Ianos Dytis Brings Ancient Greek Iconography to Modern Dive Watches

If you’ve ever studied the classical world, and I mean classical in its academic sense, then you’ll likely be familiar with the central motif of Ianos’ new Dytis dive watch. It’s a timepiece dedicated to the brand’s Greek ancestry with an Evil Eye small seconds subdial inspired by the warding markings often used in jewellery and on the sides of Ancient Greek ships. Amusingly if you know the modern Greek language you’ll know that that Dytis means Diver, so this is the Diver dive watch.

Fortunately, it lives up to its name with a 300m water resistance rating giving it professional dive watch specs. The case measures 41mm in diameter in lightweight but durable titanium, for great corrosion resistance to protect it from seawater while also making it nice and wearable on dry land. It also has a unidirectional rotating bezel with a single lumed index so you can use it as an immersion timer even without the traditional graduated scale. Instead of that scale it has a cool grained finish that makes it stand out in comparison to alternative titanium dive watches.

Looking to the Ianos Dytis’ dial, at 6 o’clock is that aforementioned Evil Eye small seconds counter, though as it also has no scale it more serves as a running indicator, proving that the watch is still operational deep underwater at a glance. The other aspects of the display such as the lumed hour markers and hands are all oversized with a graphical quality to them that makes the watch easy to read, important for a diver.

There are actually two versions of the dial available. The first in blue with white accents and the other inverted to white with blue accents. At a surface level they’re both interpretations of the modern Greek flag but they also link back to Ancient Greek as well through the blue waters of the Aegean Sea and the white marble of its statues.

Powering the Ianos Dytis is the Sellita SW360-1, an automatic Swiss movement with a 56-hour power reserve. A really solid movement with a good power reserve that just about sneaks into that golden weekend-proof zone where you can put it down Friday evening and it will still be ticking on Monday morning (though cutting the margins extremely fine so I hope you’re a late sleeper and early riser).

Between the Swiss movement and the professional dive watch specs of the case, the price tag of CHF 1,850 (approx. £1,680) offers good value. I can easily picture this watch on the shores of a Greek island, basking in the Mediterranean sun and splashing in the waves. Or down beneath the waves in the ruins of an ancient civilisation – hunting for Atlantis perhaps. Now that would be an odyssey worth embarking on.

More details at Ianos.

​Oracle Time 

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