Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade Review

German watchmaker Hanhart has always been a brand that I've been a big fan of. While Hanhart is probably best known for their history in precision timing and stopwatches, the brand has also produced some extremely important pilot's watches. With pilot's watches being one of my favorite types of watches, I've always been very familiar with Hanhart. Up until recently I hadn't spent much hands on time with watches from the brand though. That did change recently when I was sent their Red X Blue and Grey pilot's watches to review. I left that review extremely impressed by the pair of watches which served as a great physical introduction to Hanhart.

Today I have another watch from Hanhart in front of me to review and this time it's a watch that isn't typical for the brand but is my favorite type of watch, the dive watch. Before we get into that watch, let's first go over the history of Hanhart.



Known for being a German brand, Hanhart was actually founded in Diessenhofen, Switzerland in 1882 by Johann Adolf Hanhart. The beginnings of Hanhart were rather humble with the brand originally being just a small watch shop. Twenty years after the founding of Hanhart, the brand relocated to Schwenningen, Germany in 1902. The area at the time was a true hub of German watchmaking and really served as the starting point of the Hanhart we known today.

The first true milestone in Hanhart's history came in 1924 when Wilhelm Hanhart, the son of the founder, introduced the first truly affordable mechanical stopwatch to the world. Up until this point, stopwatches were prohibitively expensive and mostly of Swiss origin. This release from Hanhart allowed access to these devices to a much larger audience and firmly cemented the brand as a leader in the stopwatch market.

By the 1930s Hanhart had expanded its offerings to include wristwatches and had opened a second factory in Gutenbach, Germany in 1934. This factory now serves as the current headquarters for the brand. In 1938 Hanhart developed their single pusher Calibre 40 which has become a sought after collector's piece. The Calibre 40 was followed up by the legendary Calibre 41 and TachyTele pilot's chronographs in 1939. Hanhart watches then would go on to be extensively used by pilots during World War II.



Following the Second World War, the factory in Gutenbach was rebuilt and production of watches once again started after a temporary pause. Hanhart would once again be affiliated with military timepieces by supplying the French and re-established German armed forces with timepieces. In the following decades Hanhart would re-establish themselves as leaders in precision timing with their stopwatches timing various sporting events and motor races.

While the 1970s were extremely tough on most makers of mechanical watches due to cheap Japanese quartz watches becoming dominant, Hanhart was able to adapt and develop their own quartz movement. The quartz Calibre 3305 was extremely successful for Hanhart and they ended up selling millions of units. By the 1990s interest in mechanical watches was once again starting to take hold. Hanhart was then quick to put out modern versions of the classic 1939 pilot's chronographs which were received well.

After the success of the Fliegerchronograph, Hanhart continued to develop their heritage mechanical offerings in the 2000s. Models like the Primus, M39 and "OPUS41" reaffirmed the brands commitment to further innovate mechanical watches while still honoring their past. Today Hanhart is lead by Felix Wallner and Simon Hall who took over the company in 2014. Along with reviving classic models like the 417 ES, Felix and Simon are looking at evolving and expanding Hanhart in the coming years.



Initial Thoughts

One major part of that expansion comes in the form of the watch we'll be looking at today. While Hanhart timepieces have been dominant in the air and on land, they have never ventured into the depths. In 2024 Hanhart would release their first dive watch in the AQUASPHERE collection. These robust divers offered a full 300 meters of water resistance with a helium relief valve crucial for saturation diving. They recently followed up the initial release of the AQUASPHERE with the Ocean Fade variant, which added a stunning blue to black gradient dial to the watch. This new AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade is what we are taking a closer look at today.

When the AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade arrived, the first thing I took note off was the combination of the brilliant gradient dial and matte black ceramic bezel insert. I've seen a few other blue to black gradient dials on divers before, but for some reason they never did much for me and seemed a bit gimmicky. The gradient done on the Ocean Fade is extremely subtle and in some lighting can even look black. Hanhart just executed this so well on the Ocean Fade and it struck a chord with me. The matte black ceramic bezel just fits the aesthetic of the watch perfectly as well. The dial and bezel come together as one truly cohesive unit.



