Scurfa D1-500 Diver One Review
Hats off to Scurfa – great piece!
-@lifewatchinlifedoin
Jason likes to refer to himself as a new watch collector. I am fairly sure that makes me a VERY new watch collector, but one – I hope, who brings fresh eyes to the game. I’m also a new watch collector who really puts value in the utility of a watch. I’m not a desk diver, and no ill feelings to those who are; I’m a diver. Or maybe better put, I’m an ocean enthusiast. I’m a jack of all trades, master of none in the areas of fishing, scuba diving, free diving, spearfishing, surfing, paddle boarding, boating, sailing, and more. The ocean is my happy place. With this in mind, while searching for my first real watch, I gravitated toward divers. When it came time to purchase my second piece, I stuck with what I’m rapidly falling in love with – dive watches.
If you listen to the watchrolling.com podcast, you may know that Jason developed a tiered system for thinking of grail pieces. In summary, rather than having one singular grail piece such as an Explorer II or beyond, he advocates having multiple grail pieces in tiered price ranges. The recommended tiers are: Tier 1 - $0-$500, Tier 2 - $501-$1000, Tier 3 - $1001-$2000, Tier 4 - $2001 - $5000, Tier 5 - $5001 and up.
As a brand new collector with a one-watch collection, I found the idea of a grail piece fun but also a little intimidating. I’m a middle-class guy with a big family and a lot of bills, so how in the heck am I ever going to afford or justify a $15,000 timepiece? It can feel unapproachable. But Jason’s tiered grail system on the other hand makes the whole idea of a grail piece available to someone at my stage in life, so I endeavored to identify and acquire a grail piece in each tier with no particular timetable for acquisition.
I suppose one could start in any order, but I decided to begin my grail quest with a Tier 1 piece. The criteria I set for this first grail piece were simple but well-defined.
• It needed to be a true dive watch and a quality one at that.
• It needed a pop of color.
• It needed some legitimacy behind it.
• The brand needed some sort of history – not necessarily super long, but some sort of establishment rather than a popup micro brand.
I also decided that I would fund it with side hustles rather than pulling from my family’s budget.
The sub-$500 watch market is certainly not lacking quality options. In my research, I found plenty of good possibilities from micro, medium, and mega brands alike. There are some obvious front runners from well-known brands; Seiko and Citizen come to mind. But I have always been a bit of a contrarian, always ran a little bit away from the mainstream, and so while those brands are excellent options, they weren’t quite what I was looking for. Thus, my Tier 1 search led me in the direction of a lesser-known but still quality timepiece.
I first encountered Scurfa through an Instagram post of a Diver One D1-500 on a #scurfasunday. I was immediately taken with the look of the Diver One and made a mental note to look further into Scurfa.
The first thing I checked was the price point, and at £195, it certainly fit nicely in the Tier 1 price bracket.
Upon viewing photos of the watch, I was immediately taken with both the dial and the hands.
The dial, with a variety of matt colorways, is elegantly simple and legible. The hands are bold in size with a gloss outline and the minute hand goes the distance (hurrah!). These feature combine to yield a watch face that I can read with a quick glance. And that quick glance is extremely important to me as it allows me to stay in the moment while drift diving a reef or waiting on my board for the next set of waves. While I’ve not done a lot of night diving recently, I also appreciated the fact that the Diver One has Grade A Super Luminova BGW9 with a bright blue glow – allowing it to maintain the readability well into the night.
The Ronda 715SM gold plated 5 jewel Swiss made movement seemed a respectable driver for a watch at this price point. I was quickly becoming hooked as I saw that my first and second criteria were met. But what of the legitimacy and established history of the Scurfa brand overall?
In my research, I was looking for a brand with a legitimate utilitarian behind it. In other words, I didn’t want to buy a dive watch from a company that doesn’t get in the ocean. Scurfa does not disappoint in this area. The founder and owner, Paul Scurfield, founded the company in 2013. He is a legitimate diver – one whose knowledge, skills, and experience in the ocean clearly far exceed my own. As a commercial diver in the UK, he and his friends have no doubt logged countless hours doing highly technical and dangerous work. A man like him needs a watch that is up to the task. In fact, he has tested his own watch doing saturation diving in the North Sea! Criteria 3 and 4 were definitely met, and I decided to pursue this watch as my first grail.
With my Tier 1 grail piece identified, I set about hustling my way into the $275 I would need to purchase and ship the watch. I was able to quickly accumulate money by selling things I already had but wasn’t using. A spare bottle of Sriracha brought me $5 from a desperate friend with a hot sauce addiction. An unopened King size box spring sold for $75. I sold an old iPhone for $95. Lastly, an unexpected gift from a generous relative brought the final $100 that I needed. I immediately deposited all of the money and ordered a Scurfa Diver One D1-500 with a yellow dial.
Shipping was fast from the UK, and I excitedly opened the package once it arrived. I beheld my grail piece and admired it for a moment before setting the time and date and putting it on. Also in the box was a handwritten warranty card – a great touch. I immediately noticed that the 40mm case sat nicely on my wrist, and the 20mm black rubber strap held it in place. With the new watch on, I set about the daily farm chores of goats, chickens, and garden.
While sweating in the heat of the day the watch stayed set firmly on my wrist although the black strap did hold some heat and I made a mental note to switch to a tropic strap at some point in the near future.
The next day I loaded the family up at 6am and we headed to the beach to beat the crowds. With all the kids in tow I brought the paddleboard and we set about playing in the surf. While catching some waves and taking my kids out on the board to meet some dolphins I kept looking down at my Diver One. It performed flawlessly for me in the ocean and the bright yellow dial was a fun way to accentuate the summer mood we were all in. I even managed to get a short video of the watch while riding a wave!
After two months of Scurfa ownership, I can report that I am happier than ever with the piece. I’ve traded the rubber strap and alternated between a NATO and a tropic, both in navy blue. I’ll put the rubber strap back on once the weather cools down and certainly also on the next time I go for a dive. I’m continuing to acquaint myself with this watch and I will absolutely write a follow-up on this review in a few months’ time.
“T purchased the Scurfa with his own money and decided to write a review. Scurfa did not have any say in the review, and I maintained complete editorial control.”
