Hands-on: Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Solar – solar power with diver character

Maurice Lacroix lets the sun take its place in one of the brand's sportiest collections. The new Pontos S Solar combines a Swiss solar-powered quartz movement with 200 metres of water resistance, plenty of diver character and an unusually striking, semi-transparent dial. Eqotime has taken a closer look at the blue version. 

Text: Andreas Johansson Weber
Photo: Stefan ”Molle” Molin

Maurice Lacroix is perhaps mainly associated with the enormously successful AIKON family, but alongside it there is Pontos – a collection that has long represented a slightly more classic and at the same time sporty side of the Swiss brand. With the new Pontos S Solar Maurice Lacroix now takes the series in a new direction.

For the first time Pontos gets a solar-powered Swiss quartz movement. It is at the same time clear that Maurice Lacroix has not wanted to make any discreet everyday watch out of the technology. The Pontos S Solar is instead built as a proper sports watch with clear traits from the diving world: a 42 millimetre case, rotating dive bezel, strong luminous compound, screw-down crown and a water resistance of 200 metres.

Pontos with more attitude

That Seiko chose precisely blue as one of the three main themes is hardly any coincidence. The 1960s was an almost explosive decade for the manufacturer. Seiko launched Japan's first chronograph wristwatch in 1964, its first dive watch in 1965 and ended the decade with the Astron in 1969 – the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch. It was also during the same period that what Seiko today calls “Seiko Blue” began to be established.

And that makes the HBC005J1 extra logical.

Because under the blue bezel there is really a tribute to one of the very most important watches from precisely that period: Seiko's first dive watch from 1965.

Today's model belongs to the family that Seiko calls 1965 Heritage Diver’s Watch, and the basic shape is immediately recognisable. Round case, short lugs, a big clear bezel and the almost archetypal dive watch layout that Seiko has since developed in countless directions.

But here they have been unusually restrained.

And that is exactly why it works so well.

The light plays the leading role

The semi-transparent dial is not just a design device. It has a function.

The light passes through the dial and is used to charge the solar movement underneath. Maurice Lacroix has at the same time been smart enough to let the technology itself become part of the watch's visual identity rather than something that tries to be hidden.

The luminous compound too has been given an unusually well worked out solution. Maurice Lacroix uses two different colours to create a visual hierarchy in the dark. The minute hand and the first 15 minutes on the dive bezel glow blue, while the hour hand, the indexes and the other markings glow green. The idea is simple: the information should be quick to tell apart even when the light disappears.

It is perhaps a small detail, but precisely that type of solution suits the Pontos S Solar very well. There is a playfulness here, but at the same time it fills an actual function.

Solar instead of mechanics

The big talking point is of course the movement.

Pontos is an established Swiss watch collection and the choice to use quartz will for some enthusiasts immediately raise the question of why Maurice Lacroix did not instead choose a mechanical movement.

The answer lies in the very idea behind the watch.

The Pontos S Solar is intended as a worry-free sports tool. Inside the three-hand model sits the Swiss Ronda 215 Solar, which converts light into electrical energy. At full charge Maurice Lacroix states an autonomy of around eight months, which means that the watch can lie in darkness for a very long time without stopping. The manufacturer moreover states a lifespan of over ten years before the energy cell needs to be replaced.

In other words it is not a solar solution that has just been added in order to be able to write ”Solar” on the dial. For anyone who wants a watch to take on holiday, to the beach, the boat or as a pure everyday watch the convenience is hard to argue against.

And just like with the sun itself, most of it happens in the background. Wear the watch and expose it to normal light – it takes care of the rest itself.

Built for water

The Pontos S Solar at the same time picks up several of the classic ingredients from a dive watch.

The unidirectional rotating bezel has an aluminium insert, the case is fitted with protection for the crown and the construction is water resistant to 20 ATM, corresponding to 200 metres. On the back there is a special engraving with a maritime theme.

The dark blue rubber strap suits this identity well. Maurice Lacroix's name is integrated into the strap and the brand's Easy Change system means that it can be changed without tools. The collection is also offered on a five-row steel bracelet, something that changes the watch's expression quite markedly.

On rubber the blue model on the other hand becomes exactly as sporty as the concept suggests. It feels more like a watch built for the summer than for the boardroom – and that is probably completely right.

Eqotime thinks

Maurice Lacroix launches the model in a number of combinations with black and blue dials, different colours on the rotating bezel and rubber strap as well as a steel bracelet. In addition there is the Pontos S Solar Chronograph, which builds further on the same idea but uses the Ronda 2040.D Solar and adds a chronograph function.
There are also louder special versions where Maurice Lacroix works with fluorescent green and orange details respectively. But the blue model probably feels like one of the most easily worn interpretations of the concept.
Here there is still colour and personality, but without it tipping over.
Here there is instead something refreshingly rational. A Swiss solar movement, long autonomy, 200 metres of water resistance and a construction that is actually meant to be used. At the same time Maurice Lacroix has added enough design – the smoky dial, the DLC case and the two-colour luminous compound – for the watch not to feel like a pure instrument.

The blue version in particular is moreover a successful balance. It is colourful without becoming loud and sporty without feeling cheap.

The Pontos S Solar does not try to replace the mechanical watch. It offers something else: a Swiss sports watch that is driven by light and in principle only asks you for one single thing – to use it.