Watches of Royal Navy Clearance Divers

From a New Omega Seamaster Unit Watch to the Issued CWC SBS and the Rolex MilSub of Decades Past, Britain’s Bomb Disposal Divers Have an Incredible History with Timepieces 

By Benjamin Lowry 

Omega recently delivered another custom unit watch based on its military-and-government-only no-date Seamaster, a model previously ordered by Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets, Danish Frogmen, and Air Force Pararescuemen, among other specialist units. This time, however, the Seamaster’s caseback bears the official badge of the Royal Navy Clearance Diving Branch. Roughly equivalent to the US Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Technicians, Britain’s Royal Navy Clearance Divers (RNCDs) are the Ministry of Defence’s primary asset for underwater explosive ordnance disposal, mine countermeasures, and maritime threat protection. 

The new Omega Seamaster Royal Navy Clearance Diver unit watch.

Officially founded in 1952, the Clearance Diving Branch’s history overlaps with the golden age of military-issued tool watches, and RNCDs were among the select few to be issued the Rolex MilSub, the Omega Seamaster 300, and the CWC Royal Navy Diver, to be used as the underwater tools they once were. Times have changed, and the role of timepieces for Clearance Divers has evolved, but the Branch maintains one of the most prolific and least-explored watch cultures of any military organization.

The CWC SBS is still issued in limited numbers to Royal Navy Clearance Divers. (Photo Credit: W.O.E./James Rupley)

For this Dispatch, I sat down with “Gene”, a currently serving Clearance Diver who organized the new Omega unit watch, to discuss the Branch’s history with issued watches, modern operational roles and responsibilities, and one of the most diverse sets of unit watches of any military unit, from Tudor to Bremont to Oris to Breitling and Panerai. 

We have often said that modern unit watch culture originated with our cousins across the pond, and this plethora of watches supports that hypothesis.

Royal Navy Clearance Divers - A Very Brief History 

An early P Party (Port Clearance Party) diver conducting clearance diving operations in a British harbor in the late 1940s. (Photo Credit: Martin Clark)

Modern Clearance Divers trace their roots to the Second World War, when Rendering Mines Safe Teams cleared landside mines and Port Clearance or “P Parties” cleared ports, beaches and harbors after amphibious landings using rudimentary pure oxygen rebreathers and the Siebe Gorman-made Sladen diving dress. After the war, Britain had thousands of unexploded mines, and the First Home Station Clearance Diving Team was established in 1950 to handle the ongoing maritime threat just before the Clearance Diving School was stood up at HMS Vernon in 1951. 

The following year, the Clearance Diving Branch was made official, a British answer to fledgling maritime special operations units including the French Commando Hubert and the US Navy’s Underwater Demolition Teams. As these pioneering frogmen ventured beyond the realm of pure oxygen rebreathers and needed to monitor not only their remaining breathing gas but also their decompression profile, some of history’s most legendary tool watches evolved to suit their needs.

Watches Issued to Royal Navy Clearance Divers

A Royal Navy Clearance Diver wearing a Rolex MilSub. (Photo Credit: Bonhams/diving-watch.net)

The history of the Clearance Diving Branch is forever intertwined with watches, with the Ministry of Defence placing orders for a Rolex Submariner A/6538 “Big Crown” as early as 1957, with several surviving examples bearing issue markings denoting their specific use by Clearance Divers. Omega then took its turn supplying the Branch (as well as the SBS) with the military version of the Seamaster 300, provided in several batches between 1967 and 1971. 

Also in 1971, Rolex returned to the MoD with a customized version of the Submariner that, along with the earlier Big Crown, would come to be known as the MilSub, marking perhaps the most significant military-issued watch of all time, and again seeing use by Clearance Divers as well as the SBS and other specialist units. For any watch-interested Royal Navy sailor, the 1960s and 70s were a great time period to be working as a Clearance Diver, and many issued Omega and Rolex MilSubs were “lost” by divers who gladly ponied up the nominal charge requested by supply officers in lieu of their allegedly misplaced timepieces. 

A MoD-issued Omega Seamaster 300 on the wrist of a Royal Navy Clearance Diver in the Suez Canal in 1974. (Watch Photo Credit: Bulang & Sons)

With Rolex beginning its luxury ascent, the need for a more cost-effective replacement for the Rolex MilSub became clear. CWC, a brand established in 1972 for no reason other than supplying the MoD with timepieces, stepped up, creating the initially automatic and later quartz Royal Navy Diver starting in 1980 before introducing the blacked-out day/date CWC SBS in 1987/88.  

An RNCD prepares for a training dive with a CWC RN Diver on the wrist. (Watch Photo Credit: Craft + Tailored)

In the ensuing decades, in addition to CWC, dive watches from Precista and Citizen have also been issued to RNCDs, but today, beyond a few CWC SBS watches issued in limited quantities (Gene had to argue for one, ultimately being issued an SBS in 2023), the majority of the Branch relies on digital tool watches from brands like Casio, Suunto, and Garmin for its operational pursuits. With that being said, watch culture remains strong among Clearance Divers, and the Branch has secured more unit watches than perhaps any other organization, representing some of watchmaking’s biggest names and a few smaller but interesting players. 

