Black is timeless and while that’s somewhat ironic when it comes to timekeepers, black has nonetheless found a popular niche in the stealthy, military-flavoured sectors of watch collecting. There’s nothing that says spec ops quite like a fully blacked out steel case, designed to blend into the night without reflecting any light. But even among us lowly civilians, there’s just something innately cool about the bold, all-black look.
I’m not talking about ceramic here, of course, that’s a whole different ball game and one that’s generally more rarefied and high-end. Instead, we’re talking DLC, or diamond like carbon and PVD, physical vapour deposition. There is a slight difference between the two. PVD is generally more a coloured coating, while DLC is a harder, extra layer of protection. But as they often amount to the same thing – a blacked-out steel case – we’ll be lumping them together here.
So, from uber-accessible price tags that’ll keep your quartermaster happy to prestige models done dirty (dozen), here are the best stealthy DLC and PVD watches around.
Boldr Field Medic Stealth
Lightweight, accessible field watches are Boldr’s bread and butter, and the pulsometer-equipped Field Medic is my favourite of a good bunch of watches. The Stealth edition lives up to its name with a more militaristic, all-black look. It still has that requisite scale in low-light appropriate lume, making this the perfect watch for a medical professional on a nighttime call-out, backed up by quartz reliability. Or just someone that fancies a seriously cool watch without breaking the bank.
Case/dial: 38mm diameter titanium case with black PVD plating, black dial
Water resistance: 200m (20 bar)
Movement: Seiko VK64 mecha-quartz movement
Strap: Nylon NATO with titanium buckle
Price: £216
ProTek Model PT3002
Ball isn’t the only brand playing around with ultra-bright radioactive gas; ProTek are also using H3 gas tubes and on an even more accessible level. The 300 Series takes the practical look of an old-school field watch in light weight titanium, blacks it out for that spec ops military style and then ensures that stealth isn’t really an option with those incredibly bright indexes, variously coloured for easy reading at a glance. Paired with a quartz movement and 100m water resistance, it’s a cool go anywhere, go anything beater.
Case/dial: 40mm diameter titanium case with PVD plating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Miyota Super 2035 Quartz movement
Strap: Italian leather with titanium buckle
Price: $550 (approx. £435)
Seiko Prospex Solar Diver SNE599
While Seiko’s prices might have been creeping higher across the board, their solar quartz pieces are still thankfully in the realms of affordability that we know and love the brand for. That’s even better now that the Prospex Solar Divers have been revamped with a goldilocks sized, more wearable 41mm case. In this version, that case is blacked out across bezel, case and strap, offering a reliable, always charged take on Seiko’s underwater speciality. It’s the dive watch that will just keep on going.
Case/dial: 41mm diameter x 11.3mm thickness stainless steel case, black dial
Water resistance: 200m (20 bar)
Movement: Seiko calibre V157, solar quartz
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet
Price: £530
Bernhardt Tempest
The latest twist on Bernhardt’s novel, day-night indicating Horizon combines a lightweight titanium case in black PVD with a forged carbon dial for a dark and stormy look worthy of its name. Or a rum cocktail, your choice. The organic grain of the forged carbon dial, the lightning yellow highlights; it’s cool, full of personality and an aesthetic cut above your usual, utilitarian field watch, with no two dials ever being exactly the same.
Case/dial: 39mm diameter x 11.4mm thickness titanium case with PVD coating, forged carbon dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Miyota calibre 9132, automatic, modified, 26 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 40h power reserve
Strap: Suede and additional silicone rally strap
Price: £677
WRYST SX210 Chrono
Wryst’s SX210 doesn’t restrict itself to DLC or PVD, instead using both across the bold design of its horizontal tonneau case. The main body of the large 50mm case is black DLC with a vertically brushed finish while the crown, chronograph pusher and several details of the dial are presented in gunmetal grey. The dial itself is dynamic and sporty with a vertically arranged tricompax chronograph layout balanced on the other side by Wryst’s logo and the date window. It’s presented on an equally bold black leather strap.
