Before I Dive right into you

“Hello there, I’m Ed. I’ve been collecting watches since I was 20 years old,” Ed Sheeran declared to the watch world back in 2019.

To most, he’s the second most-streamed artist of the 2010s.[1] But for the small community of watch enthusiasts, he’s “Ed, the watch guy.” In that introductory post, Ed shows off a striking variety of watches you might expect from a tasteful collector with money to spare: an A. Lange Zeitwerk, IWC Big Pilot, and a Bamford Nautilus 5726A, calling the Patek the most-worn watch on his mega-arena Divide tour. But he also shows off selections from a number of independent brands, explaining that “one thing I love doing on tour is finding independent watch brands from the country I’m touring.” He shares wrist shots of a watch from JS Watch Company from Iceland and a vintage Sturmanskie from Russia.

He’s doing his part to spread the watch bug too: as I featured last year, Sheeran gifted a customized Tudor Black Bay with the Divide logo on the dial to every member of the Divide touring crew.

Thinking out Loud

Now on to today’s main event: An Enicar Sherpa Ultradive. As mentioned, it’s pretty known Ed’s a watch guy. But, some celeb watch spots still make my jaw drop. Which is how I felt when I saw this Instagram post from Nico (@_jimjupiter):

That’s Ed Sheeran (“@teddysphotos” for the IG natives) wearing an Enicar Sherpa Ultradive. In short, the Ultradive is one of the coolest dive watches ever made. It features a large, 40mm Super Compressor case manufactured by Ervin Piquerez SA (EPSA), an inner rotating diver’s bezel, and a big, bold crown guard for the dual-crown layout. It’s a daring dive watch that doesn’t look like anything else. For a close-up look at an excellent example, check out this Ultradive previously sold by Wind Vintage (in the listing, Mr. Wind even mentions the Ultradive is a favorite of Sheeran’s).

We tried to do our part to hype up Enicar last year (here and here), but nothing draws attention to an up-and-coming vintage brand quite like a photo of said brand on one of the biggest collectors/rockstars in the world. I mean, if Kanye can help pump up prices of the Cartier Crash 4x, who’s to tell what the ceiling could be for the Ultradive (and Enicar more broadly)?

More important than one celebrity sighting though, there’s a dedicated community advancing research and scholarship of the fun, funky vintage brand that sports Saturn as its logo. A recent book provides an exciting look at the history of the brand and its importance in the history of racing, exploring, and watchmaking. This passion and scholarship is the type of foundation that can serve to support a real, sustained market for vintage Enicar collecting, ensuring it’s not a passing trend.

[1] Btw, spots 1-3 (Drake, Ed, Posty), are all taken by noted watch guys with big-time collections. Take a look at Post Malone’s collection.

Note: Thanks to Nico — Sheeran’s biggest fan in all of Westeros — for letting me write up this find. Find more from him on all things Enicar at Enicar101.com.