So a couple of months back, I took a quick break from writing about my usual articles on the Tech scene to review a watch that has been all over Instagram and Facebook, the ERA Prometheus.
Being an avid watch collector, with many "grail" pieces from Patek, Rolex, Audemars, Hublot, etc -- I was extremely skeptical about this company's claims, but the final product that I got just simply blew me away.
4 months later, I still wear the ERA Prometheus on my wrist as my daily wearer, and it still gets far more compliments for me than any of my previous watches.
A few weeks ago I got an email from Michael Galarza, the CEO of ERA asking me if I would like to review their new diving watch, the ERA Poseidon.
Considering how incredible the value proposition was on their previous watch, I agreed immediately.
I was able to inspect the ERA Poseidon in a few different colors for about 10 days in total before I had to ship them back to ERA.
Michael also sent their promotional video for the ERA Poseidon over to explain many of the basic elements of the timepiece since it's not just a typical diving watch.
Here it is below:
I've always been fascinated with Urwerk's watches and they're the go-to name when you think of the Wandering Hour complication, but I've never been able to justify the $70,000+ USD price tag on one.
That's why I was so intrigued by the concept of putting a Wandering Hour complication into a diver.
The first thing you see when you look at the watch is that it only has 1 hand, and that alone makes you realize it's not a regular dive watch.
What also immediately caught my eye from the specs was the extreme water resistance of the Poseidon -- it's water resistant up to 1000 meters, which is more than 3X as deep as usual divers go (for reference, Rolex Submariners are water resistant to 300 meters).
This puts it firmly in the sub-category of "Deep Divers", and catapults the price to easy 5-figure territory.
What's even more insane is that they managed to do that while putting on a domed sapphire crystal on the face of the watch.
It makes the watch look way more elegant, but I know that it's EXTREMELY difficult technical challenge to put a domed sapphire crystal on a watch that needs to be 1000 meters water resistant.
The most important thing that I noticed was that ERA has their first in-house Swiss-Made movement, the ERA-001 Calibre powering the watch.
Extremely impressive trajectory that the company is on, as it usually takes years for a company to get capital needed in order to begin in-house movement production.
I don't want to rehash all the same info I wrote during my previous review of the ERA Prometheus, but suffice to say I think at this point with all the positive reviews and their thousands of satisfied customers worldwide (including me), there is no doubt that ERA Timepieces is delivering on their promises.
In the end, I think nothing shows how customer-oriented ERA is than the fact that their CEO still answers literally every single customer service email personally, despite their company's rapid growth.
Anyway, I'm genuinely quite impressed at the specs of the Poseidon on paper. Let's see how the actual watch performs though.
Since the Poseidon is not in production yet, Michael sent over the timepieces in Prometheus boxes until the Poseidon one is finalized. That being said, they will look essentially the same with the main differentiator being the Trident logo on the clasp of the box instead of the Prometheus torch. Here's an image of that:
Just like the Prometheus, the Poseidon came extremely well padded and packaged. It perfectly hugs the inner Black ERA box and my unit arrived with no visible damage anywhere.
Michael let me know that they designed a new wrapping paper for the Poseidon, but it hasn't been finished yet so they had to use the Prometheus wrapping paper again. That being said, you still have the stunning thick hand-stamped wax seal on top of the Art Nouveau checked wrapping paper with the Prometheus Torch and ERA logo. It goes without saying that once again, amongst the leaders of the industry like Audemars, Hublots, Rolexes, and Pateks and NONE of them come with a presentation like this:
I don't currently own a diver as it's not my favorite style, but I brought out my trusty Rolex GMT-Master II as a comparison.
For one, the GMT Master II only has a water resistance level of 100 meters. Compare that to the ridiculous 1000 meters the Poseidon has, and you're not even talking about them being in the same league.
The Poseidon as you can see also has 20 minute decompression stop markers, with the bezel only turnable in one direction for safety when you're diving, so you don't accidentally set the wrong amount of time to decompress at each stage of diving.
You can also easily see that the graduated dial on the Poseidon is infinitely more interesting to look at than the Rolex dial, which is just one color. Each slight twist of your wrist yields a new color to look at on the dial of the Poseidon.
