For those who spend any amount of time on the various watch review sites or forums, the Cave Dweller will be a familiar sight. If you’ve somehow missed seeing this watch, read on to see what gives the watch such a great reputation.
Based in New York, Boschett focuses on providing “premium quality watches at prices that are easy on your wallet.” Let’s take a look at the first part of that goal – premium quality. While it’s not always a true indicator, the heft of a diver gives you some sense of where you’re starting from.
With the Cave Dweller, the 44mm (16.5mm thick) case and 22mm five-link bracelet (with divers extension) are made out of 316L stainless steel – so this is a watch you definitely will feel on your wrist (it also means it can take some abuse). Now, why would a diver need to be that beefy, you might ask? Quite simply, it helps it to attain a 1000m water resistance rating.
To be sure, the sapphire crystal, screw down crown and screw-in caseback help to achieve that rating. And no – you and I are never going to hit those depths in the water. For me, though, it’s a sign of being built to withstand whatever can be thrown at it.
Of course, if the movement inside isn’t great, no sense in protecting it that well, right? Here, we have the Miyota 8215 automatic working away. This is definitely in-line with their goal (quoted above), and my personal experience with the movement in other watches I own has been nothing but positive.
Finally, if the design of a piece is lacking, it can’t be considered premium, can it? With our review sample, we had a brushed finish case, bracelet and bezel along with the matte blue dial. This “color” combination, along with the white indices, really puts together a clean look. At first, I wasn’t as sure about the matte dial, as it just seemed quite flat.
As I wore the piece, however, I really came to like the unobtrusiveness of the dial. It felt in line with the sheen (or lack thereof) the rest of the watch carries, and it kept the dial from being a distraction from timekeeping – which would be critical if you were actually diving. Almost as a counterpoint to the matte finish, though, we’ve got some really great lume on the dial, hands and 120-click bezel (though some more lume on the bezel would be a nicety),
That leaves us, finally, with the last part of their goal – affordability. As you can guess with the Miyota being in there, they’ve kept costs down. I was, frankly, surprised when I saw the price – only $475 (here) for this watch – and that’s on the stainless bracelet, as well as the (included) rubber strap.
Frankly, there’s a lot to like about this watch. If you’re in the market for a new diver for your collection, you really need to check out what Boschett has put together here with the Cave Dweller – with eleven(!) variations, you should be able to find a finish that’s to your liking.
And should you pick one up (or even if you don’t), you need to take a look at their multi-tool (here). I used this when I was resizing the bracelet, and it’s a definitely upgrade to whatever other “affordable” screwdriver sets you may have around (or, at least it was for me). For the $25 asking price, you get the following (via interchangeable bits that are stored in the handle):
- Four flathead screwdrivers (1.6mm, 1.2mm, 1.0mm, 0.8mm)
- Two pin-punches (1.0mm, 0.8mm)
- One spring-bar tool (1.2mm)
- One hex driver (1.6mm)
As an additional nicety, the removable top swivels, which allows you to use the tool one handed (since the other would be holding the watch, or a second screwdriver). While I’ve not dealt with many other multi-tools, this one really struck me as great quality for the price, and made adjusting the bracelet a breeze.
