Since you are a de facto watch nerd (and if you aren’t already you will soon be,) you ought to be familiar with the following experience: upon positioning a new watch on your wrist, whether you just opened the box of the timepiece you bought or are trying it on somewhere, something clicks. The watch feels “at home” as if you strapped on your favorite timekeeping device for the 100th time or know instantly that you have found the next one. Its combination of design and proportions deeply resonates with your inner watch enthusiast core, and its specifications happen to be what you’ve always been looking for. Wearing the watch simply feels good and natural. It is the best of sensation. And this is what we are all looking for all the time scouring the world wide web for a next acquisition or walking down the aisles of watch shows, or drooling over the exhibition cases at local watch boutiques. We are seeking for the next timepiece we want to spend a lot of time with and put through its paces, whatever genre it is. 

That is all of what I’m experiencing right now wearing the new Ianos Amfivios on my averagely-sized French wrist. The terrible thing is that the timekeeping device I’m wearing is not mine to keep as it is a press sample I received from someone and will have to ship to someone else. However, strapping it on—wrapping its incredible one-piece rubber strap around my wrist—made me understood that I ought to add it to my collection eventually, not only because it “resonates” with me with the same intensity as two tectonic plaques colliding and one sliding over the other (to keep a complex natural and scientific phenomenon simple,) but also because it has an incredible story to tell and a long list of specifications that we need to go over. You see, the Amfivios is the sequel to the OYK Ianos created for active members of the Greek Underwater Demolition Team—that is the story—and the latter was so good the brand decided it ought to make a civilian version of it even though it was supposed to be done with dive watches. 

That is another story in and of itself. 

Specifications 

It was April of 2025 when we took a first look at Ianos, one of the two Greek microbrands I know of, and probably one of the only two that actually exist. Back then, we took a deep dive (the best puns are the oldest ones, right?) with the Dytis ID01, one of the most visually novel and intriguing dive watches we’ve ever looked at, and one that told a compelling story about Greek culture, art, and history. The Dytis is one of these watches that could have ended up looking gimmicky should Jacob Hatzidimitriou, the brand’s founder and owner, not have found clever ways to weave Greek imagery and art within the dial and case’s design so that the Dytis looks like a proper tool watch whilst looking like a tool watch that never was before. It was easy to fall for the singular profile of the case and fresh layout of the dial, all the while admiring the fact that the Dytis was properly built and spec’ed out to be capable of handling professional-grade adventures and missions. And there was a natural, albeit challenging, next step for Ianos. 

The next came in the form of a commission by the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation whose mission overarches numerous aspects of Greeks’ life and culture, where it acts to protect the environment (i.e. by cleaning coastlines,) create jobs, and empower small businesses which put Greece front stage in the world (amongst many, many other things), i.e. a micro watch brand that is infused with authenticity and character. Ianos was thus asked to create a dive watch specifically for active members of the Greek Underwater Demolition Team (whose acronym is “OYK” in Greek) to thank them for their service, courage, and dedication to their mission. This led to the creation of the OYK diver we mentioned earlier that only members of the OYK teams could own as it was not made commercially available. Ianos manufactured 300 of these superb divers and the response to this model was so positive, and the demand for a civilian version so strong, that the brand thought it best to make it happen, to make the watch we’re looking at today. 

Going back to the experience mentioned in the introduction—of strapping on a piece that resonates deeply with our inner watch nerd—I believe that a big part of this beautiful emotion stems from the purpose-driven nature of this model and the story it comes with, however new it is, compared to, say, a Tudor Pelagos which was born from the brand’s long-standing relationship with the French Marine Nationale. Because both the Pelagos and Amfivios were created for elite military units and thus major emphasis was put on the watches’ legibility, on-wrist comfort, and technical capabilities. Then the first point of interest with the Ianos is how good it wears and how naturally it fits my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist: the case is made of material-blasted grade 2 titanium which refracts light and adds extra resistance to minor shocks and scratches of various intensities, and measures 41mm in diameter, 49m lug-to-lug, 14.68mm thick (including the crystal and strap, more on that in a bit,) and comes with a 20mm lug width. And it  weighs 86 grams. 

The Ianos Amfivios is built on the remarkable platform that was the Dytis from which it borrows the case profile and dimensions, the “strap channel,” and the overall dial layout and construction. The strap channel mentioned twice already is exactly what it sounds like: through the middle of the case-back a wide channel was moulded so that the one-piece rubber strap sits flush against the case and wrist and does not add any bulk. The strap in itself is the best one-piece rubber fastening system I’ve ever come across as it is thick but supple, as it doesn’t stick to the case or skin but remains anchored onto the latter, and for it is equipped with a material-blasted grade 2 titanium buckle. But the Ianos Amfivios is more: a Sellita SW360-1 caliber (4Hz/56 hours of power reserve) that comes with a small seconds sub-register at the six; a domed sapphire crystal with several layers of inner anti-reflective coating; a crisp 120-click grade 2 titanium bezel with a lumed pip; 3D lume blocks; a 300m depth-rating; and a sapphire case-back. 

Phew, that’s a lot, ain’t it? And the early conclusion we can draw from the Amfivios’ tech specs is that they do tell a good story about its military provenance which is now transferred to us mere mortals and the civilian market. A rare occurrence that is so on two accounts we will swing back to later on. 

