INTRODUCING THE IANOS MIHANIKOS

The Mihanikos is our second diver. What started with the Avyssos, we feel obligated to continue with the Mihanikos.

The Avyssos was inspired by the minimalist approach to sponge diving encompassed in the kampanelopetra diving technique.

The Mihanikos is starkly different in that it presents a story of commercialization and industrialization of the sponge diving industry, rapid introduction of new diving techniques that brought wealth but with them also pain, death and suffering to an island that had no other alternative.

Hence, the design is much more rugged, utilitarian, and pragmatic, focusing on what a sponge diver would need to wear for the exploitation of the sea floor rather than a representation of a natural diving technique.

In it, the Mihanikos holds the story of generations old diving history, full of hardship and death but also courage and persistence in the face of danger; a story worth telling.

DIVING INDUSTRIALIZATION

In 1860, a travelling merchant brought a diving suit to Symi. In order to convince the sceptical Symians of its safety and practicality, the merchant put his pregnant wife in the suit and made her dive in it to prove its safety! From that point on, sponge diving changed forever.

In neighbouring Kalymnos, the diving suit change the way people lived and dived forever, the mark of that change still apparent today, leaving us with the lasting image of a diver in the bulky, rugged, bashed in, diving scaphandre.

Inspired by this image, we wanted the first image of the Mihanikos to be reminiscent of that scaphandre and more specifically the big bulky ring in which the face of the diver was barely visible. As such, the bezel is wider than usual in order to create that porthole effect.

The width of the bezel is enhanced by its simplicity and lack of numerals as the focus of the sponge divers changed from counting minutes to counting hours on the bottom of the ocean, while the grated surface serves as a testament of the rugged and utilitarian character and purpose of the watch.

Finally, its one piece construction signifies the simplicity of the diver suit, emphasizing the fact that the as the diving suit was put together, so does the watch seem to have been put together by three main pieces, the bezel, the midsection and the bottom.

DIVING WITH THE SCAPHANDRE

Kalymnians used (and abused) the scaphandre to its limits. While the maximum recommended depth for scaphandre use was 125 feet for a few minutes, Kalymnian divers routinely dove to 145 – 175 feet where they remained for hours.

It is not hard to imagine that the requirements for a watch that would suit a scaphandre wearing sponge diver would be starkly different than that of a freediver. This meant a totally different approach in the design of the watch beginning from the dial, while still retaining those links to the past of sponge diving tradition.

The dial colours is a simple dark blue, reminiscent of the dark blue Mediterranean Sea which was the divers’ hunting ground and representing the sombreness of their work.

The minute markers have been removed as the diving times now spanned hours, not minutes on the dark bottom of the ocean.

The seconds mechanism, simulates something greater than seconds passing. Its design is that of the original manual air pumps which the diving crew used to supply air to the first scaphandre divers. To us, it symbolizes the change from the diving stone to the scaphandre age and the literal lifeline of the sponge divers.

THE VOYAGE

Kalymnos, is an island so barren that only 18% of it can be cultivated, leading Kalymnians to turn to the sea for their sustenance, and it is there that they found abudance. As one old Kalymnian diver put it “The plains that we did not have we found on the sea surface and the fields at the bottom of the ocean”. Combined with the fact that the quality of sponges found in the Dodecanese were amongst the best in the Mediterranean, sponge diving became the main source of income.

The trips themselves, were anything but pleasurable. The divers would prepare for their trips in March, leave Kalymnos in April and return in late September, venturing from Italy to the African coast and from Portugal to Cyprus in 10m boats, 5 – 7 divers each, surviving on little more than bread and olives. Such was the expanse of the area they covered that Kalymnian divers said “we did not sail the Mediterranean – we walked it!” And truly according to estimates, if you survived a 20 years diver career, one diver alone could have spent more than 4 years of his life, walking on the bottom of the Mediterranean!

As the diving technique changed, and life was overtaken by death, everyday life in Kalymnos also changed – while the departure of the divers was previously seen as a celebration every departure was treated as a funeral procession for the living. Upon their departure, women would don black head covers as widows, until (and if) their men returned to the island, living in agony from April to September, their only contact being with the supporting boat which the divers used to send sponges and mail to Kalymnos once or twice within those 6-7 months.

THE MECHANICS

The word used in Kalymnos for the diving suit and pump was the engine (Mihani) and the person working on it – the mechanic (Mihanikos).

These men, knowing full well the dangers of their occupation would risk life and limb every day, every dive, knowing that every dive could be their last, in order to provide for their families – a living image of courage, bravery and heart.

