Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Delma Shell Star Big Date Limited Edition
The big novelty of the big stainless steel dive watch is the Big Date complication.
Delma’s Shell Star dive watch combines the groove of its 1970s ancestor with modern specifications. A rugged 500m water-resistant diving companion, the latest Shell Star models feature a new complication with a Big Date window at noon and on-trend gradient dials.
Delma’s first dive watch surfaced in 1969 with the Periscope, followed by the more professional Shell Star and Quattro in 1975, both of which endure to this day in the brand’s collection. The Shell Star was relaunched and upgraded in 2016 in a 44mm steel case with a helium valve and 500m water-resistance, and has recently appeared in smaller and lighter 41mm titanium cases.
The latest duo of Shell Star adopts the larger 44mm diameter, coupled with a thickness of 13.8mm and a lug-to-lug of 51mm. Made of stainless steel, the barrel-shaped case is decorated with a finely brushed finish and a brightly polished bevel to highlight its profile. The screw-down crown flanked by guards ensures its 500m water-resistance capacity and is accompanied by a helium escape valve at 9 o’clock for saturation diving.
Unusual for a watch with such a robust depth rating, the caseback is secured by four screws and features a mineral crystal porthole to view the movement. The 120-click unidirectional rotating bezel to time immersions has wide notches for better grip and a black anodised aluminium insert with a luminescent pip in the inverted triangle.
While many dive watches feature date windows, and some even appear with day-date windows, the presence of a big date complication is pretty unusual. Featured in a double aperture at noon, the Shell Star’s big date is the big novelty. An orange (signature colour of Delma) frame outlines the two windows, and to draw attention to the big date, the date wheels are white with black numerals.
Another new feature is the gradient effect on the blue and brown dials. In a departure from the matte, grained dials of recent editions, the dials of the new Shell Star models are sunray brushed and feature the on-trend gradient effect that has flooded the watch scene. The rectangular, orange-framed indices and orange central seconds hand, along with the sword-shaped hour and minute hands, have not altered and are treated with Super-LumiNova CN5. However, the hyper-precision minutes/seconds track has changed format, and its staggered markings look similar to the double scales of Moser’s Streamliner Flyback Chronograph.
The mineral glass porthole on the caseback reveals the ETA 2892-A2 automatic movement with a Jaquet 3512 Big Date module. The movement has a 4Hz frequency, a 42-hour power reserve and a customised Delma rotor.
The three-link stainless steel bracelet with brushed outer links and a polished middle link has a deployant clasp with pushers. The Shell Star Big Date is a limited edition of 100 pieces in each colourway and retails for CHF 2,250 or EUR 2,500. More information at delmawatches.com.
