It”s been a year and a half since we reviewed the Vintage from the folks at Molarity Watch Group (seen here), which I concluded was a little bit of a mixed bag (dug the styling, but it had some faults). Well, in those intervening months, new models have been released, and today we”ll be taking a look at their Deep Diver.
With the Deep Diver, I”m happy to say that MWG has made a lot of improvements since the last time we”ve looked at them. For starters, the movement has changed over from a quartz to an automatic, and a nice affordable one at that – the . Lume is also vastly improved (ie, the hands have it), and water resistance is an astounding 1000 meters (so, yes, there is a HEV included). Sure, the WR is overkill, but at least it makes it feel like the 48mm stainless steel case (18mm thick) is somewhat justified.
We reviewed their 03 model, which features a red/black/white color pallete, as well as a 24-hour subdial (if I can”t have a GMT indicator, I”ll take one of those complications as a consolation prize) driven by the automatic movement. The starkness of the dial means that it”s not cluttered, and easier to read, with one exception.
That exception is the hour hand. While it has a red tip, the stem portion of it is black, which means it blends into the dial fairly easily – making it a little more difficult to locate that hand than I”d like. Of course, if you”re using this on a dive, that”s likely less of a concern – and the minute hand is very easy to locate.
Topping that dial you have a flat mineral crystal, which is surrounded by a unidirectional bezel. This also maintains a relatively simple appearance, with a lumed pip at 12 o”clock, and a few painted (but not lumed) indices. The stainless steel of the bezel complements a rough and tumble tool watch look, I”ll give it that. For me, since I”m not a diver, I would like to see (or have an option, perhaps) to have an insert of some sort, with perhaps some more lume on that bezel.
That steely look also carries over to the silicon strap. There”s an attachment on the lower lug that”s another chunk of curved steel, emblazoned with the logo. It adds a bit of style, but I think that it perhaps is adding another point of failure to the strap (down the road, due to how it attaches) – not to mention if you swap straps, that bit of metal is going to be gone.
As with the Vintage model we reviewed, the Deep Diver was a mixed bag for me. First and foremost, I want to make clear is this a massively improved watch in many, many ways (movement, lume, overal fit and finish), and not, intrinsically, a bad watch. For me personally, it is just too big for what I generally gravitate towards (though, it was comfortable on my wrist), aside from other design suggestions I noted.
If you”re looking for a big, steely diver, the Deep Diver is probably worth at least a once-over in your searching. Coming in at a price (reduced, for now) of $568, it”s facing a lot of competition in the $500-750 segment, for certain. If you”d prefer to save a few bucks, but dig the style, they do have a Miyota OS20 driven quartz chronograph for around $540 as well.
