Not too long ago I watched a video of a well-known brand tooting its own horn for creating unique watches which challenge our ancestral and commonly-agreed upon understanding of what a watch should look like and how it should function, and which, to put it bluntly, turned the whole horological world upside down. (Their words, not mine.) Inventions such as dials without markers or watches without hands which to me are the horological equivalent of a sandwich without bread or a pen that doesn’t write. There are actually more and more brands claiming—and advertising on their own channels—that they are disrupting the industry and forcing us to question the long-established codes of traditional watchmaking, whilst in reality they aren’t being that creative or that disruptive. They just think they are because they are genuinely arrogant and unaware of what’s going on outside of their too-quaint-to-be-true design studios (in a Swiss village or by the French riviera, as you very well know.) 

But what if doing something different was more simple and much more straightforward? Cheaper and less bizarre? Instead of creating a diver with a jellyfish-like-transparent case made of solidified saliva collected from hand-raised oysters in the New York Harbor, why not make what would normally be a chronograph an underwater-capable tool watch and call it a dive watch? Doing so simply invites us to think back at the intended goals of such timekeeping devices and which features were embedded into their engineering and manufacturing. In other words: good water resistance, a legible dial, lume, and some kind of accoutrement to measure how many minutes we have left before needing to surface to swallow a big transparent chunk of air. Well, as I know you’ve guessed it already, today we’re going to talk about such a watch: the Sunrex Banana Reef which should be a racing chronograph but which instead the brand categorized as being a diver. This promises to be interesting especially at $530 USD. 

Corrections (1/23/26): price changed from $490 to $530 USD; crystal is mineral, not sapphire.

Specifications 

Let’s set aside what we know a dive watch should be for a moment. And let us instead trace our steps back to the early days of underwater time-measuring instruments to better understand what the Banana Reef has that is not what you think it actually should be. When splashing about in lagoon or zig-zagging inside a World War II shipwreck, the watch we strap to our wrist has to be, duh, resistant to water ingress so that its timekeeping functionality is not affected. This means in general a screw-down case-back, screw-down crown, and gaskets sealing the whole thing tight. The Sunrex has a screw-down crown and a screw-in case-back (see the four little screws?) and gaskets and thus claims 100 meters of water resistance which, as we already agreed, is enough for all recreational divers and some of the professional ones. (Though I doubt the latter would take what is a chronograph to fix the feet of an oil rig 200 meters below the surface.) However, 100 meters is really good for a dive watch as it means it can handle most situations. 

I was recently told that if you’re shipwreck diving your timekeeping device should be resistant to the magnetic fields emitted by the steel hulls of 20th century seacrafts and submarines which is something I had never thought about before. Thus magnetic protection which would come in the form of a soft-iron cage for mechanical movements in most cases but which isn’t necessary when you’re dealing with a battery-powered caliber. Indeed, the Banana Reef is equipped with the Epson VS75A solar quartz movement which comes with a stated monthly accuracy of ±20 seconds, a running time of six months once fully charged, and a 60-minute totalizer for your dives (or else) as well as a 24-hour indicator. What we all also know a dive watch should be equipped with is good lume even though you actually don’t need it unless you’re going deeper than 200 meters or diving at night; but hell, the Sunrex is equipped with generous applications of aged lume on the hands, hour markers of various shapes and sizes. 

Moreover, the Banana Reef is equipped with what the brand describes as being a museum-grade domed mineral crystal with inner anti-reflective coating. I don’t know what this refers to but I can tell you this: the crystal is thick given the deep “tick” which emanates from its surface when I tap it with my fingernail, which I know is as far from being a scientific method as anything could be, but here we are and there it is. Lastly, let’s chat about the case and its dimensions. The Sunrex Banana Reef’s case was given the styling of a 1930s cushion case which was treated with a black  DLC coating for extra resistance to shocks, scratches, and corrosion, which makes sense to have done for an underwater tool watch. And it measures a comfortable 40mm in diameter, 47mm lug-to-lug, 13.5mm in thickness, and comes with a 20mm lug width. The Sunrex ships on a vegetable tan leather strap and Tyvek strap which is a nylon, leather-upper fastening system, both equipped with quick-release spring-bars which perfectly fit within the lyre lugs. 

