I guess you have seen a lot of reviews circulating on the internet about the Spinnaker watches. I was also one of them who wanted to review one of these watches, but due to customs problems, the watch had a one month delay in delivery. So I got my hands on this watch only two weeks ago but was supposed to get it about 1,5 months ago. Anyways I have the watch and here we go with the review.

I could not find a lot of info about Spinnaker watches. But all Spinnaker watches have built their brand around a nautical theme. While the much of their collection draws upon the aesthetics of sailing, the Cahill takes a different tack, finding inspiration in vintage diver’s watches.  This lineup contains two variations, one is 38mm what we got here and the second is 43mm. For this review, Spinnaker supplied a model SP-5042-04. I chose this because I always choose these big dive watches for review and wanted something small this time. Plus everyone chose to review the bigger ones or popular models. I went a different way.

So the watch arrived in this small cardboard box, nothing special, although they could make it at least a bit better, but ok… that isn’t the main point of attraction, it’s the watch. First impressions were good. I liked the size a lot. On my wrist it kind of looks small, but the thickness kind of makes it bigger. I usually wear 40-45mm watches and this is smaller so it is strange for me to get used to it.

So the case is made from 316L stainless steel with black ionic plating. The plating is good quality and it is holding on pretty good. I banged the Cahill couple of times and it doesn’t show any scratches at all. The case measures 38mm in diameter (with bezel 39mm), 14mm in thickness, 45,7mm lug to lug and lug width is 20mm. Overall the watch has good proportions and even a women could wear it due to its small size. The bezel was a disappointment on this. It looks good, but it is a bit too thin in my opinion, it is hard to grip and it doesn’t line up with the markers. The bezel has a nice action but otherwise, I think that is just bad design and quality.  The crown is at 3 o’clock and is sticking out of the case a lot. Reminds me of Tudor dive watches with no crown guards. The Crown is a screw down and it is also signed. The action on the crown is pretty good. The case back is see through. I like when watch companies do that because I like to see the movement. But of course, it is strange that Spinnaker puts them on almost any dive watch they release, but you got to remember that these aren’t professional dive watches, of course, they are rated, but I wouldn’t risk it taking it so deep.  The watch is rater at 10ATM or 100m. On the case back outer ring you will find some specifications of this watch. The crystal on the case back is hardened mineral also you will find it on top of the dial only slightly domed. Of course, it would be cool to have Sapphire on both top and bottom, but then the price would be slightly bigger. On the case back crystal, you will find a Spinnaker logo which is in shape of a sail. The watch size and the case and overall design is kept in this vintage 60s style and looks really similar to Breguet 1646. Overall the design is executed very nicely.

The dial on this watch is kind of cool looking and kind of strange. The hour markers are really big and white, so they really pop in your eyes. The hands are sword shape and also are rather big for the size. The dial and the plating of this watch really show the 21st-century side of the design and the size and case design is done in more vintage style. The dial itself is in black colour and has this nice grain pattern on the dial. I like the red second’s hand that plays with the strap and bezel. On 3 o’clock we have a black date window with white numbers. The hour markers and hands are lumed, the lume isn’t good, it is more of a gimmick than functionality. But it would be nice to see this watch with a nice lume, it could look really cool in the night. Overall the dial is a bit overkill for me, but I like that they with a different route, not the classic way. Also, it is quite easy to read time.

The movement inside is a Japanese Seiko 24 Jewels NH35A which is quite a popular movement that many micro brand use. This movement I have in several of my watches and it has been running great. As with all Japanese movements, they all are workhorses. It runs at about +10 seconds a day. It is automatic, but you can also hand-wind it with a crown. Overall a nice movement. But just as I was writing this I saw something that disappointed me a bit. On the rotor we have this wavy pattern and on a couple of them, you can see something black stuck in. I don’t know if it happened in the factory but to me, that is a bad quality control. But that isn’t something that effects it mechanically so no worries. The strap it came with is a really nice suede one. It is in bright red colour with black stitching. The strap is quite thick, but it looks good. The buckle is just regular one also in black colour and also signed with Spinnaker. But as I have too much watches on suede I swapped it for Strap Bandits leather strap that is also in the same red colour.

Overall the watch is cool and it has its own twist on a modern vintage inspired diver. But I don’t like that the bezel is a bit crappy and that movement had some dirty spots on the rotor. But otherwise, it is an interesting watch. I hope I will have a chance to look at some other, more crazier Spinnaker watches, but time will tell.

Price: $245.00 @ www.spinnaker-watches.com