Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000 Review

As it turns out this is the one hundredth review we have done on Hourstriker. To mark the moment we have chosen to not review a press sample supplied from a brand, but rather one of our personal watches. Even more so a watch that was finally completely last weekend. The watch in question is the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000.

Titanium IWCs and Porsche have been a part of my life for decades. Even though I've always wanted a 911 Turbo or GT car for as long as I can remember, I've never got around to getting one. I got really close in 2010 when it was down to either a pre-owned 911 GT3 or BMW M6. The ten or so thousand less the M6 cost ended up with me going that route. Not only did I never connect with the M6, but soon after prices of 911 GT3s went astronomic and instead of having a car that I loved and also dramatically increased in value, I had a car I sold after a year and took a financial hit on. Porsche is still always on the back of my mind and I'm sure I'll have one someday, but that's not what we're here to talk about.



After starting my watch collecting journey with back to back Omega Seamasters, for my third watch I ended up going with an IWC GST Chronograph Automatic in titanium. I had a friend at the time that had a stainless steel Portuguese Automatic as well as a titanium GST Aquatimer 2000, so he really got me interested in IWC. I didn't have the watch budget he did being a college student, but I was able to get the GST Chronograph at a great price.

I really enjoyed the GST Chronograph but ended up selling it when I built a watch resale site and had access to nearly unlimited pre-owned stock and really didn't need a personal watch. It would be many years until I had another titanium IWC in my collection and that came in the form of a Big Pilot Heritage that I actually wore for the birth of our twin daughters. That watch would later go on to be part of a trade for the Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar that I have today.

The next titanium IWC I ended up adding to my collection was the same GST Aquatimer 2000 my friend in college had two and a half decades ago. The GST Aquatimer 2000 is still in my opinion the best all around diver ever designed. The watch originally came on an integrated titanium bracelet that while amazing I wasn't a fan of since I hate bracelets on watches. Initially I read that the rubber strap from the next generation Aquatimer would fit the GST Aquatimer 2000, so I ordered one of those. While the rubber strap was better than the titanium bracelet, the watch now wore a little small for my tastes and I just couldn’t get the sizing of the watch right on my wrist.



The ah ha moment came when I then discovered there was also a Velcro strap made for the GST Aquatimer 2000. After the watch went on to the Velcro strap it was like the watch totally transformed. The GST Aquatimer 2000 was now by far the most comfortable watch I owned and soon became my go to choice for daily wear. Once I fell fully in love with the GST Aquatimer 2000 I started to see another watch start to come up over and over again. This watch was the precursor to the Marcus Eilinger designed GST Aquatimer 2000, the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000.

History

Now I won't bore you with the full story of the collaboration between Porsche Design and IWC as well as the creation of the Ocean 2000. That will come another day in an extremely detailed article I'm working on about that exact topic, but I will go into some more broad detail about the collaboration and the development of the Ocean 2000.

Porsche Design was started by the designer of the iconic Porsche 911 Ferdinand A. "Butzi" Porsche in 1972. Ferdinand along with other family members were removed as managers at Porsche after increased infighting. This led to a decree with stipulated that no member of the Porsche or Piech family would hold management positions at the company. For Ferdinand, design wasn't just a role he occupied at the family business, but rather his lifelong passion.



Taking this love of design along with his celebrated last name, Ferdinand went on to form Porsche Design that would focus on non car related items that would still appeal to Porsche buyers. The brands first product ended up being a watch, the historically important Chronograph 1. Oddly enough the Chronograph 1 was not developed by IWC, but instead Orfina.

By the late 1970s Porsche Design was growing restless and wanting to expand the technical abilities of their watch line. One central aspect of this vision was the desire to craft their new watches out titanium which at the time was new and truly innovative. Titanium also was notoriously hard to work with and finish and was even known for causing fires at factories. Porsche Design knew that while Orfina was a great watch assembler, they just did not have the technical ability to create titanium watches.