Lastly, the Poseidon feels substantially more "weighty" and substansive, with its domed sapphire glass and thicker and larger profile. This is exactly what you would think a "man's watch" would look and feel like -- it's large and rugged enough to survive conditions 1000 meters under the sea.
If somebody casually looked at your watch, it's obvious the Poseidon would stand out more due to its size profile and the fact that it only has one hand, on top of a strangely hypnotic-looking dial.
I must admit I was a little concerned once again that the size of this watch would be too much for my wrists, and although it was significantly heavier than the Prometheus, the Poseidon actually felt very good on my thin wrists. The only way I can describe it is that it's balanced very well, with most of the weight centered on the middle of my wrist, which allows a much more comfortable wear.
My biggest concern was having to get used to a new way of telling time. I wasn't sure if I would be able to, but after a day of practice, I naturally began to be able to glance at the watch for roughly the same time as any other watch to tell the time in a split second. Once you learn to just look for the numerical hour on the sub-dial, you really speed up the time-reading process. Since the minute hand is the same as a regular minute hand, once you know the hour, you know the minute already as well and therefore the complete time.
I have to say, the Adventure is probably my favorite style and I wore it the most. The bright white dial is remninescent of my Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Safari, but it's way larger and it catches the light in a spectacular fashion.
As this is an active sports watch, I took it with me to the gym for a week straight, and it felt great even while running and working out. On the wrist, it just feels like you're wearing a quality timepiece because of the weight and how solid the bezel and case is. This is definitely one watch you won't need to handle with gloves.
During my late night running sessions, the Swiss Superluminova BGW9 lume really helped to tell the time a bit easier as well.
I wore the "Pepsi" version of the Poseidon out during the Esri conference for the few days that I was there. It was a great hit and an icebreaker topic of conversation when networking with my peers in the space.
Keeping in mind that I was wearing a prototype that is only going to get better as the production ones get closer to being shipped, my biggest gripe was with the Stainless Steel 3-Link strap. It doesn't feel durable enough to match the feeling of power I get from the rest of the watch.
It's a little bit of a shame I wasn't able to get the final production version of the strap. Michael told me that his team had improved their custom-built in-house strap 5 times already and we just missed the cut-off for the final version before I hand to send them back. With a dive watch, the Stainless Steel strap is critical, so this is something to keep an eye on. That being said, judging by how much time ERA has before they begin shipments, I'm sure the final straps will be fine.
One thing I love compared to the Prometheus is that the Poseidon is automatic -- so I can store it in one of my watch winders and it won't lose time. I've gotten used to winding my Prometheus every day, but it was also kind of nice not having to worry about that anymore as well.
Is the ERA Poseidon worth taking a look at?
When you start going through the full list of what you get, it starts becoming clear that this is the best value diver you can get at the price point.
1000 Meters of Water Resistance with Domed Sapphire Crystal, Helium Relief Valve, 20 Minute Decompression Stop Markers, and most importantly: an in-house Swiss-Made movement that powers a super rare wandering hour complication
Most watch experts would agree with those specs, a watch would be an extreme bargain at $15,000 USD, and yet ERA is somehow only charging $1499 for it.
On top of that, ERA also recently launched a risk-free 60 day trial program for all their timepieces. Since the brand just launched in 2018, it's obvious that they're not going to be in retail stores all over the world that quickly, and so this program seems to be a stop-gap while they try to get their timepieces into a watch retailer near you.
Being that they even cover return shipping costs for you if you don't like the watch, it really is as risk-free as it gets. You put down a deposit, and you get to try it out for 60 days with no obligation to keep it.
On top of the risk-free trial, you also get an overly interactive CEO who lives and breathes for his brand so much that he personally writes back to every single person that writes in. If you're even remotely curious if this is the watch for you, you really owe it to yourself to take Michael up on his offer to try it out for 60 days.
Worst case, you get to try out a unique new watch for 2 months at literally no cost or risk to you.
Best case, you find the timepiece of your dreams that you'll get to pass on to the next generation to enjoy.
While ERA doesn't ever discount their watches once they've begun shipping to the general public, you can still get the ERA Poseidon for only $1399 USD instead of the retail price of $1499 USD.
