Venezianico Nereide Corallo Brings a Coral Mosaic to Their Venetian Diver

One of the fun aspects of microbrand and independent designs are the interesting niches they are able to explore. From firefighting with William Wood to the historical artwork, buildings and culture of Venice with Venezianico. Of course, one of the most significant features of Venetian life is their relationship with the Mediterranean Sea that surrounds them, a theme Venezianico have returned to multiple times. Their latest aquatic creation is the Venezianico Nereide Corallo, their first watch featuring a natural coral dial.

Coral, aside from being intrinsically linked to seas and oceans, has a special place in the history of Venice. In the late Renaissance period Giambattista Tiepolo painted a famous fresco called Neptune Offering Gifts to Venice, showing the Roman god of the sea gifting coral to the city. The material was used in jewellery and decoration due to its rich colour and hard properties when exposed to air. Those properties that made it popular centuries ago are just as relevant today, as evidenced by the dial of the Nereide Corallo.

It’s specifically made from a mosaic of red Madrepora coral, produced by assembling fragments of the natural material into a block that’s then cut with a waterjet into the thin disks for each dial. Due to the organic shapes of the coral, no two dials are identical, adding a sense of individuality and rarity to each piece. At a glance it makes from a swirling reddish-orange dial but up close you can really appreciate the intricate textures and mosaic-like structure of the display. It’s really captivating.

The layout of the display is otherwise the same as the rest of the Nereide collection with a peripheral minute scale and oversize hour markers coated with lume. There’s also a date window at 3 o’clock so you can suddenly remember you’ve missed your dentist appointment while you’re 200m underwater. Or if you remember you have a dentist appointment before you get into the water, you can use the tungsten dive timer bezel to calculate your immersion time so you know when to get out (or more conventionally know when your oxygen tank will be depleted, which is slightly more important than missing an appointment).

At 42mm in steel its comfortably within the traditional bounds of dive watch proportions. Protected by the case is the Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement with Côtes de Genève finishing. It’s the signature entry-level Swiss mechanical movement, making the watch nice and accessible. It has a regular price of €1,295 on rubber strap and a pre-order price of €1,035 (approx. £887/£1,110).

Pre-orders for the Venezianico Nereide Corallo open on 28^th April at 2pm BST. You can also come and meet the Venezianico team and get hands-on with some of their creations at Hands On Horology in London on 14^th June, tickets available now.

More details at Venezianico.

​Oracle Time 

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