One watch manufacture that did have the engineering expertise to perfect titanium in watchmaking was fellow German speaking Swiss watch brand IWC. While IWC had not produced titanium pieces prior to their collaboration with Porsche Design, they had the manufacturing facilities to achieve the goal and were willing to heavily invest in the research and development needed to reach the finish line.



The collaboration was officially started in 1978 and in 1980 the first watch between Porsche Design and IWC was released in the Titan Chronograph. While there had been some extremely rare prototype watches made out of titanium prior to the release of the Titan Chronograph, none of them ever reached commercial production. Prior to the Titan Chronograph Porsche Design and IWC had also released the aluminum cased Compass Watch which was able to house a compass and mechanical movement inside of the same watch and have neither influence the others accuracy.

After the release of the Titan Chronograph Porsche Design and IWC then focused their design and engineering expertise on the depths. Ferdinand came up with a design of a dive watch that looked truly organic with a flowing round shape that seamless blended into the bracelet. IWC was able to take this masterpiece of a design and blow away the water resistance record of the time by producing a watch that was able to withstand a depth of 2,000 meters. Even today a watch with 2,000 meters of water resistance would be extremely thick and heavy, but IWC was able to keep the watch very thin and the use of titanium made it lightweight.

Making the story even more interesting was that during the development cycle of the Ocean 2000, the German military (Bundeswehr) approached IWC with the desire to produce a state of the art dive watch for their combat swimmers and mine sweepers. Instead of IWC re-inventing the wheel they just took the Ocean 2000 already in development and adjusted it to the needs of the military. Some changes seen on the "Bund" version of the Ocean 2000 included a flat sapphire to reduce reflections as well as increased anti-magnetic properties.



In 1982 the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000 was launched and the watch would be sold all the way until the end of the partnership which happened in 1998. The Ocean 2000 was not an in-expensive watch and retailed for significantly more than a Rolex Submariner at the time. Do remember that the watch was also crafted out of a truly innovative material and had record breaking specifications.

Acquisition

When I decided that I wanted to add an Ocean 2000 to my collection I had zero idea of the journey I was signing myself up for. While we do have rarer watches in our collection, they had always been somewhat easy to find. Normally taking a few weeks at the most to find a good example. Oh how that wasn't the case for the Ocean 2000.

During the sixteen year run of the Ocean 2000 there were four variants produced not including Bund models. The first two variants of the watch had bracelets that were held together by an exotic spring loaded pin system that was notorious for failing. The third and forth generations moved on to a system that used a solid pin to hold the links together and were viewed as far superior. Even then there is a slight difference in the spacing between the links in third and forth generations.



Being that I had no desire to wear the Ocean 2000 on a bracelet, acquiring the links that allowed the Velcro strap to be fitted to the Ocean 2000 was a necessity to me. This started a many month email chain between myself and Joseph at the New York IWC boutique trying to figure out which watches and parts would work for me to reach the end goal of getting an Ocean 2000 on a Velcro strap.

As I also started to learn by diving deep into the rabbit hole head first is that even if you have the reference number and serial number of an Ocean 2000, you don't actually know what variant of the case the watch is housed in. IWC was known to update cases of older Ocean 2000s when they came in for service to have the newer and more reliable bracelets installed, so this added another level of complexity to the mix, to the point of Joseph saying it would take their in-house watchmaker looking at the watch in hand to determine of the strap adapter links would fit.

So now I had my sights set on a generation three or four Ocean 2000 which could really only be told by looking at the bracelets to see if they were using the solid pin system. Crazy enough there was a dry spell of over six months when there wasn't a single Ocean 2000 for sale in the US. Even in Europe there was a drought, the only place that seemed to have any Ocean 2000s was Japan. For a while I thought the only way I was going to be able to get an Ocean 2000 would have been to get one off of eBay from a Japanese seller. Most of these watches looked very rough as well.

Finally two months ago an Ocean 2000 with reference of 3524 was listed for sale on eBay for a decent price. I was unable to contact the dealer through eBay and spent nearly three weeks trying to track down a means of contacting the seller through other means. I was finally able to reach them by finding the owner on Facebook and sending him a direct message. Over the next few days we spoke about condition and price. There were some things that worried me like the bezel looked damaged at 7 o'clock and the bracelet looked extremely dirty and worn. After we agreed on everything I paid the dealer and ended up with the watch a few days later.



