The Laco Edition 96 Dive Watch

Laco will reach a true milestone in 2025, its 100^th anniversary. It began a five-year series of limited edition watches in 2020, the Mission 2025 series, as a preshow party of sorts. Last year’s Laco Edition 95 was a modified version of the Navy Cuxhaven/Bremerhaven with a blue dial and hands, appropriately limited to 95 pieces. The Laco Edition 96 is a very different watch with a monochromatic aesthetic and diving theme, based on the Squad/Sport “Scorpion” collection. This one’s limited to 96 pieces – see the trend?

Unlike the standard Squad/Sport models with green, blue, or orange accents, the Edition 96 is strictly a black and white affair that brings a stealthy, military vibe. The stainless steel case has a matte black PVD coating and is 42mm in diameter and 13.5mm in height. A unidirectional, ceramic rotating bezel has a diver’s 15-minute scale and Arabic numerals every ten minutes thereafter. The oversized, screw-down crown has a full guard and “96” is embossed at the end. A double curve sapphire crystal with an interior anti-reflective coating protects the dial, while the solid case back has a scorpion relief. Water resistance is rated at 300 metres. The Laco Edition 96 is fitted with a black 20mm water-resistant leather strap (with a linen structure) with a PVD coated pin buckle. 

The matte black dial has white Arabic numerals and grey indices at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. A long double index extends from 12 o’clock. The hands continue this color scheme with a white hour hand and grey minute hand, and the white lollipop seconds hand has a grey circle. The hands, indices and numerals are all coated with Super-LumiNova C1. A color-matching date window discretely sits at 3 o’clock. Both the dial and case share the overall aesthetic of the standard Squad/Sport collection, but the monochrome theme provides a very different personality. 

Powering the Edition 96 is the Laco 200 automatic, based on the Sellita SW200-1 (Elaboré grade). It has 26 jewels, beats at 28,800vph (4Hz) with a 38-hour power reserve. Functions include central hours, minutes, hacking seconds, and quickset date. Laco will also upgrade the movement to a Top grade for an additional fee. 

The Laco Edition 96 is again limited to 96 pieces and retails for EUR 1,290. They’ll include a travel pouch, collector‘s pin and certificate of authenticity. As a bonus, Laco will include a multi-tool from Leatherman for all orders placed in December. Preorders are now open with deliveries expected by mid-January. For more information, please visit Laco’s website.