News · U-Boat

U-Boat's Profondo 10001 rates one metre deeper than the 10000 and costs 600 euros more

U-Boat's Profondo 10001 is rated a single metre deeper than the Profondo 10000, costs 600 euros more, sets a fragment of meteorite at six o'clock and runs to fifty numbered pieces.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 2 min read · 9 August 2026

The U-Boat Profondo 10001 on its titanium bracelet, its hand-oxidised copper and turquoise dial showing a meteorite fragment at six o'clock — Image: U-Boat

U-Boat is selling two Profondos at the moment. The 10000 MT is rated to 10,000 metres and costs 4,350 euros. The new 10001 Limited Edition is rated to 10,001 metres and costs 4,950. That is 600 euros for the extra metre, at a depth nobody is going anywhere near.

Neither number describes water a person survives, and U-Boat isn't pretending otherwise. There is something properly likeable about a brand picking a figure that daft and then caring enough to engrave it on the back.

The U-Boat Profondo 10001 on a hand-painted brown and turquoise leather strap, its oxidised dial matching the strap — The aged leather strap is hand-painted in Tuscany. Image: U-Boat

Copper, turquoise and a chunk of space rock

Most of the 600 euros is in the dial. Same three-level metal construction as the standard model, then hand-aged and hand-oxidised until it comes up copper and turquoise, with a fragment of genuine meteorite set at six o'clock. The numerals and hands carry beige Super-LumiNova, and the seconds hand is red.

The strap is aged leather, hand-painted by artisans in Tuscany, and a titanium bracelet is in the box as well. Fifty numbered pieces, where the standard Profondo runs to 100.

The domed sapphire is 9.7mm thick on its own. Image: U-Boat

Titanium, and 27mm of it

The case is titanium, 46mm in diameter and 27mm thick. No typo in that second figure, and no ordinary wrist wears 27mm comfortably. The domed sapphire accounts for 9.7mm of it on its own, with anti-reflective coating. An automatic helium valve sits at three o'clock, the unidirectional bezel screws down, and the caseback closes on what U-Boat calls its Locking Ring System.

U-Boat pressure-tests the standard Profondo to 1,000 atmospheres and says the 10001 has been tested to handle pressures equivalent to 10,001 metres. Those are the brand's own figures, not an ISO lab's. The dial reads 10001 METRI and leaves it there.

The titanium caseback of the Profondo, engraved with the reference 3600/A, a Neptune figure holding a trident, and the numbering 40 of 50 — Numbered 40 of 50, with the reference engraved. Image: U-Boat

The calibre is the least interesting part

Inside is a Sellita SW200 with U-Boat's own modifications, running at 28,800 vibrations an hour with 26 jewels and 41 hours of reserve, tucked under a skeletonised custom rotor. On a watch close to 5,000 euros that is the dullest line on the spec sheet, and it doesn't matter a bit. Anyone buying a Profondo for its movement has misread the watch completely.

The buyer has already decided a watch can be an object first, and U-Boat built a whole business on that customer, out of a villa in the hills above Lucca, with Italo Fontana drawing every model himself. The Profondo is that idea with everything turned up. I wouldn't wear one. Doesn't mean it shouldn't exist.

Neptune, a trident and number 40 of 50

The caseback carries the reference 3600/A, the 46mm diameter, EDIZIONE LIMITATA, 10001 mt, a Neptune holding his trident and Italo Fontana's signature. The one in U-Boat's own photographs is number 40 of 50.

Fifty pieces, priced in euros, sold direct. Whether any of the fifty is meant to reach an Australian wrist at an Australian figure, U-Boat hasn't said. The 4,350 euro 10000 MT is already out of stock on its own site, so these probably won't hang around either.