My Summertime Love
Now, the overall aesthetic and design of a watch is my main concern, more than if it beats at 3 hz vs 4 hz or if it has 42 vs 60 hours of power reserve. Specs are great but they need to serve the watch and not vice versa. San Martin's few original designs definitely had an aesthetic, just not one that was appealing whatsoever.
For example:
SAN MARTIN original style octopus with leather strap mechanical watch steel SN025-G - San Martin Official Store
SAN MARTIN self-designed limited edition mechanical diving titanium watch SN070-T - San Martin Official Store
But the new nh34 gmt caught my eye especially in the turquoise dial. And since they have coupons or sales approximately 100% of the time I was able to get it for $280. I'm sure it's been cheaper than that depending on what reseller you go to.
Anyway, watch shows up about 8 days after ordering and it's great. Really great. One pic and then I'll dive into the design a bit.
This watch is surprisingly hard to photograph. The logo on the dial disappears and it becomes a featureless hexagon from many angles, had to oversharpen that pic, the others are better. The dial in real life is about the color it looks here, in some pictures like my last two below it looks more blue. It is blue but with a decent amount of green to it.
What is great about this watch.
- Lot going on with 5 colors on the dial / bezel / handset but it works. Instead of busy, indecisive, and chaotic it feels chill and fun. Just out here doing it's own thing.
- The case finishing is excellent. Easily as good as my Oris Divers 65. Easily. The brushed surfaces are very fine grained and satiny. The polished chamfer gives it a little twist and bit of visual interest. The coin edge on the bezel is small-ridged and not aggressive at all. It's very cool and chill.
- 39.5 mm works on any wrist. Not too big, not small, just chilling in the middle.
- date matched date wheel isn't all that common at this price point but that's pretty cool and chill to have
- 12.5 mm thick with a domed sapphire crystal. Not chunky, just chill. Can it fit under a shirt cuff? It can fit under a shirt cuff. Cool.
- beads of rice bracelet is much more cool and chill than an oyster or engineer bracelet. Quick adjust? Yes. Just do your thing man, supersize those fries. San Martin's got you.
- oh you're gonna be in the dark? Relax, it's cool. Lume is plenty good, it's at the same level as an Oris Divers 65. It's not as good as a Tissot Seastar but it's in the neighborhood, and dude? It's cool, and it's chill. Don't worry so much.
- it's a caller gmt but it's under $300 and really I only fly to another time zone like 3-4 times per year so having the regular hour hand be my home time zone is good actually.
- there's no hours on the chapter ring so it's only dual time but you know what? Chapter ring hours suck. They're tiny and dumb and tryhard and that is not the relaxed vibe we're going for here
- 100m wr is the perfect choice. This is your cool vacation in Hawaii, relax on the beach watch. You're never going diving in this watch because it's not a dive watch so why give it dive specs and fatten it up?
- perfectly sized indices that aren't too big and flashy, just doing exactly what they need to. I maybe could see them being 30% larger or so, or at least I think it would be interesting to see if that still works. I think the current size fits the aesthetic and might not even like them if they were larger, but it would be interesting to see if that still works.
- solid case back. What, you really want to stare at an NH34 movement? No you don't. Idiot.
The design for this watch really blows my mind. It's so harmonious. It's rare to find every single detail on any watch that fits together in a cohesive manner, moreso when it's not a minimalist watch where there's less to go wrong, and essentially never on AliBaba tier "original design" Chinese watches. Other than maybe playing around with the indices the only thing I would change is that the bracelet is not quick release. But really, what's the point in changing it out? With that many colors on the dial and such an unusual shade of blue, it would probably be hard to find another strap. Right?
Three words.
STRAP
FREAKING
MONSTER
Buy this watch.
San Martin New Original Design Fashion GMT 39.5mm Men Sports Watch NH34 Automatic Mechanical Waterproof 100m SN0116-G-GMT - San Martin Official Store
There's a black colorway if you're a super duper boring lower-middle-manager type but I have to think that was added as an afterthought -- the aqua is the only choice here. S Tier Watch.
www.watchuseek.com