When I opened the package containing the watch the bezel was definitely damaged to some extent at 7 o'clock. Also the lume point on the bezel looked terrible in person. This didn't bother me too much since Joseph at IWC had already looked up the cost of a new bezel and it was available and not too expensive. What did end up bothering me was that the watch was unable to keep time on our timegrapher, meaning the movement was in drastic need of service or repair.

In general I'm a bit paranoid of a person, so the same day I took it to a local watchmaker to open up and verify the movement was in fact genuine IWC and to also get the serial number of the watch. When the watch was opened up the movement and everything checked out but the reference number did not. The watch was sold as and looked like the newest reference 3524, but the case back displayed an older reference of 3504. It turns out that when a case was swapped out by IWC, the original case back was kept to keep continuity of the serial number. So basically the watch started life out as a 3504, but now could have a 3524 case and bracelet.

The local watchmaker suggested that I have the watch sent off to IWC to be completely serviced, but before I did that I asked a good dealer friend of mine if their watchmaker could work on the watch. He said of course and put me in contact with him. This watchmaker had actually worked for IWCs parent company Richemont for years and knew the watch well. So one day after having the Ocean 2000 it was sent off for repair and restoration.



After initially looking at the watch the watchmaker told me there was actually a lot more wrong with the watch than I had thought. First up the movement had a broken mainspring and the barrel needed to be replaced. Also there was a lot of debris in the movement and it looked like the movement had taken a very hard impact. The minute hand was also cracked and needed to be repaired or replaced. There was also glue on the bezel at 7 o'clock as well as on the lume point. Finally the bracelet which I thought was just dirty and had fingerprints on it had actually been subjected to too much heat when previously being polished and was burnt.

He believed he could get everything sorted out, but the repair and restoration would take time. During this time Joseph at IWC was able to gather all the odds and ends I needed to get the Velcro strap attached to the watch, even sending me extra bars and pins when something we didn't know had to be there wasn’t. Joseph was even able to get an "Ocean" link which my watch did not have. It seems that many times during the replacement of bracelets that "Ocean" links were not available and the new bracelet would just come without one. Which is more than likely what happened with mine.

After two months the watchmaker finished up his work and sent the watch back to me. Besides the work to the movement, he was also able to salvage the minute hand, clean up the glue on the bezel and relume the lume point as well. Saving the minute hand was great since the patina of the hour hand wouldn’t have matched a new hand. The new lume on the bezel seemed very white to me, but looking back at original pictures of the Ocean 2000, the lume point was bright white when new. The watchmaker was not happy with how the polish of the bracelet went, but to me it looked perfectly fine, I wasn't even able to see any of the old "fingerprint" marks. In all I was shocked with how nice the watch turned out.



The watch arrived last Saturday and all the way up to that point I wasn't sure if the strap adapter links would fit my case. I had asked the watchmaker to ship the watch back without the bracelet attached so I had less chance of scratching the case getting the bracelet off. I ended up using new pins for connecting the strap end links to the case and after about 20 minutes of banging away with my little watchmakers hammer I had the Ocean 2000 finally on the Velcro strap. I was so excited I even emailed Joseph to show him a video of the final product. He had patiently gone along with me on this very long journey, so I thought it was fitting to show the watch in its completed form.

Initial Thoughts

Ok so nearly 3,000 words in and we're finally getting to the review section of this review. So when the Ocean 2000 was finally finished and in a condition that I was happy with, what did I think about the watch during my first few moments with it? The ultimate goal of this watch would be for it to be as comfortable and easy on the wrist as the GST Aquatimer 2000, hopefully splitting wearing time evenly. Even if the Ocean 2000 succeeded at 75% of this I'd consider it a win. That's a big ask with how much I love the GST Aquatimer 2000 on wrist.