The next thing I noticed about the AQUASPHERE during my initial time with the watch was its profile when looking at where the case transitions to the lugs. Instead of just being flat, Hanhart decided to partially hollow out the lugs. This gives the watch a more technical and masculine appearance. Also at 10 o'clock the helium relief valve is nicely masked by this indentation. It's a small detail, but really helps the watch have its own identity.

Finally the last thing I took note of during my first time with the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade was the case back. Hanhart could have easily put a display case back or some generic solid caseback design here, but instead went with something a bit more fun. On the back of the AQUASPHERE is an engraving depicting the seafloor with various coral and sea plants as well as fish swimming around with bubbles rising up. It shows a bit of playfulness from a very serious watch. It reminds me of my IWC GST Aquatimer which is a 2,000 meter diver that has a somewhat cartoonish submarine engraved on the case back. It's a fun touch which I love to see.



One bonus design feature I noticed and thought was clever during my initial viewing of the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade was the use of red in various places on the watch. Hanhart has a close tie to red since they painted the lower pusher on their pilot's chronographs red to alert pilots not to inadvertently reset their watches. Romantic legend even has a pilot's significant other painting this pusher with her nail polish to be a reminder of her. Either way, the color is tied to the brand. Hanhart outlines their bezel pointer in red, as well as tips their seconds hand and clasp in the color. It's really one of those if you know you know touches that I appreciate.

Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone over the history of Hanhart as well as my first impressions of the AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade let's now take a look at the technical specifications of the watch. The AQUASPHERE is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 42 mm and a lug to lug length of 49.2 mm. On our scale the watch weighs in at 128 grams on the rubber strap and stainless steel deployant clasp. At its thickest point the AQUASPHERE is 12.6 mm tall.



The AQUASPHERE has a flush domed sapphire crystal that has anti-reflective coating applied to the bottom of the sapphire. This is advantageous since anti-reflective coating is easy to scratch and having it on the exposed part of the crystal would result in scratches, especially during dives when the watch gets knocked about.

Underneath the crystal clear sapphire crystal is the gradient blue dial. At 12 o'clock the dial starts as deep blue and as the dial goes towards 6 o'clock the blue fades to black. This is meant to mimic what a diver would see as they dive deeper into the depths of the ocean. Like I said earlier the execution of this dial is done exceptional well and doesn't come off as a slapped on gimmick to force a tie to diving.

Around the outside of the dial is a silver ring that has the minutes printed on it. Each minute is represented by a black hash mark with every 5 minute interval getting an Arabic numeral printed in silver. Moving inward are large applied hour markers which have a polished bezel. Bar markers are used for every hour except 12 which gets a large Arabic numeral. The hour markers are filled with Super-LumiNova C1 GL X2 which appears white in normal lighting and glows a bright green in low light situations.



There are three centrally mounted hands on the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade being the hour, minute and second hands. The hour and minute hands are large sword shaped hands that are skeletonized at their based and feature matching lume covering the majority of polished hands. The seconds hand is tipped with a skeletonized arrow and also has matching lume along with being outlined in red.

At 12 o'clock you have the Hanhart branding and at 6 o'clock there is AQUASPHERE, Automatic and 30ATM. Found just below is "Made In Germany" where you would typically see "Swiss Made" on Swiss made counterparts.

Moving on from the dial is the uni-directional 60 click bezel fitted with a matte black ceramic insert. The bezel has a very nice and easy to turn action with a rewarding click. I've always felt 60 clicks was more than enough for a bezel since I don't see the point of 120 click bezels lining up between minute markers on half of the clicks. I understand some people might like the feel of having twice as many clicks, but it makes no difference in practicality. The bezel has each minute from 0 to 15 marked with hash marks with 5, 10 and 15 getting longer marks. Each ten minute interval from 20 to 50 features a military styled font Arabic numeral matching the 12 hour marker on the dial. Each five minute interval in between gets a longer hash mark. At 0/60 there is the bezel pointer triangle outlined in red. All bezel markers are filled with matching lume to the dial elements as well. The bezel is scalloped nicely and offers excellent grip which should make operating the bezel with dive gloves more than doable. The 60 minute area of the bezel is also painted red.