The realization of their importance in the venture is also signified by a popular phrase of the time:“either sponge or carcass”, the value of the diving suit far exceeding the value of a diver’s life.

Despite this, the Mechanics didn’t have to be told twice to dive and certainly did not object. For any diver who had been paid and had given his word to dive would be called a coward if he didn’t hold his word.

These were hardworking, honourable men, who suffered greatly, along with their loved ones. From 1886 – 1910, there were 10,000 deaths and 20,000 paralyzed divers in Kalymnos alone and the death rate of Kalymnian sponge divers during these years was 42% - more than ANY battle of ANY world war.

Despite this, the Kalymnian fleet grew and at its peak reached 400 boats, with about 10 divers on each, along with 70 sponge harpooning boats and 70 trawlers, such was their conviction and courage while facing the very real possibility of a horrible death.

THE DIVING SUIT

Diving suits were the most expensive and useful piece of equipment in the sponge diving voyages. Divers used to take turns diving in them multiple times a day, and while they were built to sustain the pressures of hard, continuous work, divers were also used to repairing them along the way to get their full money’s worth. A piece of equipment truly made for purpose and utility.

In the same spirit, the Mihanikos case has been designed with purpose in mind. It has very few corners, opting for a more rounded design to simulate the curvature of a blown out suit, and in combination with the wide bezel, presents the image of the scaphandre. From the side, the soft round sponge design which is what the divers they put their lives in jeopardy for, is clearly evident, the effect also magnified by the curved glass that follows the lines of the bezel.

The lugs have also been designed as a continuous band around the watch, simulating a two piece effect of the watch, signifying the fact that the suit itself was put together on the diver – gloves, boots, helmet all being tied and bolted on the diver.

Finally, the strap channel, the element that surprised and also thrilled dive watch enthusiasts with its unique take on the incorporation of the strap into the design of the case, remains in the design as an integral part of the Ianos DNA.

THE SONG

A song, its origin lost in history, unites Kalymnos and encompasses all sponge diving history into a few verses. The song is called Ο ΜΗΧΑΝΙΚΟΣ – THE MECHANIC and the accompanying dance symbolizing a stricken diver who despite his sickness and inability to walk is moved by the music and finds the courage to dance as he once did.

The first of the song’s verses and the most important one is “Η ΜΗΧΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΘΑ ΓΙΝΩ Η ΣΤΟΝ ΑΜΜΟ Θ’ ΑΠΟΜΕΙΝΩ” meaning I will either be a mechanic or remain in the sand. This relates to both the fact that they were buried at sea or some foreign shore but also to the fact that the divers used to bury stricken divers in hot sand to alleviate bends pain.

The song continues with “ΚΙ ΑΝ ΠΕΘΑΝΩ ΜΗ ΜΕ ΚΛΑΨΕΙΣ ΜΕΣ ΣΤΟΝ ΑΜΜΟ ΝΑ ΜΕ ΘΑΨΕΙΣ” meaning and if I die, don’t cry for me, bury me in the sand, the fearlessness of the diver, giving instructions to be followed upon his demise.

As a lasting tribute to the Kalymnian sponge divers ,on the flange of the dial, we have inscribed the phrases of the Mihanikos song, that encapsulate what Kalymnian life was all about – stoic contemplation of a hard life and bravery in the face of death, such writing to be “hidden” from sight from the unknowing, but easily apparent to the one who searches.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

MOVEMENT

Swiss Made
Sellita SW360-1 - Mechanical Automatic Movement
Size 11’’ 1/2 (ø25.60mm)
31 Jewels
Power reserve approx. 42 hours
Oscillator frequency: 28,800 A/h - 4hz
Date Function

CASE

43mm diameter
50.84mm lug to lug
Height: 15.75mm from top of glass to bottom of case (12.25 from top of glass to top of strap channel)
Stainless steel 316L
Water resistance 300m/30ATM
Unidirectional stainless bezel with luminescent index
Domed sapphire glass with anti-reflective coating
Screw-down stainless steel crown
Strap channel for 20mm strap

STRAPS & BUCKLE

20mm lug width
Italian leather single-pass strap cured with an underside coating ensuring water usability and great aging
Italian made fully customized rubber single-pass strap with sponge pattern
Stainless steel 316L pin buckle with IANOS logo and strap loop

DIAL

Luminous sponge-like hour markers
Luminous 12 o’clock hour marker with integrated date function
“Air pump” small seconds mechanism with luminous dot
Flange with embossed Mihanikos song lyrics in Greek

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