The first thing I noticed about the Ocean 2000 was just how thin and lightweight it was. I never considered the GST Aquatimer 2000 to be either thick or heavy, but when compared to the Ocean 2000 it does appear that way. At first I even though the Ocean 2000 was too thin and it took a while to get used to. I'd say it is also around twenty percent lighter than the GST Aquatimer 2000. I think I prefer the on wrist look of the GST Aquatimer 2000 over the Ocean 2000, but the Ocean 2000 might be even more comfortable. I am also extremely used to the look of the GST Aquatimer 2000, so it might take some time for the Ocean 2000 to become normalized to me.

The next thing I noticed about the Ocean 2000 was the bezel action versus that of the GST Aquatimer 2000. The Ocean 2000 has more of a spring loaded feel to the push to turn bezel than the ridged feel of the GST Aquatimer 2000. I wouldn’t say I prefer one over the other, but maybe IWC ended up using the firmer bezel feel found in the Bund versions of the Ocean on the GST Aquatimer 2000.



The final thing I noticed about the Ocean 2000 during my initial time with the watch was the crown at 4 o'clock. Today this is not often seen, but some dive watches still use this design. The first well known usage of a watch with a crown at this position were the famous Von Buren cases that Squale produced in the 1960s, even making an appearance on the case they made for early Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. Porsche decided to go with this crown position since it minimized the chance of getting snagged while diving and also blended in better to his organic case design.

Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone over the history of the Porsche Design and IWC partnership as well as the development of the Ocean 2000 and my initial thoughts on the watch, now let's talk about the technical specifications of the watch. The Ocean 2000 is crafted out of grade 2, or pure, titanium. Higher grades like grade 5 now commonly used in watches and grade 23 used by Blancpain on their Fifty Fathoms were not widely available at the time of the creation of the Ocean 2000. While not as scratch resistant as the higher grade titaniums, grade 2 is lighter and does offer the true grey color you would expect from titanium. The watch has a case diameter of 42.6 mm and a lug to lug length of 47.6 mm. With the added link needed for the Velcro strap adapter the lug to lug length is 53.9 mm. The watch weighs in at 67 grams when on the Velcro strap and at its thickest point is 12.2 mm tall.

The Ocean 2000 uses a slightly domed sapphire crystal that tremendously helped with its 2,000 meter water resistance. The Bund versions with a flat crystal were rumored to have a lower water resistance, but I was told by somebody at IWC at the time that the upper limits of the military version were never tested. The Bund versions were just tested to 300 meters which was deemed more than enough by the German military.

Underneath the crystal clear sapphire is a matte black dial which in my version is still rather black and not spotted like a lot of examples of the Ocean 2000 I've seen. Radioactive tritium was originally used for the hour markers and hands, but it seems like the hands of mine have been replaced over the years with Luminova since they glow under UV light. The original tritium hour markers are still in place and have a great patina to them. With the half life of tritium being 12.5 years, the hour markers on my Ocean 2000 are long past their lifespan and no longer glow.



The hour markers are made up of strong bars with 12 o'clock having a large triangle which is split down the middle. At 12 o'clock is the Porsche Design text and at 6 o'clock is the "by IWC" text. "T- Swiss Made-T" is also found at 6 o'clock designating the use of tritium on the dial. Another thing that different between variants of the Ocean 2000 was the dial text they displayed. Early versions displayed "IWC International Watch Company" in the traditional IWC script with Porsche Design lower on the dial. Other versions displayed "IWC Porsche Design" at 12 o'clock and then even others didn't display either IWC or Porsche Design. I was told the lack of one brand was determined by what region the watch was sold in and even which retailer was selling the watch. My 3504 appears to have the newer 3524 dial, which separated Porsche Design and IWC and added the "by" before IWC.

There are three centrally mounted hands on the Ocean 2000 with those being the hour, minute and seconds hands. The hour and minute hands are rather plain stick designs with the hour hand being slightly thicker than the minute hand. The slender seconds hand is white and has a red tip, which is rather faded and more of a pinkish orange on mine. At 3 o'clock you have a black backed date window that doesn't shrink the hour marker.