Royal Navy Clearance Diver Unit Watches

In 2022, the long-standing Fleet Diving Squadron (historically rooted in the Clearance Diving Branch) was restructured into smaller teams within the newly-named Diving & Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG). Organized into individual squadrons with specific use cases (Alpha Squadron for maritime counter terrorism and expeditionary EOD, Bravo Squadron for fleet diving support and underwater engineering, Charlie Squadron for conventional and underwater EOD, and Delta for RTW (round the world) operations for the UK and NATO allies), many Clearance Divers are still passionate watches. 

Gene walked me through all of the Clearance Diving unit watches of the last 20 years. Please note that the watches covered will be only those that are/were available only to current or former Clearance Divers, no commercially-available commemorative editions. 

2007 - Omega Seamaster Professional 2257.80.00

(Photo Credit: Loupe This)

In 2007, marking the first of the Clearance Diving Branch’s modern unit watches, Omega delivered 150 of the so-called “Electric Blue” variant of the Seamaster Professional, a polarizing variation of the Bond-era Seamaster that debuted in 1993 before being popularized on the wrist of Pierce Brosnan in 1995’s GoldenEye. As was Omega’s custom at the time, this unit-specific project was the same as its commercially available counterpart from the front, but offered a full-color inset in the caseback with the Royal Navy Clearance Diver’s insignia. Several have since traded on the secondary market. 

2013 - Rolex DeepSea Sea-Dweller 116660

(Left Photo Credit: Sotheby’s)

While its younger sibling Tudor manages unit projects for the organization today, there was a time when Rolex carried out a few, largely British military-only orders, including a variation of the DeepSea Sea-Dweller 116660 produced for Clearance Divers in 2013. Limited to 50 pieces, the watches were intended to commemorate the Branch’s 60th anniversary as well as its long-standing history with Rolex. Despite strict instructions given to buyers at the time, several of these watches have also made it into secondary market channels, sometimes accompanied by mementos of service. As was its custom, the caseback engraving on the Rolex is especially deep and detailed, feeling and looking more premium than many of the simpler, laser-engraved models to follow. 

2013 & 2015 - Bremont S500 & Supermarine GMT Terra Nova 

The 2013 (left) and 2015 Bremont Clearance Diver watches, both of which are based on the Supermarine collection of dive watches, naturally.

Founded in 2002 by brothers Nick and Giles English, Bremont has built one of the most prolific unit watch programs in the industry, delivering nearly 500 military and special projects since its first custom watch for U-2 pilots in 2010.  

There have been two Bremont unit watch projects produced for Royal Navy Clearance Divers, starting with a blacked-out version of the S500 in 2013 that differed from the standard with “Clearance Diver” text in red at six and a special caseback engraving with the Clearance Diver insignia. While the first project was rumored to be limited to only 50 pieces, in 2015, a second version based on the Terra Nova, a titanium GMT variant of the S500, was made available to Clearance Divers with a similarly customized format. 

2015 - Christopher Ward C11

Launched in 2005 in the UK, Christopher Ward has quietly grown to become one of the more prominent producers of more attainable unit watches, especially for the British Forces. As far back as 2015, Christopher Ward produced a unit watch for Fleet Diving Unit 1 (now Alpha Unit 1), which is tasked with supporting special operations units. Based on the preexisting C11, a model that feels dated today, the watch offered FDU 1’s insignia, a winged diving helmet with a parachute (RNCDs attached to these units also attend jump school), on the dial and caseback, along with several lines of customizable text. 

2016 - Oris Aquis 

Oris is another brand that dabbles in unit watches without being known for them, and in 2016, the Holstein-based watchmaker produced a 46mm, 500-meter-rated version of its Aquis diver exclusively for sale to Clearance Divers. Like many of the other unit watches covered here, the watch’s customizations are limited to “Clearance Diver” text on the dial and a custom-engraved caseback with the RNCD badge. Distribution was limited to 100 pieces. 

2016 - Panerai PAM 664 Submersible

The mid 2010s were clearly a time of great watch interest among the Clearance Diving community, and the second unit watch project in 2016 came from Panerai, a brand that ties its heritage to WWII and the Decima Flottiglia MAS, an Italian commando unit that founded many of the principles of modern maritime special operations. The Branch selected the Luminor Submersible as a base model, with the project being organized by a then-serving Clearance Diver named Richard Hughes. Limited to 50 pieces and only available to serving, as opposed to former, members of the Branch, the RNCD Panerai served as Panerai’s first unit watch, with the brand later producing unit-specific watches for Navy SEALs and several other military organizations. 