If you look at the case of the Hanhart AQUASPHERE you can see that most of the case is satin in finish denoting its true tool watch nature. There is some polishing around the crown guards and bezel which does give the watch a bit of a luxurious touch. Looking at the profile of the watch you can see that where the lugs start the case is partially hollowed out giving it some depth and visual interest. On the upper side of the right of the case at 10 o'clock is the flush automatic helium relief valve which is polished. The lugs also turn down sharply helping the watch fit a larger variety of wrist sizes.

On the left hand side of the case is the large screwed down crown that is also nicely scalloped. On top of the crown is a polished Hanhart logo. The crown guards on either side of the crown come up about half way. Once the crown is un-screwed you can manually wind the automatic movement. Since there are no calendar functions on the AQUASPHERE there is only one additional crown position. Pulling the crown out to the only position stops the seconds hand and allows you to set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and screwing the crown back in requires no additional care to get it to catch. The screw down crown aids in the 300 meters of water resistance the watch boasts.

Flipping the watch over shows off the screwed down solid case back with the underwater scene I mentioned earlier. Important information about the watch is engraved on the thin bezel around the case back. The image engraved into the caseback shows the ocean floor dotted with various coral and sea plants with fish swimming around and bubbles rising to the surface.



Underneath the caseback beats the Swiss made Soprod SOP P024 automatic movement. The SOP P024 beats away at 28,800 vph (4 Hz) and has a power reserve of 38 hours. 38 hours is more than enough for a watch that is worn daily, but if you go days between wears you will need to set the watch the next time you pick it up. For me I normally space my wears more than a week apart, so this is no issue for me since I constantly have to wind and set my watches, even those with 5 or 7 day power reserves. I was very interested to test the SOP P024 on our timegrapher since we've never had a watch with a Soprod movement in before. On our timegrapher the SOP P024 showed an accuracy of -3 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. This is extremely accurate and within chronometer standards, similar to what we've seen from similar movements from Sellita.

The Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade has a lug width of 20 mm and with that being the most common lug width can accept endless amounts of aftermarket straps. Hanhart does offer the watch on a stainless steel bracelet, but I can't stand bracelets on watches so I asked them to send the watch on the rubber strap. The rubber strap tapers down from 20 mm at the lugs to 17.5 mm at the stainless steel Hanhart branded deployant clasp. The rubber strap is branded with Hanhart lettering and is double ribbed. The rubber is extremely supple and couldn't be more comfortable while still keeping the case from feeling top heavy. The middle of the clasp is also painted red paying homage to the brand and matching the other red elements on the watch. Both pushers are required to release the clasp which attaches to the strap with two pins providing extra security that the strap will remain on the clasp. Finally there is a nice Hanhart plaque found underneath the clasp that can only be seen when the clasp is open saying "Hanhart Pioneer's Timing 1882".



On The Wrist

In general I tend to sway towards watches that are crafted out of lighter weight high tech materials like titanium, carbon and ceramic in my personal collection as well as lug to lug lengths greater than 50 mm. The Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade is neither of those things, it's made out of stainless steel and falls just short of my preferred lug to lug length at 49.2 mm. That being said, the watch just wears superbly on my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area.

There is a bit of weight penalty with the watch being done in stainless steel with the total weight on strap being 128 grams, maybe with titanium you'd be looking at closer to 100 grams. I know Hanhart is working with titanium, so maybe one day a titanium AQAUSPHERE will appear in the collection. Either way, the Ocean Fade is very comfortable on wrist and while not completely disappearing on wrist it never caused any wrist fatigue or became an annoyance. In all honesty the AQUASPHERE is a serious diver and it should be noticed while on wrist.

We've been having mostly 90 and 100 degree weather here in Austin recently and the rubber strap of the AQUASPHERE dealt nicely with the heat. Even being extremely flexible and comfortable, the strap did a great job of keeping the watch centered on my wrist and the case never felt top heavy. I also love that Hanhart decided to go with a deployant clasp on the AQUASPHERE since I've never been a fan of pin buckles due to the increased danger of dropping the watch while putting it on and taking it off. The clasp doesn't dig into the skin like I've noticed with some deployants and once again kepts the strap comfortable for even the longest wearing periods.