Moving on from the dial is the push to turn uni-directional bezel which requires 60 clicks to complete a rotation. The bezel has a softer feel to it then my GST Aquatimer and clicks nicely into place with a rewarding click for each position. The use of a push to turn bezel reduces the chance of your dive time being thrown off by mistake if you hit the bezel on a foreign object reducing the safety of a dive. The bezel has six distinct cutouts on it which are perfect size for your fingers to get good grip on. The only marker on the bezel is at 12 o'clock where there is a lumed triangle. On my watch this was damaged and I had re-lumed with Super-Luminova. The lack of bezel markers doesn't make the watch dive watch compliant, but if it was good enough for combat divers and minesweepers, so it would probably be fine for us normal civilians. The bezel is held in place with tiny bezel screws and fun fact the bezels of the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer can be swapped with each other.

There are no polished surfaces on the Ocean 2000, showing that the watch is a true tool watch. The titanium case and bracelet of the Ocean 2000 are media blasted and have a flat and non-reflective surface. Looking at the profile of the case you can see just how organic shaped the watch is, it reminds me of a river rock you would find that has been polished by flowing water for endless years. The lugs of the Ocean 2000 might be the most natural of any watch I have ever seen as well, they just look at one with the rest of the case. There is a nice slope down from the lugs that follow your wrist's shape nicely and help with its incredible comfort.



On the right hand side of the case at 4 o'clock is the screw down crown. The crown is nicely scalloped and provides nice grip and also is essential to the 2,000 meters of water resistance. Unscrewing the crown allows you to manually wind the movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one lets you set the date and pulling the crown out to position two stops the seconds hand and lets you set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and there is zero effort in getting the crown to catch to be screwed back in.

Flipping the watch over shows off the unmarked screw down solid case back. The case back has 8 points where you can get leverage to unscrew the case back. There is absolutely nothing printed on the case back with the serial number, reference number, titanium, Swiss, International Watch Company and the IWC logo being engraved on the inside of the case back.

Underneath the case back beats the Swiss made IWC Calibre 3752 automatic movement which is based on the ETA 2892 and heavily modified by IWC. The movement beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of around 42 hours. On our timegrapher the movement showed an accuracy of +3 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions, which is within chronometer standards. For being covered up the movement is actually very attractive, being mostly gold plated. The winding rotor is finished with striping and movement has heavy usage of perlage.

The Ocean 2000 uses a titanium bracelet that is fully integrated into the case. Earlier versions use an exotic spring loaded pin system to attach the links while the newer versions (like mine) use a solid pin to hold the links. The links fit over each over giving the bracelet a scale like look and once again being very organic. There is no taper to the 22 mm wide bracelet and the deployant clasp has an engraving of the Porsche Design logo. A single button is needed to open the clasp which is a fold over style deployant clasp.



While the bracelet of the Ocean 2000 is one of its calling cards and the "Ocean" link is iconic, I'm just not a fan of bracelets on watches. Having spent way too many summers wearing watches on bracelets in brutal Texas heat where the watch would either be way too loose inside or way too tight outdoors, I have moved on to exclusively wearing watches on straps. Even with modern bracelet clasps offering micro adjustments, I still can't make myself wear a bracelet.

Being an integrated design, the Ocean 2000 can only use its original titanium bracelet or a strap using the strap adapter end links. These end links are equipped with spring bars and can accept 20 mm wide straps. I decided to stay OEM and use the grey Velcro strap that was produced for the Ocean 2000, but other straps should work as well. I love the GST Aquatimer 2000 on its Velcro Strap so much that I couldn't imagine wearing the Ocean 2000 any other way. The Velcro strap on the GST Aquatimer 2000 looks like it could fit the Ocean 2000 adapters and is black. The Bund Velcro strap is also black, so maybe if I get tired of the grey strap I could purchase a black GST Aquatimer strap to put on the Ocean 2000. I never got around to inquiring if IWC had black Velcro strap for the Bund versions, but I'd imagine if they did, they would just be the same strap offered on the GST Aquatimer 2000. One thing I did find interesting is that the strap of the Ocean 2000 is about an inch longer than the strap on the GST Aquatimer 2000. Both appear to also be the standard length straps.

