The Watch That Used to Survive Shipwrecks Just Learned to Wear a Blazer

An Italian watchmaker known for building timepieces tough enough for military divers has spent the past hundred years anchored to a single boutique in Tuscany, and to mark that anniversary it has unveiled two new versions of its signature rugged model dressed for considerably calmer water. The new pair, named for that Tuscan hometown and built to run eight days on a single wind, keep the brawny case and oversized crown that made the original a favorite of frogmen, but trade the utilitarian look for something a reader could wear to dinner in Palm Beach without anyone mistaking them for a lifeguard. It is a fitting split for a house that built its name on function first: in Naples, where the boat in the marina still has to actually go out on the water, the old rugged version will keep its following, while the dressier Firenze take seems built for whichever coast prefers its toughness quietly implied rather than strapped to a wetsuit.

With reporting from Robb Report.