CWC is known for the watches sold to the British Ministry of Defense since the early 80s. A lot of good text has been written about these vintage watches. The focus here will be the the watch still sold today.
The watch in the review is the quartz version with polished case, luminous indices and without a date. The watch was sold somewhere around 2020 and is identified by the reference RN300-PQS120. The defining element of the RN Diver is its case with its fixed springbars. The case is very similar as the Monnin cases used by Heuer and others. In fact, it seems that MRP SA was a supplier of these cases in one point of time.
| Manufacturer | CWC |
| Reference | RN300-P QS120 |
| Movement | ETA F06.402 (possibly) |
| Diameter | 41mm |
| Thickness | 11mm |
| Lug to lug | 47mm |
| Lug width | 20mm |
| Material | Stainless Steel |
| Water Resistance | 300 m |
Case
The case comes in various different configurations: bead-blasted, brushed-top and polished sides, fully polished and PVD. The different variations also have matching rehauts. The case is relatively thin at around 12mm, and comes with crown guards. The watch in this review is fully polished, but all in all it wouldn’t make much difference. Despite the polished finish, the watch is relatively scratch & ding free. I have worn the watch mostly outside and around kids.
Dial
There’s something about the dial symmetry that puts me off. I can’t really pinpoint what it is. Whether it is the unnecessary (L) symbol and QUARTZ text or combination of both. The lume of the dial is great. I love the generous application of the powerful green early mid-00s lume. The lume is bright and it last long as opposed to the crappy white luminova of today.
Straps
All cases have fixed spring bars which limit the strap options to NATOs and other single-pass straps, but this is half of the attraction of the CWC. If you’re like me, once watch is on the metal bracelet it hardly ever comes off. Fixed spring-bars ensure there’s always at least one watch for NATO straps.
The watch comes with 20mm NATO strap from CWC, but I’d say 18mm straps works equally well showing that shy spring bar. Of course nobody sane is going to notice this except to call you out on Instagram that you have wrong sized strap.
Conclusion
Before getting the CWC RN Diver, I had this idea that I’d use different NATO straps, but the watch has been on about three straps. This doesn’t really reduce the value of the watch, but rather tells that I buy more watches based on unrealistic ideas.
The appeal of the CWC RN Diver without the date is to own a watch that you never have to set to time and have to adjust only twice a year. It is a watch that can be easily grabbed to go and is robust enough to suit most situations. In addition if something happened to it, it is also easy to replace.
Ghost of Gerald Genta 