On The Wrist

I know it is borderline sacrilegious to not wear the Ocean 2000 on the titanium bracelet, but for reasons stated above bracelets are just not my thing. The Bund versions also came on the Velcro strap by default, so there is a good argument both ways for which is the proper way to wear the Ocean 2000. One of the main things that got me looking for an Ocean 2000 in the first place was how comfortable the GST Aquatimer 2000 is on the Velcro strap. This then caused me to go deep into researching the Ocean 2000 and then knowing that I had to add one to my collection.

With only weighing 67 grams on the Velcro Strap saying the Ocean 2000 disappears on the wrist is an understatement. The watch is barely even detectable on the wrist until you catch a glance of it or need to check the time. Watches like these really illustrate why my personal collection is made up of watches that are crafted out of lightweight materials like carbon, ceramic and titanium. The true lug to lug length of the watch when including the strap adapter end links is just over my preferred minimum of 50 mm lug to lug length. The Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000 have similar lug to lug lengths when on the Velcro straps, but the Ocean 2000 does appear to wear smaller since it has a thinner case.



I did also wear the Ocean 2000 around for a few hours on the titanium bracelet the day I received the watch prior to it being sent off for repair. The bracelet is stunning and really does complete the look of the case. The bracelet is rather stiff and wears more like a cuff than a fully articulating bracelet. Being made out of titanium the bracelet also doesn't add too much heft to the watch. Being so many decades old there are no micro adjustments to the clasp, but the links on the Ocean 2000 are rather small so sizing shouldn't be an issue.

As far as comfort is concerned, the Ocean 2000 is right up there with the GST Aquatimer 2000. Being on a Velcro strap means that the watch has limitless levels of adjustability when sizing the strap on your wrist. The longer strap on the Ocean 2000 means the watch can easily be worn over a wetsuit if needed. The watchmaker did test the watch to 50 meters of water resistance and it had no issue, but being an older watch I really have no plans of getting it wet. This watch isn't exactly easily replaceable.

To test legibility I use a simple test where I see how easy it is to tell the time at just a glance while driving. In this test dive watches typically do the best and skeleton watches do the worst. I had a feeling the Ocean 2000 would do well since it is a dive watch after all where legibility is paramount. The flat black dial and patina colored hour markers along with the bright white hour and minute hands made time telling at a glance a breeze. Naturally fresh white hour makers would have made it just that much easier, but it wouldn't have been anything substantial. It must be noted that at the current age of the watch that low light visibility has taken a hit. The tritium hour markers no longer have any glow to them. The newer Luminova hands and brand new Super-Luminova bezel point do light up well, so it is still possible to tell the time in low light conditions.

The Ocean 2000 being mostly black and grey in coloration goes perfectly well with my normal dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. The watch has a very casual look to it, especially on the Veclro Strap which is perfect for my more laid back lifestyle. When I wore the watch out to run errands and to dinner and drinks the Ocean 2000 acted as a perfect wrist companion. I really couldn't ask for a better watch to wear everyday and I feel the watch will share wrist duty fairly even with the GST Aquatimer 2000. The Ocean 2000 is a very stealth watch, so don't expect it to get noticed when being worn out and about. I'm not sure I really noticed anyone looking at the watch while wearing it out.



The Ocean 2000 was designed in the early 80s and its look isn't quite as modern as the GST Aquatimer 2000, which looks like it could currently be in production. That being said there is a big swing back to more vintage looking pieces over the last few years and the watch certainly does not look dated like other pieces from the 80s and 90s. Even modern watches like the Moser Streamliner have some similar DNA in their design as the Ocean 2000. I honestly look at the Ocean 2000 as being a hardcore tool watch that also has an extraordinary heritage that comes along with it. The fluid and organic design is something you don't see often today and I can't think of many, if any examples, where an integrated watch just feels so natural.