I didn't get a chance to take the AQUASPHERE into the water, but maybe I'll get the chance sooner than later. Based on everything I've seen from the watch so far, I'm sure it'll handle pretty much everything I could throw at it. I did subject the watch to my simple legibility test where I see how easy it is to tell the time while driving at just a glance. Typically divers do the best on this test while skeletons and complicated watches do the worst due to legibility being of less important to those types of watches. In no surprise, the Hanhart AQUASPHERE aced my legibility test with flying colors. The deep blue to black gradient of the dial combined with the large hour markers and hands covered with white lume made quick time telling a breeze. The only thing that could have decreased the time it took to decipher the time would have been to use more large Arabic numerals on the dial, but that probably would have messed with the design aesthetic Hanhart was going for. I'm not even sure how much would have been gained by doing that. Also the amount of Super-LumiNova used on the dial makes time telling in the dark as easy as could be with all the important parts of the dial and bezel being illuminated.

The mostly black, steel and deep blue coloration of the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade lent itself well to my typical dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. Personally I feel the blue bezel or blue strap would have been a bit too much blue for my tastes, even though I understand most collectors can't get enough blue. I took the watch along for many boring every day errands and the AQUASPHERE was a great wrist companion. The AQUASPHERE just seems extremely well built and like a solid block of steel, I'm not sure any owners could really put it in a position where the watch would be at danger of failing.



When I wore the AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade out including to dinner and drinks I didn't notice too many people looking at it. I think that is to be expected with it being a satin finished diver with a dark dial on a black rubber strap. This is probably the most reserved spec of the Ocean Fade, with the blue bezel on a stainless steel bracelet being the loudest. Sometimes I love wearing a watch that gets attention from a football field away like a gold Ulysse Nardin Freak, but it's nice having a watch on that goes under the radar as well. The friends I did show the watch to also commented on how well built it felt and just loved the gradient of the dial. With many of my friends being aware of dive and sports watch prices, they were blown away by the price of the AQUASPHERE.

Value and Position in the Market

Since we're talking about price, the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade retails for $1,866. For that price you're getting the first dive watch from a truly storied brand that more than makes up for the time it's been absent from their lineup. Pretty much every aspect of the watch has been well thought out to be a serious dive watch contender. The look of the dial and bezel are extremely handsome in person and unique while not being gimmicky. The touches of red play well into the enduring history of Hanhart as well. 300 meters of water resistance and a solid and accurate movement pretty much cap of a great diver. Now would be a great time to look other dive watches with similar specifications and features to see how the AQUASPHERE fairs value wise.



First up with have fellow German manufacture Sinn with their U50, which is a dive watch made out of submarine steel and has a 41 mm case diameter. The U50 does have more water resistance than the AQUASPHERE at 500 meters, but in reality professional diving starts at only 40 meters and even the most extreme divers hardly venture much past 100 meters. The U50 is also powered by an off the shelf movement in this case being the Sellita SW300-1 with 56 hours of power reserve. On the rubber strap the U50 is decently more expensive than the Hanhart at $3,240.

Next up we have the SUB 300 from DOXA which has a 42.5 x 44.5 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The SUB 300 has a more vintage cushion case design and offers a matching 300 meters of water resistance. The DOXA is powered by an off the shelf movement as well, in this case being the ETA 2824-2 with 38 hours of power reserve. The SUB 300 is also a good deal more expensive than the AQUASPHERE at $2,850.

Moving on we have the two dive watch pioneers, first being the Submariner No Date from Rolex which has a 41 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The Submariner is powered by an in-house movement with 70 hours of power reserve and has a matching 300 meters of water resistance. The Submariner is multiple times more expensive than the AQUASPHERE at $9,500.



Finally we have the other dive watch pioneer in the Fifty Fathoms from Blancpain which has a 45 mm stainless steel case. The Fifty Fathoms like the Submariner is also powered by an in-house movement with 120 hours of power reserve. Like all the other watches except the Sinn, the Fifty Fathoms offers 300 meters of water resistance. Like the Submariner, the Fifty Fathoms is also much more expensive than the AQUASPHERE at $17,900.

