Bulova Oceanographer Snorkel “Devil Diver” Reference 98B320 - A Beautiful 1970s Dive Watch Reproduction, A Review (plus Video)

The Bulova Oceanographer Snorkel was given the nickname “Devil Diver” by virtue of its water rating of ‘666’ feet. Launched in 2018, this model was a reissue based on a design made in 1972. Unlike other famous watches in that era, the Oceanographer was not as spectacular. In reality, the timepiece can be construed as a typical basic tool-watch. Nevertheless, it has that classic 1970s vibes that is unmistakably cool and attractive.

I have been eyeing the watch ever since it was introduced to the market in 2018. Unfortunately, the Bulova brand is not well covered in Malaysia. It is only via Amazon US that I was able to acquire one. As Malaysia is currently in a lockdown due to Covid19, I was apprehensive in making the order but thankfully, the package arrived safely and earlier than originally scheduled by Amazon.

This is the first Bulova to be part of the collection.

(Very) Short History on Bulova and its Dive Watches

Bulova is an American watch brand founded in 1875 and owned by the Citizen Watch Co of Japan. It is based in New York City. Some of the famous lines under the brand are the Accutron, the Computron and the Apollo 15 watch. I decided not to provide more information about the brand as the same information is already available elsewhere. For more, please visit www.bulova.com. 

Movement: The Miyota 8205/8215 automatic

The Miyota 8215 (and its other variants such as the 8205) is a Japanese automatic wristwatch movement that is used by many watch makers. Miyota is part of the Citizen group of companies.

The Miyota 8215 is a non-hacking twenty-one (21) jewel three-hand with date movement with a uni-directional winding system (left rotation) with an accuracy of -20 to +40 seconds per day, and a power reserve of over 40 hours. The diameter of the movement is 26 mm and the thickness is 5.67 mm. It beats at 21,600 BPH or 3 Hz (6 half-cycles per second).

Below are some technical information useful for the understanding of the movement.

The specification of the Miyota 8205/15/0A/1A movement by Meor Amri

Blueprint of the Miyota 8215/821A movement by Meor Amri

Spare parts reference for the Miyota 8205/8215 movement by Meor Amri

My watches that uses the movement (or its variants) are:

1. MWF-Gruppo Gamma LE Watch; 
2. Citizen Promaster Autozilla 1000m Titanium Divers Watch NH6930-09F (NH6931-06E);
3. Citizen NY0040 200m Promaster Diver; and
4. Citizen Automatic NY602151E Divers' Watch 

I have not had any problems with the mechanism throughout the years. From a practical point of view, the accuracy is more then sufficient for normal timekeeping duties although some may argue its 'lack' of accuracy compared to other movements from Switzerland and Japan.