The sapphire crystal is now double-domed with anti-reflective coating on both sides, while an additional sapphire crystal has been added to the caseback to give a view of the movement within, which remains an ETA 2892 automatic.
The dial has received the most noticeable update, with the sterile black dial being exchanged for a champagne dial with the Benrus logo at 12 o’clock and additional text at 6. Purists will undoubtedly cry foul, but if Benrus wants to sell watches to a wider audience, having a more familiar dial style like this probably helps.
The aluminum bezel insert has been exchanged for one made of scratch-resistant ceramic, and that’s not the only change the brand has made to the bezel. Curiously, it now features a diver-style 60-minute unidirectional bezel instead of the original bidirectional (or friction-fit) 12-hour style. This effectively makes the watch into a dive watch, whereas before it had a more unique feature with its mini GMT function.
The watch comes with a two-piece nylon strap in a taupe color that’s well-matched to the dial, while the hands and indices retain the BGW9 Super-LumiNova lume of the standard Benrus Type 1 Mil-Spec. Water resistance has been reduced from 36.5 bar (~1,200 feet) to 20 bar (~660 feet), and it’s unclear if the new watch passed the same MIL-W-50717 mil-spec standard as its predecessor — Benrus makes no mention of it on the M1’s product page.
