Fan-Fiction Watches in Jason Heaton’s Depth Charge
The only watch to really get a mention is the protagonist’s, but what would the other characters in Jason Heaton’s breathtaking novel wear?
Jason Heaton said it himself: “The thriller genre saved me from over-analyzing everything that I read”. And with that, this week’s post is a laid back exercise in fantasy fan-fiction. We will go through some of the main characters in Heaton’s nautical action thriller and assign each of them a watch which best fits their personality on paper.
Julian Tusk (Tusker)
Julian ‘Tusker’ Tusk is our protagonist. An underwater archeologist, Tusker is half Indiana Jones and half James Bond in Thunderball. His wristwatch is the only watch to be given an official introduction; an Aquastar Benthos 500 dive chronograph. This bulky dive watch came in both navy and black options, though given that the author wears the black version, we can assume Tusker’s is the same. The interesting thing about the Benthos is that it’s central minutes chronograph hand is a genuinely useful tool for a diver looking to track his or her dive-time. Handed down from his father, this watch was the first to offer a 500m depth rating and even came with charts used to work out decompression intervals alongside the box and papers. With that, Tusker’s watch of choice is a serious tool. Broad, modest, dependable - just like the man himself.
Aquastar Benthos 500, the Auther’s one - hodinkee.com
Upali Karuna
Upali is Tusker’s well-humored but ballsy university friend and diving partner. Sri Lanka, where the novel is set, is Upali’s homeland, but the character also spent time in the US, studying in both Michigan and Florida. Fittingly, I think Upali would wear a GMT diver so that he can keep track of loyal friends and family (or at least their time zones) as well as tracking his dive-time. The first watch to come to mind for Upali is the Omega Seamaster 300 GMT, with sword hands, steel bezel and massive lume plots (reference 2834). However, I think Upali would go for something a little more fun and frisky; a Doxa Sub-750T GMT with a blue and orange bezel - bright and bubbly, but capable of some serious depth.
Doxa Sub-750T GMT Caribbean - doxa300t.com
Omega Seamaster 300 GMT (reference 2834) - theoandharris.com
Samanthi (Sam)
Sam is Depth Charge’s love interest. She is the daughter of the dive-resort’s owner (and local diving legend), Sebastian. She is the only other character, bar Tusker, who’s watch is mentioned, albeit a brief and cryptic mention: “on her wrist… a beat-up Seiko diving watch hanging loosely on a metal band”. Iconic Seiko dive watch? SKX. Metal band? Jubilee. Enough said. I imagine Sam wearing the smaller 36mm reference (SKX013) rather than the 42mm SKX007, for its understated elegance and humble subtlety. But elegant as it may have been new, I imagine Sam’s watch coated in scratches from wreck-diving and caked in oil from fixing-up Land Rovers.
Seiko SKX013 on its original jubilee bracelet - bespokeunit.com
Malcolm Rausing
Malcolm Rausing is our villain. The son of a violent WW2 Royal Navy diver, Rausing is a cold and sterile character who stops at nothing to get what he wants. Him and his team are saturation divers - those who ascend to depths far out-of-reach for conventional divers, using a dive-bell filled with helium-rich air so as not to suffer from decompression sickness. For this, Malcolm and his team’s watches necessitate the infamous helium-escape-valve. Oh, and let's have the bad guys use Rolex for a change. For Rausing, I see the Sea-Dweller reference 116600. This is the first of the ‘modern’ Sea-Dwellers, with an updated case, bracelet, clasp and ceramic bezel, but still comes in at 40mm. This is a raw tool watch for the modern ‘sat diver’: sober and clean in its no-nonsense aesthetic, while entirely functional in design with its fully graduated hash-marked bezel. Cold and methodical like Rausing himself.
Rolex Sea-Dweller (reference 116600) - bobswatches.com
Aitkens & McElroy
Rory Aitkens and Gus McElroy are the two Scottish sat-divers employed for Rausing’s undercover mission. Aitkens is a man of expedience, having spent his father’s inheritance on “expensive wristwatches and Aberdeen’s numerous prostitutes”. I therefore get the impression that he wants his daily watch to be both capable of sat-diving, but also flashy and expensive. The two-tone Sea-Dweller reference 126603 is the perfect balance.
McElroy, on the other hand, seems more classical with his tastes. Heaton hints at this with the fact that McElroy owns a prized 1972 Mini Cooper back in Aberdeen. The vintage charm of a 70’s Sea-Dweller reference 1665 (AKA the ‘Great White’) fits the script. Perhaps both McElroy’s classic car and vintage watch are birth-year pieces…
Rolex Sea-Dweller (reference 126603) - hodinkee.com
Rolex Sea-Dweller ‘Great White’ (reference 1665) - vindvintage.com
Bonus Pick: Angus Rausing
Malcolm Rausing’s origins are explained when we learn about his father Angus’s time as a diver in the Royal Navy. Nowhere in the novel is it mentioned that Angus Rausing was a hydrographic surveyor, but it’s a good excuse to include a very interesting watch nonetheless. I imagine Angus would have donned this Longines H.S watch used by divers who would map the subaquatic terrain during WW2. This watch is from the early 40s, while the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, famed as the first dive watch with a rotating bezel, didn’t arrive on-deck until 1953.
1940s Longines Hydrographic Survey (H.S) Watch - hodinkee.com
Closing Thoughts
Watches in literature is sparse. The only other novel that comes to mind is Gary Shteyngart’s Lake Success, where hedge fund manager, Barry Cohen, gets on a greyhound bus tour to understand pre-Trump America. Barry’s and other characters’ watches are used to construct very rich character descriptions throughout the book. In TV and Film, Bond’s various watches are used to the same effect. Even Don Draper’s Rolex Explorer in Mad Men lets you know the protagonist is understated and serious, but often finds himself navigating new territory. It is said that you can tell a lot about a person from their watch, so it only makes sense to use watches to paint pictures of fictional characters too. Depth Charge goes that one step further - hinting at the watch, but having the reader speculate what each character’s watch might be.
Heaton is currently working on a sequel - Sweetwater - expected later this year. I look forward to more gripping adventures, fresh characters and new watches!