Case/dial: 50mm diameter stainless steel case with DLC coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Quartz
Strap: Grey strap with additional soft grey and camel
Price: £695, limited to 75 pieces
Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic 80
Perhaps a professional diver isn’t the most sensible watch to completely coat in stealthy black, but between its generous proportions (it’s satisfyingly chunky despite its 40mm diameter) and lume, the latest version of Tissot’s accessible Seastar ticks all the underwater boxes. The graded grey-black dial softens the all-black look while adding some welcome texture, and the Powermatic 80 inside continues to flex one of ETA’s best-performing calibres.
Case/dial: 40mm diameter x 12.48mm thickness stainless steel case with PVD coating, graded grey-black dial
Water resistance: 300m (30 bar)
Movement: Tissot calibre Powermatic 80, automatic, 25 jewels, 21,600 vph (3 Hz) frequency, 80h power reserve
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet with PVD coating
Price: £750
Stowa Flieger Verus Black Forest Lagoon
In a colourway that IWC would be jealous of, Stowa have updated their perennially handsome 40mm Flieger with some high-contrast flashes of pale blue. Only the bare minimum information – the handset, 12 o’clock ‘iron sights’ marker and the date – are in that blue, with other numerals in the same black as the dial. The result is a remarkably clean pilots’ watch that feels about as minimal as something with an onion crown ever can. It’s hard not to love.
Case/dial: 40mm diameter x 10.2mm thickness stainless steel case, black dial
Water resistance: 50m (5 bar)
Movement: Sellita calibre SW200, automatic, 26 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 38h power reserve
Strap: Pilot strap
Price: €1,090 (approx. £915)
Certina DS PH200M Powermatic 80
The train of charming retro divers is still rolling along and with the DS PH200M, Certina are leading from the front. Everything from the rounded, tactile bezel to the crosshair dial ooze vintage tool watch flair, while the blacked-out case and ultra-bright lume keep it firmly rooted in the 21st century. It’s a fine balance of modern performance and retro style at a price that makes it an incredibly tempting alternative to saving up for a Fifty Fathoms.
Case/dial: 42.8mm diameter x 11.9mm thickness, stainless steel case with PVD coating, black dial
Water resistance: 200m (20 bar)
Movement: Certina calibre 80, automatic, 25 jewels, 21,600 vph (3 Hz) frequency, 80h power reserve
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet with PVD coating
Price: £915
Hamilton PSR Black
I love the retrofuturism of the PSR; the revamp of the first digital watch looks and feels like a World’s Fair throwback for the vision of tomorrow, as sleek and sci-fi now as it was back in 1970. While the steel and gold versions hammer home it’s quirkier, retro side, this all-black take – now with a bright blue instead of red display – feels closer to the space-age future its designer had in mind. Is it the coolest quartz watch in the world? That’s an impossible question to answer, but at the very least, the PSR is in the running.
Case/dial: 41mm width x 35mm height stainless steel case with PVD coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Quartz
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet with PVD coating
Price: £980
Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961
This is one of the few, black-cased watches that you could never call stealthy. The PVD treatment to both case and that Milanese bracelet are completely shown up by the funky, multi-coloured decompression timer, whose various sectors are used to make sure you don’t get the bends. It makes Mido’s Ocean Star one of the most fun divers around which, when combined with a solid, Powermatic 80-based movement and a relatively accessible price tag, makes it incredibly tempting, even if your only risk of The Bends is from Radiohead.
Case/dial: 40.5mm diameter x 13.4mm thickness stainless steel case with PVD coating, black dial
Water resistance: 200m (20 bar)
Movement: Mido calibre ETA, automatic
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet with PVD coating
Price: £1,270
Aera M-1 Blackbird
The Dirty Dozen might cover a few different watches, but given it was 12 watchmakers all working to the same brief from the Ministry of Defence, the collection’s become fertile soil for designers looking to put their own spin on classic military style. Given their penchant for minimalist tool watches, that of course means Aera have given it a crack in the M-1 Blackbird. The black and white high contrast look is as eye-catching as it is legible, a no-nonsense utilitarian field watch that’ll remain just as good-looking in 70 years as the original Dirty Dozen does now.