Value and Position in the Market

Trying to define the value of the Ocean 2000 is a fairly hard task because of its age and no real direct competitors. I would say that a good example of an Ocean 2000 will run between $7,000 and $10,000 but then there is also the difficulty of just finding one to purchase. Like I said it took around a year for me to start looking for an Ocean 2000 to the time it was on my wrist. I paid under those figures, but the watch had to get a lot of work done to it as well. In the Ocean 2000 you are getting a fully titanium watch that both broke records and has a military history. The watch was designed by the man who penned the iconic Porsche 911 as well. Even today a watch with 2,000 meters of water resistance is rare, even more so one that isn't super large and thick. IWC using their engineering expertise to help Porsche Design bring this watch to reality is just the cherry on top as well. The Porsche Design partnership really ushered a new era in for IWC that would see the brand completely transform in the following decades.

The closest rival to the Ocean 2000 would naturally be the IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium which was released right as the partnership was coming to an end. The GST Aquatimer 2000 has a 42 mm case also crafted out of titanium and has the same 2,000 meters of water resistance. The GST Aquatimer 2000 shares a similar heavy modified ETA automatic movement with similar power reserve as well. The GST Aquatimer 2000 also has an integrated bracelet design with a Velcro strap also available. There was an option to get the GST Aquatimer 2000 in titanium or stainless steel. The GST Aquatimer 2000 does look much more current than the Ocean 2000 as well. The GST Aquatimer 2000 goes for slightly less than the Ocean 2000 on the secondary market with good examples going between $5,000 and $8,000.

Moving on is the Aquatimer 2000 Edition 35 Years of Ocean 2000 by IWC which has a 42 mm case crafted out of titanium. This limited edition Aquatimer was released in 2017 to celebrate 35 years since the release of the original Ocean 2000. The Aquatimer also has 2,000 meters of water resistance and uses an internal rotating bezel over the push to turn external bezel of the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000. The Aquatimer also runs on a modified version of an ETA base automatic movement like the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000. The Aquatimer was not available on a titanium bracelet or Velcro strap but instead was offered on a rubber strap. Secondhand prices of the Aquatimer Edition 35 Years of Ocean 2000 range from $6,000 to $9,000.



Next up we have what was the Ocean 2000s most direct competitor when new, the Sea-Dweller 16660 from Rolex. The Sea-Dweller was released a few years prior to the Ocean 2000 and offered 1,200 meters of water resistance out of its stainless steel 40 mm case. The Sea-Dweller did use an in-house automatic movement made by Rolex that offered 48 hours of power reserve. The Sea-Dweller has a much more standard dive watch look popularized by the Submariner. Normal non-special examples of the Sea-Dweller 16660 go for around $8,000 to $11,000 on the secondhand market.

Finally we have the Seamaster PloProf from Omega which has a large stainless steel case milled out of stainless steel. Funny enough Omega did make a handful of titanium prototypes of the PloProf that never saw the light of day prior to the release of the Ocean 2000. The PloProf was rated for 600 meters of water resistance but independent tests were able to eclipse 1,370 meters. The PloProf ran an in-house automatic movement from Omega with 42 hours of power reserve. The PloProf has a fairly polarizing design with large bezel and crown lock systems. On the second hard market the PloProf goes for around $7,000 to $11,000.

Looking at these four contemporaries of the Ocean 2000 you can see how varied the dive watch landscape was for professional tool watches at the time. Of the non-IWC watches, the Ocean 2000 had by far the superior water resistance. Today all of these watches go for similar values on the secondary market, so it really comes down to preference when picking which would suit your collection the best. The Aquatimer, Sea-Dweller and Ploprof continue on and are available in modern versions while the Ocean 2000 and GST have been discontinued. The Ocean 2000, Aquatimer 35 Years of Ocean 2000 and 166.007 PloProf seem to be the most scarce to find with the GST Aquatimer 2000 being a bit easier to source and the Sea-Dweller being produced in the highest numbers.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000 for me? Well naturally it is since I spent a year looking for one and ended up buying one. The Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000 serve as a great pair that illustrate what IWC was able to produce many decades ago. They are both very different from each other, yet also very similar. My initial interest in the Ocean 2000 was for it to be nearly as comfortable on wrist as the GST Aquatimer 2000 and it easily achieves that goal. The history and legacy behind the watch also add a lot to my interest in it.



