MICRO MONDAYS: The Iridium Torpedo is a budget-friendly dive watch with monster specs

Fergus Nash

The Iridium Torpedo arrives to offer a different take on the budget-friendly dive watch with monster specifications for minimum spending. With looks that stray closer to glamour than “tool watch”, it doesn’t shy away from being highly capable and seriously tough.

The Torpedo is available with a black, blue, grey, or green dial, and the green is the variety I got to spend some time with. The sunburst texture is extreme, creating lush, undulating flashes between shades of teal and emerald, honing in on the aquatic themes of the watch in general. The applied diamond indices at the quarters are glamorous with their polished-steel surrounds complimenting the large handset, while the circular indices are stretched and pulled by the sapphire crystal’s distortion to create all manner of interesting shapes.

The date window is nicely integrated with a steel frame and does well not to interrupt any symmetry on the 42mm dial. The bright orange seconds hand is attention-grabbing no matter which dial colour it appears over, and its length reaches far into the printed minute track for easy time-setting. 

While it is an impressive thing to look at during the day, the Iridium Torpedo really comes alive when the lights are off. While it may not be swathed in multi-coloured luminous sections that form intricate patterns as some other microbrands have done, the truckload of ice-blue BGW9 Super-LumiNova used in the indices, hands, and bezel markings ensure that the Torpedo is a beacon of legibility. The Iridium logo on the crown is also filled with luminous paint, highlighting the fact that the logo runs parallel to the case when fully screwed-down, a detail often overlooked by even some luxury brands.

I will admit that I was a bit concerned when I first read the dimensions of the Torpedo, as my wrist is on the smaller side at 6.5” or around 17cm in circumference. Generally I avoid watches which go further than 48mm in lug-to-lug, as they can overextend my wrist and don’t sit quite flush enough to be comfortable. However, Iridium knows what they’re doing, and the Torpedo’s proportions are refined enough to wear well. The 50mm lug-to-lug is combatted by their extreme curvature which hugs the wrist, and integrates nicely into the 22mm five-link bracelet.

The bracelet tapers down to 20mm before a 22mm clasp balances out the heft of the watch, making sure that it’s not too top-heavy and doesn’t swing around. While the overall height of 14mm doesn’t sound too thick to begin with, 2mm of that is protruding sapphire crystal, meaning that the case itself feels much slimmer than it looks. The brushed surfaces are uniform and subtle, while the polished chamfered edges give the case an elegance to match the rather busy-looking bracelet.

The Miyota 9015 powers the Torpedo, giving the watch its smooth 28,800 vph sweep of the seconds hand and 42 hour power reserve. Manual winding and hacking are available as expected of all modern watches, but there is the occasional gremlin of rotor noise thanks to the unidirectional automatic winding. Thankfully, the case isolates the movement enough that the noise can only be heard when in a quiet room, and can’t be felt on the wrist at all. 

Overall, Iridium’s Torpedo offers exactly what you should expect from a modern microbrand diving watch. The specifications are all there with its 300m water resistance, domed sapphire crystal, and comfortable bracelet with solid screwed-links, diver’s extension and plenty of micro-adjust holes. If you’re fond of the quirky looks and not afraid of a bit of heft, then there shouldn’t be anything to disappoint you here. The price will be $399USD following its Kickstarter launch this month.

Made in partnership with Iridium. However, the opinions expressed in this article are our own in accordance with our Editorial Policy.