Case/dial: 39mm diameter x 13.14mm thickness stainless steel case with PVD coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Sellita calibre SW216-1, manual winding, 24 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 42h power reserve
Strap: Black leather with additional grey suede
Price: £1,600
Titoni Seascoper
While Titoni’s Seascoper collection as a whole has some colourful additions (including some rainbow/carbon mash-ups that I’m a little obsessed with), the all-black take here is by far the stealthiest. The black DLC case, black ceramic bezel, black dial and even the black rubber strap add up to a night mission diver, but using grey rather than black numerals balances stealth with readability. On top of that it has professional standard diving specs for a tried-and-true explorer of the deep.
Case/dial: 42mm diameter stainless steel case with DLC coating, black dial
Water resistance: 300m (30 bar)
Movement: Sellita calibre SW200-1, automatic, 26 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 38h power reserve
Strap: Rubber
Price: £1,600
Zodiac Compression Diver Malachite
Sure, you could use a full black case for its stealth properties. You could even opt for DLC for the additional strength it lends a case. Or you could pull a Zodiac and use it as a backdrop for a jaw-dropping stone dial. In this specific case, that stone is malachite with its green colour and instantly recognisable striations. And it’s absolutely gorgeous. Finished with a couple of brighter green highlights, ultra-legible indexes and 200m water resistance, you can even wear it as an actual diving watch. I mean, I wouldn’t, but you should feel free.
Case/dial: 40mm diameter stainless steel case with DLC coating, malachite dial
Water resistance: 200m (20 bar)
Movement: Swiss calibre STP1-21, automatic, COSC-certified
Strap: Stainless steel bracelet with DLC coating
Price: $2,295 (approx. £1,780)
Oris Divers Sixty-Five Holstein Edition 2024
Oris’s annual Holstein edition is vastly different every year, ranging from gold, dressy prestige to this, a fully blacked-out zero contrast number. It’s definitely a different look to the usual retro vibes of the Divers Sixty-Five, and falls into the category of uber-stealth, without even the usual high-contrast indexes to make it actually readable. In fact, given the hands and indexes are lumed, it’s much easier to read this particular watch at night. It’s also seriously cool and equipped with Oris’s superb Calibre 400 movement.
Case/dial: 40mm diameter stainless steel case with DLC coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Oris calibre 400, automatic, 21 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 120h power reserve
Strap: Rubber
Price: £3,450
Bremont MBIII Armoured
When Bremont re-branded earlier in the year quite a few toys were thrown out of quite a few prams with the idea that the British brand were ditching their pilots’ pieces in favour of the new Terra Nova. Well, thankfully that’s not been (entirely) the case, with the new MBIII proving a worthy successor to their seminal ejector seat-inspired pilots’ watch. The MBIII Armoured combines a black DLC case with a closed caseback hiding a Faraday case for magnetic resistance perfect for an aviator. It’s as good as any Bremont prior and something I hope to see a bit more of. Otherwise, I’ll start missing that old logo.
Case/dial: 43mm diameter x 14.5mm thickness stainless steel case with DLC coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Bremont calibre BE-93-2AV, automatic, 25 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 50h power reserve
Strap: Rubber
Price: £4,750, limited to 100 pieces
Cartier Santos de Cartier
You don’t often associate Cartier with military touches, despite having a watch literally called the Tank. But here we are, and this stealthy version of the Santos de Cartier takes that riveted blueprint of the first pilots’ watch and emphasises its bold shape with an equally bold ADLC coating. It still has those classical Roman numerals in high-contrast white against the black dial, for a watch that brings some Parisian class to a type of watch that usually errs on the side of rugged.
Case/dial: 47.5mm height x 39.8mm width stainless steel case with DLC coating, black dial
Water resistance: 100m (10 bar)
Movement: Cartier calibre 1847 MC, automatic, 23 jewels, 28,800 vph (4 Hz) frequency, 40h power reserve
Strap: Rubber with additional black alligator
Price: £7,950
Oracle Time