While I'm very used to the look of the GST Aquatimer 2000, the Ocean 2000 will probably need some more time to be totally familiar to me. While I'm wearing the Ocean 2000 it does evoke thoughts of wearing the GST Aquatimer 2000, which isn't a bad thing. The journey of finding the Ocean 2000 and then working with both IWC and the watchmaker to get it to a point that I was happy with also add a lot to my bond with the watch. I think it's pretty easy to say that along with the GST Aquatimer 2000, the Ocean 2000 will definitely be a watch that I never sell. While my Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Montoya, IWC Big Pilot Top Gun Perpetual Calendar and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms might be my "grail" watches, they are not the best everyday wearers. Be it for value, size or comfort… those three watches are just not in the same city much less ballpark when it comes to living with day to day as the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000 on Velcro straps.

So would I recommend the Ocean 2000 to other collectors? It took me a while to end up falling in love with the IWC Aquatimer 2000, which I even had for sale for a few weeks. After I fell head over heels for that watch the obsession started to come around for the Ocean 2000. In my situation taking the time and effort to locate one was worth it, along with hassle of getting it repaired and restored. For most people this might not be worth it. On the other hand prices of the Ocean 2000 have been increasing at a very fast rate recently. It pains me to hear what some people paid for Ocean 2000s and even Bund models just a few years ago. The days of low priced Ocean 2000s have sailed and don't look to be coming back to port any time soon. In that regard if you have an interest in the watch, now would be a better time than ever to start looking for one. I wouldn't be shocked to see Ocean 2000s creep over the $10,000 barrier here in a few years. Not many of these watches were made and finding one is not easy, we all know scarcity leads to higher prices.

The Ocean 2000 is a fantastic watch and I've only heard from happy collectors who currently own them or have in the past. Those that used to own them all regret selling at some point over their collecting journeys, especially with the increased prices. All being said, I don't see any reason to not recommend the Ocean 2000 to fellow collectors. With the age of the watch, no matter how trusted the dealer selling the watch is, just budget and be prepared to have the watch serviced after taking possession. Also since the watch is decades old, I wouldn't recommend swimming and diving with it. I'm curious what IWC would say after they did an official service to the watch. They might even say the watch is still good to 2,000 meters. After the year I spent getting to this point with an Ocean 2000, there is no way I would test its water resistance.



To wrap things up, I'm extremely happy with the Ocean 2000 and the year long wait was worth it in the end. Ultimately the Ocean 2000 met what I required out of it, in being as comfortable as the GST Aquatimer 2000. The look of the watch is growing on me day after day and I feel it will equally split wrist time with its cousin from IWC. The watch is a testament to the vision of Porsche Design and what IWC was able to accomplish engineering wish so many decades ago.

Reflecting more on both the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000 really makes me wish that either IWC or Porsche Design would do something modern with these watches. There are definitely things that can be done with both watches to bring them into the 21st century. For example designer Marcus Eilinger who created the GST line for IWC also designed the Streamliner for Moser, which echoes elements of the Ocean 2000. He could for sure modernize these two important dive watches. It would be a shame if watches like the Ocean 2000 and GST Aquatimer 2000 were left in the past and a new generation of watch collectors had no idea of their impact on the watch world.

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 3504 (IW3504)

Retail Price: NA

Case Size: 42.6 mm

Lug to Lug: 47.6 mm (53.9 mm With Strap End Link)

Thickness: 12.2 mm

Weight: 67 grams

Case Material: Grade 2 Titanium

Bezel: Unidirectional Grade 2 Titanium

Strap: Grade 2 Titanium / Velcro Strap

Movement: Swiss Made IWC Calibre 3752 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Water Resistance: 2,000 Meters