Eterna tests all of its diving watches for water resistance, durability, functionality and more, but nothing quite beats strapping a watch onto a wetsuit and diving to the bottom of the ocean to really understand how well it performs. It is for this reason that Eterna enlisted the help of experienced diver and watch expert, Jason Heaton, for a real life test of its Eterna SuperKonTiki Chronograph and Lady KonTiki Diver. Heaton chose Bonaire in the Netherlands Antilles for this extensive test that would take him on over 18 dives over a period of six days.
A small arid island off the coast of Venezuela, Bonaire is a fascinating place, best know for its age-old salt production. More recently it has become a mecca for both advanced and recreational scuba divers.
Heaton wore the Eterna SuperKonTiki Chronograph, while the Eterna Lady Kontiki Diver was tested by his diving partner, Marìa Clara Aboleda, a Colombian dive instructor who lives and works in Bonaire. The duo started their assessment in relatively shallow waters under Bonaire’s giant loading pier.
Their next dive was to be very different as they visited the “Hilma Hooker”, a shipwreck that sank in 1984 under rather mysterious circumstances. They were to dive here on four separate occasions, exploring the 80-metre long Dutch freighter that is lying on its starboard side. Heaton and Aboleda were able to explore both the inside and the outside of the ship, enabling them to examine the watches’ accuracy and performance at such a profound depth.
They also tested the watches at night as Heaton explains: “On a night dive in Bonaire, I held an underwater torch to the dial of the Super KonTiki for 30 seconds before descending and it glowed brightly for the entirety of a 45-minute dive in black water. Huge tarpon (silver scaled two-metre game fish) hunted by the light beams of our underwater torches, sharp-tailed eels came out of hiding and spectacular basket stars unfurled their tentacles to hunt.”
"Underwater, I used the bezel for timing intermediate activities" explaines Heaton. "In Bonaire, where diving is largely done from shore and is self-guided, navigation is most easily done using timed swims. Zero the bezel, swim one direction on the reef until half a tank is empty, note the elapsed time, zero the bezel again and return the way you came for roughly the same amount of time."
Heaton was impressed with both Eterna’s diving timepieces, “I wore the Super KonTiki Chronograph, either the blue or black, on all dives, and Marìa Clara Aboleda wore the Eterna Lady KonTiki Diver. The watches performed very well in all conditions, proving legible and accurate, with secure straps and highly functional timing bezels.”
