Eterna tests all of its diving watches for water re- sistance, durability, functionality and more, but nothing quite beats strapping a watch onto a wet- suit and diving to the bottom of the ocean to really understand how well it performs. It is for this reason that Eterna enlisted the help of experienced diver and watch expert, Jason Heaton, for a real life test of its Eterna SuperKonTiki Chronograph and its Eterna Lady KonTiki Diver. Heaton chose Bonaire in the Ne- therlands Antilles for this extensive test that would take him on over 18 dives over a period of six days.

Bonaire is a fascinating place, a small arid island off the coast of Venezuela, it is best know for its age-old salt production, but more recently it has become a mecca for both advanced and recreational scuba divers.

A shallow reef rings the island, which is accessible from shore in most places. Years of steadfast marine conservation e orts have resulted in a very healthy underwater ecosystem with abundant soft and hard corals, as well as the countless creatures that inhi- bit them, from barracuda and tarpon, to rays, turtles, octopus and colourful reef fish.

Heaton wore the Eterna SuperKonTiki Chronograph, while the Eterna Lady Kontiki Diver was tested by his diving partner, Marìa Clara Aboleda, a Colombian dive instructor who lives and works in Bonaire. The duo started their assessment in relatively shallow waters under Bonaire’s giant loading pier, where ships dock to pick up their cargo of the island’s salt. They had to wait until the dock was empty before being able to dive, but once the coast was clear, they found it is tee- ming with sh of all kinds thanks to the coral that grows on the huge vertical support stanchions of the pier.

Their next dive was to be very different as they visited the “Hilma Hooker”, a shipwreck that sank in 1984 under rather mysterious circumstances. They were to dive here on four separate occasions, explo- ring the 80-metre long Dutch freighter that is lying on its starboard side. The wreck is situated between two coral reefs at a depth of 30 metres and is conside- red one of the best diving sites in the Caribbean. Hea- ton and Aboleda were able to explore both the inside and the outside of the ship, enabling them to examine the watches’ accuracy and performance at such a pro- found depth.

Jason Heaton: “The Super Kon-Tiki is one of the great names in dive watches so it was a pleasure to be able to spend a week reviewing and photographing the latest of its lineage in its intended environment. The Super KonTiki Chronograph represents a big step forward for ETERNA and a worthy bearer of its legendary name”.

They also tested the watches at night as Heaton explains: “On a night dive in Bonaire, I held an underwa- ter torch to the dial of the Super KonTiki for 30 seconds before descending and it glowed brightly for the enti- rety of a 45-minute dive in black water. Huge tarpon (silver scaled two-metre game sh) hunted by the light beams of our underwater torches, sharp-tailed eels came out of hiding and spectacular basket stars unfur- led their tentacles to hunt.”

Underwater, I used the bezel for timing intermediate activities. In Bonaire, where diving is largely done from shore and is self-guided, navigation is most easily done using timed swims. Zero the bezel, swim one di- rection on the reef until half a tank is empty, note the elapsed time, zero the bezel again and return the way you came for roughly the same amount of time.

Heaton was impressed with both Eterna’s diving timepieces, “I wore the Super KonTiki Chronograph, either the blue or black, on all dives, and Marìa Clara Aboleda wore the Eterna Lady KonTiki Diver. The watches performed very well in all conditions, proving legible and accurate, with secure straps and highly functional timing bezels.”