Design 

What is attractive to many of us watch enthusiasts and collectors about the most known houses of Swiss watchmaking a la Rolex, Tudor, Omega, Vacheron Constantin and others, is the fact that they have, or had, good relationships with various elite military groups for which they’ve manufactured outstanding tool watches. But these units, just like the brand they collaborate with, are always the same usual suspects: French, British, and American armed forces, as if these singular collaborations were only reserved for specific brands and a select few of the world’s militaries. So it feels refreshing to see a Greek microbrand issue a special unit diver for Greek underwater demolition teams as it is a horological marriage that couldn’t have been made more natural. For the Amfivios is endowed with more visual character and personality than most dive watches we’ve looked at on Mainspring do and thus it was the least possible suspect to be made into a military timepiece. What does that mean? This: it’s too singular to work but it did work. 

What made the Dytis so darn attractive, and which contributes immensely to making the Amfivios so as well, was the fresh and novel approach Ianos took designing the dial and case and how much meaning each design element sprinkled everywhere on both held. (To know more about all of this I suggest reading the Dytis review.) Ianos transferred this unique design language into the Amfivios because it worked and is unique and lends itself naturally to constitute an ultra-legible piece of horological gear: broad hour and minute hands, lumed to excess, and painted with black surrounds, point at raised lumed blocks shaped into tapering rectangles, complemented by three dimensional lumed minute markers planted into the steep but short rehaut. Above the six we find a discreet small-seconds sub-register composed of a radial grooved pattern and a small lumed hand, the model name below it, and the brand name above the pinion. All time-reading elements are set against a matte black dial for that superlative legibility military divers have. 

And then there is the icing on the cake, or cakes: in order to preserve the dial symmetry (given the rare addition of a small-seconds sub-register on a dive watch,) Ianos added a framed date aperture at the twelve, lumed as well because why the hell not, and of seemingly the exact same proportions as the three and nine o’clock hour markers. This is the coup-de-maître as French watch nerds would put it. However, there is more: all 3D lumed elements on the dial—the date aperture, the minute and hour markers—as well as the lines marking the cardinal points on the small-seconds aperture, are painted in a lume compound which glows blue in dark conditions whilst the hands and bezel pip glow green in order to more easily tell the time-telling and time-measuring functions apart. That is genius and a hell lot of details to infuse into one dial. Beyond the latter, there is the majestic case of the Dytis that remains so on the Amfivios, only two elements of which we will highlight: the grade 2 titanium crown and Yatch-Master-like bezel. 

The latter is not a point of contention, by the way, because oftentimes brands must borrow from what was done previously in order to create a complete watch whenever it makes sense for their design: I believe that no other design solutions would have looked at home on the singular Ianos case but brushed raised bezel markings set against a matte texture to match the material-blasted matte finish of the grade 2 titanium case. Thus something borrowed becomes something new when used intelligently. 

The Heart of the Matter

Before we continue—and by the way—the Amfivios case is remarkable and I wish we had more time to study it in greater details, but we’ve already gone through this exercise more than a year ago when discussing the Dytis so please make a detour to that review to learn more about it. So, the heart of the matter with the Ianos Amfivios is as follows: given where it comes from and whom it was made for, it wouldn’t have shocked any of us should the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation have commissioned a well-established Swiss brand to make a dive watch for the OYK. That is what the world’s militaries typically do: in order to make something that stands out, they go knock at the door of the usual suspects, and bigger players of the horological industry, to make a special watch for their elite military units. This wouldn’t have entirely gone against the Foundation’s mission of promoting and supporting all aspects of Greek and Hellenic society and culture since the OYK would have been the beneficiaries; however, a core element of its mission, as it seems to be from the outside looking in, is to back the little local guys: a small Greek enterprise that makes singular things. 

Thus, working with Ianos for that purpose was the natural and right thing to do, but also it constitutes a first in the Greek military for never before has it commissioned a dive watch for its underwater demolition teams. That’s the first “first” and a major one at that. The second one is for Ianos itself: as a relatively new microbrand, it had the unique opportunity to create a singular diver for the OYK and we could all agree this is remarkable and the brand remarkably met the challenge with the OYK diver on all accounts—specifications that are generous and of high-standing, design that is singular and fresh, and an overall excellent execution when it comes to the quality of the manufacturing and finishing about which you ought to take my word for. Bravo, a big bravo to Ianos. 

Conclusion 

But, I’m sure you’ve noticed there is something missing in this review…the eventual mentioning of a watch’s price. It didn’t occur to me to talk about it before because it didn’t seem to matter at all as there was so much we needed to discuss that was exceptional about this timepiece already. But, price does matter eventually should you be as charmed by the Ianos Amfivios as I have been for it is a beautiful, unique mechanical microbrand diver just like we like them here at Mainspring. Thus, how much? 2,172.80€/$2,470 USD excluding taxes (so don’t add 20% if you’re outside the European Union) which is above your run-of-the-mill underwater exploration tool watch and those made of simpler tech and materials—irrespective of their design—however at the same level as other equally singular dive watches too few of which exist in today’s watch world. The last piece of info you should have is this: it is readily available on Iano’s website which is neat. 

Thanks for reading.