Diving Deep with the Hammerhead 3

The Hammerhead 3 with its box and warranty card

Introduction

One day, Hodinkee’s Talking Watches video with John Mayer popped up in my ‘Up Next’ queue on YouTube. I had always been a fan of watches, collecting various Casios throughout college, but that video started my interest into more ‘serious’ watches.

I was fascinated by a watch that appears halfway through the video, a gold Daytona with a green dial.

John Mayer’s gold Daytona

For some reason the green dial stuck with me even after I found out about the Daytona’s whopping $70k price tag.

I stopped thinking about watches for awhile until the constant charging neediness of my Apple watch brought me back to wearing my standby Casio again and I began thinking about getting a ‘real’ watch with an automatic movement.

Given my less than baller resources, acquiring a piece like a Rolex or an Omega was out of the question. Internet searching led me to Seiko, which I was vaguely familiar with and searching from there led me to Zelos watches.

Their limited releases and striking design caught my interest immediately and I saw that their new model, the Hammerhead 3, would be releasing shortly and priced affordably at $349 as an introductory special for the new model.

As soon as I saw the green Hammerhead, I knew I had found my next watch and it was graciously given to me by my wife as an early anniversary present.

Unboxing

I received the watch about three weeks after I placed the order. It came in plastic packaging surrounding a cardboard outsert bearing the Zelos ‘Z’. After removing the outsert, I was pleased to find a cigar box similarly engraved with the ‘Z’.

Zelos provides a nice four watch travel case with the Hammerhead

Inside the box was the included leather travel case and therein was the watch and brass warranty card.

Initial Impressions

The Hammerhead 3 is hefty and its weight is a nice change from the lightness of my Casios. I was immediately struck by the chunkiness present in every aspect of the watch. From the fat hour and minute hands to the absolutely gear-like dive bezel, the angularity of the watch feels like the clean planes left from splitting marble.

Having never had a mechanical watch before, I found the hacking features of the Seiko NH35 movement used by the watch to be useful in setting the time more precisely.

The brutalist case conceals a myriad of embellishements such as the engraved and lumed ‘Z’ adorning the crown

The unidirectional bezel rotates with a satisfying click and, not being a diver myself, I found it more than adequate for keeping an eye on how long the chicken had been on the grill. Every number and hashmark on the bezel is fully lumed and so with its also heavily lumed dial, it lights up brilliantly when exposed to sunlight. I often find myself surprised by the lime green glow emanating off my wrist when coming inside.

Final Thoughts

My dad often wore stainless diver-type watches when I was a kid and so divers have always had to me a sort of adult-ness about them. I don’t know why I waited this long to get a dive watch, but it probably has to do with the fact that for the first time I’m starting to feel like an adult: I’m married, I own a car I’m not ashamed of and I’m no longer ‘entry-level’ in my career.

Beyond more sentimental musings, I find myself most enjoying the things you don’t see when wearing the watch. I’ve had the opportunity to show the excellent caseback to people and they are always impressed by the artistry – even if they don’t know what it is. The scene has thus far been mistaken for mountains, forests and an abstract design.

The caseback has an underwater scene depicting two of the watch’s namesake beast

The scene is clear to me, but obviously I was aware of it before I bought the watch. I could see how it may be more abstract if looked at from an off angle.

My favorite ‘feature’ of the watch has to be the quick adjust bracelet. Albuquerque is already getting quite warm and some days our swamp cooler doesn’t work that well, so being able to quickly lengthen the bracelet to give my sweaty wrist some relief has been much appreciated.

I found myself using the quick adjust frequently as the temperature and my mood changed

All in all, the Hammerhead 3 is a great watch and so if you’re looking for an affordable well-made diver, you would do well to pick one up. Since Zelos’ watches are limited run, once this batch of Hammerheads are gone, they’re gone forever.

Watch Info

The Hammerhead 3 is available (if they haven’t sold out) starting at $449 (no more introductory price) directly from Zelos.