode Island city of Newport became famed for sailing as a result of being the venue for the America’s Cup for more than half a century from 1930.
According to the Cup’s arcane rules, the winner gets to pick the venue of the next event – and, since the Americans first won in 1851 and remained undefeated for 132 years, all America’s Cup races in the interim took place in US waters.
But in 1983 the defeat of Liberty by Australia II meant the 1987 challenge was staged in Fremantle, a fact that inspired French horologist Jean-Claude Herbelin to commemorate Newport’s long-standing role in the event with a watch named after the city and designed along the lines of the portholes found on transatlantic liners.
Water resistant to 200m
Over the decades, the original Michel Herbelin Newport (Jean-Claude was the son of Michel, founder of the brand) became available in a number of variations, but the watch has remained recognisable by the central ‘horns’ of its strap lugs, a wide, porthole-like bezel, tapered, hull-shaped hour markers and the ship’s wheel emblem that decorated the crown.
The Newport first appeared in 1988 and his since been produced in multiple variations – but it’s not Herbelin’s only watch with a watery history.
Another is the Cap Camarat, a dive watch originally launched during the 1970s and named after the cape near Saint-Tropez that’s famed for a lighthouse that towers 591ft above the water.
We brought you news of a GMT version in our 2022 Precision watch special and now the brand has introduced a new, automatic dive-specific model.
Water resistant to a useful 200m, it combines vintage elements of the original watch with the modernity of a stainless steel case treated in a black diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating that both enhances its looks and increases its scratch resistance.
Six screws secure the outer bezel to create a porthole-like appearance while a rotating inner dive bezel is controlled using the lower, secondary crown which enables the orange-coloured 15-minute quadrant to be correctly set before descent.
A horizontally stamped, anti-reflective matt-black dial carries applied, highly luminous markers, with the Cap Camarat Diver’s underwater credentials being further enhanced by a bright orange strap made of super-tough FKM elastomer – a type of rubber so durable that the strap is guaranteed for 10 years.
Although the watch is French-made, it contains a tried-and-tested Swiss movement from Sellita – and, despite it’s high specification, it will only set you back a not-unreasonable £1170.
Herbelin Cap Camarat Diver, £1170. herbelin.com