Looking at these four watches you really get to see the value of the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade. The AQUASPHERE is by far the least expensive of the five watches and offers very similar if not matching specifications. Hanhart also has a long and storied history to go along with it. I feel Hanhart could have easily priced the AQUASPHERE closer to what DOXA and Sinn are asking for their models and still have been a good value. The Submariner and Fifty Fathoms are included to show what once affordable dive watch pioneers have now morphed into being at the higher end of luxury dive watches. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of them and even own a version of the Fifty Fathoms, but their main benefits are in their movements and model history.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade for me? In all honestly I really think it is. Before the watch arrived, I kind of thought it would just be another stainless steel dive watch with a ceramic bezel and nothing would really stand out. When I actually got the watch in hand I was totally wrong in my initial assessment. Simple design elements like the slightly hollowed out lugs, the excellent looking matte black ceramic bezel, red highlights and nicely executed gradient dial instantly had me hooked. The rubber strap also might be one of the most comfortable rubber straps I have tried on over the last few years. Bonus points for it being attached to a great deployant clasp as well.



Would I have preferred the watch in titanium? Sure, but that's really not an option and with that would also come increased cost. At under $2,000 the AQUASPHERE is an incredible value. I could see some people being a little let down by the power reserve, but I'm guessing somebody will either wear this watch every day or on weekends / trips. In both those cases the power reserve would be more than sufficient. Otherwise Hanhart did a great job on their first outing in developing a dive watch. All the critical features expected from a good dive watch are present in the AQUASPHERE and Hanhart added a few elements that make the watch their own.

During my time with the watch I really enjoyed having it on the wrist and tried to look for an excuse to wear it. In my collecting journey I naturally started with divers and then branched out to other types of watches I thought were better suited to where I was going as a collector. Now having been a collector for well over 20 years I see myself going back to mostly collecting divers. Maybe its having acquired my grails over time, which are not dive watches, that has freed me to focus mostly on divers going forward. There is just something about a clean well executed no nonsense dive watch that gets me every time. The Hanhart AQUASPHERE is a great example of this. It's a pleasure to look at on the wrist and the build quality gives me the impression that it'll far outlast anything I could ever imagine putting it through. Even though the AQUASPHERE doesn't tick every weird box I have for my personal watches, it is definitely a watch I could see as part of my collection.

Would I then recommend the Hanhart AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade to somebody looking for a capable diver from a heritage brand? Based on my time spent with the AQUASPHERE I'd have zero hesitation in recommending it to that type of buyer. As I illustrated earlier in the review the AQUASPHERE matches the specs of watches costing much more while still coming from a brand with great history and looking amazing while doing it. People don't associate Hanhart with dive watches, but the brand has made a strong name for itself in precision timing and pilot's watches and look to have made their intentions very well known with their first dive watch. I think people looking for such a watch should really give the AQUASPHERE a good hard look when trying to decide on their next timepiece.



I'd really like to thank Hanhart for sending us this AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade to review. While the last two watches we had in from the brand re-affirmed how good pilot's watches and chronographs were from Hanhart, the AQUASPHERE has proven to me that they can also be a serious player in the dive watch market. It's nice to see the brand enter the dive watch market and on top of that do it with a diver that seems refreshing. I'd be very interested to see where Hanhart goes next with the AQUASPHERE line after creating such a strong foundation. I've honestly had a blast wearing the AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade over the past few weeks and will miss it when we have to send it back. For more information about the AQUASPHERE Ocean Fade please visit : Hanhart

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 777.271

Retail Price: $1,866

Case Size: 42 mm

Lug to Lug: 49.2 mm

Thickness: 12.6 mm

Weight: 128 grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Uni-Directional 60 Click with Ceramic Insert

Strap: Black Rubber Strap with Stainless Steel Deployant Clasp

Movement: Swiss Made Soprod SOP P024 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 38 Hours

Water Resistance: 300 Meters