2016 - Breitling Superocean Heritage 42

If anyone has a better photo of the caseback, let us know. (Photo Credit: Pride & Pinion)

Limited to 50 pieces and delivered in 2016, Breitling is yet another serious Swiss brand to have produced a unit watch for the Clearance Diving Branch, using the Superocean Heritage as its base. Again, the customizations are limited to “Clearance Diver” text on the dial and a special caseback, but it’s still intriguing to see a diving-specific organization reach for a Breitling unit watch, with the brand’s program being better known for its aviation projects, which are often based on the Aerospace, Emergency, and B-1 models. Another non-aviation organization to procure a Breitling was the US Army’s Tier One Special Mission Unit, which ordered a customized version of the regular Superocean around 2010 or 2011. 

2018 - Elliot Brown Holton Professional 

Better known as the producer of the current issue watch for the Special Boat Service, Elliot Brown, a smaller British watchmaker founded in 2013, also has an active unit watch program that has produced customized timepieces for military and government organizations around the world. In 2018, Elliot Brown created a version of its Holton Professional, which was designed with the SBS in mind, for the Royal Navy Clearance Divers Association, which consists of current and former members of the branch. Much more affordable than many of the names listed here, the Holton’s customizations include an insignia on the dial and a custom caseback engraving. 

2020 - CWC 1980 Royal Navy Divers Automatic

While CWC remains a supplier to MoD, the brand has also leaned into unit-specific orders in recent years, with the Clearance Diving Branch procuring a customized version of the 1980 Automatic variant in a small batch of 50 pieces. The dial and bezel retain the faux vintage luminescent treatment from the civilian variant while adding “Royal Navy Clearance Diver” text at six as well as a customized caseback. The irony of leaning into buying a unit watch based on a model that would have been officially issued to Clearance Divers back in the early 80s is not lost on us, but it is an intriguing way for modern RNCDs to honor that heritage and those who came before through the timepieces they used. 

2022 - Tudor Pelagos 

(Photo Credit: eBay)

In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Branch’s founding, in 2022, Clearance Divers reached out to Tudor, which now handles the unit watch projects within the larger Rolex organization, to design a custom version of the Pelagos. 70 pieces were produced, with the customizations including full “Royal Navy Clearance Diver 70th Anniversary” text on the dial and the correct full Branch badge on the caseback, also reflecting the change in organization under the DTXG. At the time of writing, at least one example is listed on eBay in new condition for around $20k, demonstrating the level of temptation faced by serving military members amid rising interest in these unit projects for watch collectors with cash to burn. Our thoughts on collecting unit watches can be found HERE. 

2026 - Stirling Jarvis 

Another UK-based brand with significant military roots and a more affordable price point is Stirling, founded around 2021 by Thomas Stafford, a former British Army soldier who served as an instructor at the Infantry Battle School (IBS) in Brecon, Wales. Stirling has a growing unit watch program as well, and recently delivered a version of its Jarvis, a diving-oriented GMT, for the Branch. Rather than the official Branch badge, the Stirling leans into the aforementioned winged helmet and parachute insignia that is commonly associated with ADU 1 and its predecessor, FDU 1. 

2026 - Omega Seamaster Diver 300 

Gene’s Omega Seamaster Diver 300 unit watch.

Ending right back where we started, the most recent unit watch in the Clearance Diving stable is the military-and-government-only Omega Seamaster Diver 300 that has been previously ordered by select special operations units around the world. Speaking with Gene, it was interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating the watch, a process that took three years from Gene’s initial reach-out to delivery. Limited to currently serving RNCDs, the Omega project spanned 166 pieces, all but a couple of which have been delivered at the time of writing. 

“My wife bought me an Omega as a wedding gift years ago, and the Seamaster has always just stuck with me. That, coupled with looking back to the original Seamaster 300 provided to the Navy, going to Omega for a modern watch just made sense. I’ll wear this in uniform, but I’ll probably keep it away from diving duty, though it’s more than capable. Having handled the process from the beginning to standing in the boutique holding the new watch, I’m proud to have created something interesting to honor the Branch. It’s something I intend to pass down to my son.” 

Final Thoughts

From Rolex MilSubs that were allegedly “lost” at sea to modern digital tool watches and a new Omega unit watch project, the relationship between Royal Navy Clearance Divers and watches is as interesting as the Branch itself. These are tools born from a very specific operational requirement, but over decades they have also become markers of service, identity, and shared experience. More than perhaps any singular military organization, the Clearance Diving community has managed to build an unusually deep and diverse horological history along the way.

The irony is that for a community whose job often involves operating in environments where time can quite literally be a matter of life and death, the watches themselves have never been the point. The Rolex, Omega, CWC, Tudor, Bremont, Panerai, and everything in between are simply different expressions of the same underlying idea: a tool that goes to work with you, bears the scars of its service, and eventually carries a few stories of its own. Gene’s new Omega may never see the bottom of the sea, but that doesn’t make it any less meaningful. It represents the history of the Branch, the heritage of the Clearance Divers who came before him, and something that will become a family heirloom. As we like to say, it’s never just a watch.

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