Design

So we put on our big-boys and big-girls pants on and summed up the courage to re-examine what makes a dive watch from a technical standpoint. Our conclusion is: the Sunrex Banana Reef qualifies as a dive watch on account of the good lume, good water resistance, anti-magnetic properties of the solar-quartz movement, and the corrosion resistance of the DLC coated case. In other words, it is time for us watch nerds to perhaps rethink what certain genres of watches have been for the past seven decades without having to deprive a timekeeping device from its basic time-telling functionality (referring back to the introduction of this review.) Already for $530 USD you get a lot of watch for your hard-earned cash looking at the specifications of the Banana Reef. But between you and I, when I first saw this model I was a bit skeptical as to what this watch is supposed to be even though Sunrex categorizes it as a diver whilst it is a de facto chronograph. I like to think of myself as being open-minded but this watch has been testing my pre-conceived ideas of such watches. 

My skepticism first came from the juxtaposition of a three sub-register chronograph with the black DLC-coated cushion case which is a first for me. It also stems from the lack of consistency in the design of the sub-registers which creates a second clash of norms in addition to the aforementioned element. So we must dig a little deeper and get closer in order to better grasp what makes the Banana Reef a watch which did seduce me even though I wasn’t sure why. First, Sunrex blanketed the dial with vintage details which endow this model with an air of an old timepiece which would have landed on a white sand beach and whose dial would have been recased inside a modern steel body: the thick hour markers were given fake stains to make them look as if they had survived many decades of exposure to the sun during exotic dives in the Caribbeans; the chapter ring of 24-hour indicator sub-register at the three o’clock received a vintage Rolex GMT Master II Pepsi treatment; and the hour and minute hands were given a brushed copper-like finish. 

In a way, the Banana Reef’s dial looks like a frankenstein watch designed this way in purpose, I believe, to indeed force us to question what makes a diver a diver and the fact that, before the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, brands did make bezel-less professional dive watches—Panerai did before World War II. Moreover, when we further explore the dial of the Banana Reef we are met with a decidedly stealthy theme, as it and the three sub-dials are black, the text above the pinion and most of minute dashes and tachymeter scale are printed in a copper color, and that the 4:30 date aperture is made of white numerals printed on a black disc. Paired with a black DLC-coated case and polished bezel, what we mostly see when looking at the dial are the copper hands and larger hour markers, making the Banana Reef legible as tool watches generally are. The case, moreover, is endowed with a very classic 1930s cushion-case allure complete with lyre lugs which appear (but aren’t) soldered to the case, a conical screw-down crown and small chronograph pushers mounted at an angle. 

The Heart of the Matter

I didn’t expect that the Sunrex Banana Reef would do what it has done: force me to ponder what makes certain watches what they are and not something else, and how a type of timekeeping device could something else and vice versa. For the past many years we’ve accepted the fact that a diver has to have a rotating bezel, a legible dial, excellent lume and good water resistance, and that any watch which doesn’t come with these features isn’t a diver (with a few exceptions for the World War II-era watches underwater demolition teams—UDT—wore and which have been re-issued.) No, instead a chronograph with a legible dial, good water resistance, and great lume could be used similarly, even though keeping an eye on the bottom time on a tiny 6-minute sub-register isn’t as easy to do as it is with a large dive bezel. However, most of the functionality of a dive watch is there and the Sunrex does enough for all recreational divers. Moreover, this model is a beautiful contradiction of styles and designs which transformed what I first believed to be a frankenstein watch into a cool timepiece. 

So at the heart of the matter is this: only a microbrand could have done what Sunrex accomplished to do with the Banana Reef—to give us a different horological experience at a reasonable price and which doesn’t fully reinvent the wheel. The latter trend can be tiresome and frustrating as brands invest a lot of time and effort to make new watches which disrupt traditional watchmaking just for the sake of doing far-fetching and ridiculous switcheroos, again, just for the sake of it. Instead, Sunrex did a typical microbrand maneuver which is to subtly change our perception of traditional horology at attainable prices—all things considered looking at the Banana Reef’s spec sheet—and which still permits us to wear a watch that actually looks like one and not a science-fiction machine. 

Conclusion

This is our first encounter with Sunrex and it won’t be the last. The Banana Reef is a unique watch which will make for a good conversation piece if that is what you’re looking for or simply an effective tool watch you can wear everyday to do about everything and anything which is what many of us are looking for. At $530 USD it would be challenging for me to find something else on the market that does the same thing for the same price, but never say never, right? You can learn more about Sunrex by visiting the brand’s website. 

Thanks for reading.