Let’s get the obvious out of the way: the Ulysse Nardin Diver AIR weighs 52 grams. That includes the strap. That’s less than your average egg. It also happens to be the most advanced dive watch Ulysse Nardin has ever made—possibly the most advanced dive watch anyone has ever made. But unlike most watches in the “let’s make it a skeleton tourbillon and call it a day” club, the Diver AIR blends high horology with real-world diving specs, daily wearability, and enough recycled material to earn it a badge at a climate summit.
High Horology Meets Low Mass
The Diver AIR is a mechanical flex that somehow makes 80% of its movement air. The remaining 20%? A skeletonized UN-374 calibre made of 90% recycled titanium, redesigned from scratch to be lighter, stronger, and somehow still automatic. That’s key—dive watches need automatic winding to meet ISO standards, and Ulysse Nardin didn’t cut corners there.
Instead, they stripped mass with surgical precision. The movement alone is just 7 grams. Hollowed bridges, re-engineered barrel, minimalist rotor. Everything’s been weight-cut and stress-tested to survive 5000g shocks and repeated abuse. Not in a lab. In the real world. In other words, you can actually dive with this watch
The Tech That Makes It Happen
The case is 44mm but wears light thanks to a modular construction: titanium on the inside, Nylo-Foil and CarbonFoil on the outside. That’s recycled fishing net and upcycled carbon fiber, if you’re wondering. The result is a dive-ready, 200m water-resistant case with sapphire crystal and a bezel forged from repurposed sailboat scraps. Because why not.
Even the escapement is made from recycled silicon wafers. There’s nothing off-the-shelf here. Everything has been rethought, reengineered, and lightened without compromising function. This is as much a materials science experiment as it is a watch.
The AIR offers 200 meters of water resistance. Automatic winding. 90-hour power reserve. And it weighs less than a protein bar. You also get two ultralight elastic straps—one orange, one white—both with scratch-closure fasteners, so you can swap them out without a toolkit or a PhD in spring bars.
The Bottom Line
Ulysse Nardin’s Diver AIR isn’t trying to be a vintage reissue or a flashy desk diver. It’s a serious watch for people who care about performance, materials, and design offered at an affordable price: $38,000 USD. JK all the way. It’s wildly expensive but damn if it isn’t cool.
It’s lighter than anything else in its class. It’s built from trash that’s been turned into high-performance gear. And it’s absurd in all the right ways. If you want the future of dive watches, this is it. Just don’t forget it’s on your wrist—you might not feel it.
Specs
Movement:
New UN-374 Manufacture calibre Skeleton automatic movement
Features:
Hours, minutes, seconds
Self-winding system
Open barrel
Bridges and main plate in 90% recycled titanium (Thyssenkrupp and TiFast)
Oversized balance wheel & balance spring in silicon
Escapement wheel, anchor in upcycled silicon
199 components / 21 jewels
Frequency 3 Hz / oscillations 21’600 V/H
The Diver AIR weighs less than 52 grams
The head of the watch weighs less than 46 grams
The strap weighs less than 6 grams
Size:
44 mm
Height 14.7 mm
Sustainability:
Middle case: 90% recycled titanium (Thyssenkrupp and TiFast)
Side parts: Nylo®-Foil (60% recycled fishing nets Nylo® from Fil & Fab and
40% upcycled carbon fibres from CDK Technologies)
Concave rotating bezel : CarbonFoil (100% upcycled carbon fibres from
CDK Technologies) with a domed sapphire glass
Depth:
200 metres
The Diver AIR comes with two interchangeable straps:
Orange elastic fabric strap with scratch closing
White elastic fabric strap with scratch closing
Compatible with R-STRAP and rubber straps
Price:
36’000 CHF (8.1 % VAT)
38’000 $ (w/o VAT)
38’400 € (21% VAT)
33’420 GBP (20% VAT)
