The only one of its kind for the money. Review of a mechanical watch with the rarest Spinnaker dial

Good evening, dear readers!

We have been discussing a lot of different watches for a long time, and I am not ashamed to admit a secret: I like Spinnaker watches, so when the 11/11 sale started at Bestwatch, of course, I broke a piggy bank to buy one of the models.

Of course, I do not believe that these are “Italian” watches, and I have no illusions about where they are most likely to be collected, but apart from price and quality, it seems to me that this brand still has a “watch spirit” and that’s what’s attractive. Now I will try to impress you with these hours in a nutshell.

Strictly speaking, we were familiar with this holding before.

The company that owns the brand promotes several other well-known brands in Russia, including Earnshaw, for example, or AVI-8, the review of which I published. Spinnaker — «responsible» for the «sea direction», so all watches have protection from 100 meters, many divers. But in terms of design, the brand is rather dependent. For many percent it consists of homages.

But, unlike many other today’s private label brands, it seems to me, from good homages. Quite thoughtful, interesting, and, moreover, takes for reflection not the most basic / popular watches, but something not quite obvious, less famous, but at the same time quite outstanding.

For example, from Tag Heuer, Spinnaker chose not Monaco or Aquaracers, but took AvtoAvia, a curious model, a hybrid for Tag Heuer itself, a landmark as some kind of experiment for the brand, which decided to combine two topics: automotive and aviation.

From other models, only details are taken, such as hands or bezels. Somewhere the imitation is more noticeable, as in our case: right down to the body — this is Panerai. But the most valuable thing about this watch, probably, is that Spinnaker has revived, in a sense, the rarest vintage dial.

California

This dial has been extremely popular and has affected many watch models in the past. Its meaning is that half of the numbers are Roman, half are Arabic. Finding it now is extremely difficult. There are some Timex models (mechanics), but it seems that this series did not exist in Russia. Microbrands (Australian Beaufort) have such a dial. At one time, they tried to revive it in the Swatch + Hodinkee collaboration, but this is all either by us or by piece.

And, of course, it is worth noting that for such money, it is generally impossible to find a mechanical watch with this dial.

In fact, this is a unique product, which has no analogues in Russian official retail.

The Spinnaker has one feature that is, in my opinion, the opposite of the Orient 3 Star watch. If those in the photo look worse, then these are better. Indeed, in the official photos, the Spinnaker looks richer, more expensive than its cost. Out of the box, it seems to me, they look exactly at the amount that is stated. This is not a drawback, but I found them a little more boring than I expected.

Steel, not sapphire

So our vintage piece is well cut and solidly made. But in this case, since this is still not a diving watch, the minimum protection for the Spinnaker is 100 meters. Steel case, bezel 40 mm, crown 44-45 mm. The glass here is mineral, with a sharp transition, so it gives refraction.

The dial (besides the fact that it is Californian) with excellent finish, rough, straight asphalt, and it looks cool. It is ringed by a vintage second scale, the so-called railway, but I would say that it is useless here, because the second hand is a bit short for it. Is not a problem. The numbers here are overhead, and in general, this is also rather a good job.

I would still stand up for Spinnaker right here because of the mineral glass. I do not understand why such a choice, but I know that in the assortment of mechanics there are watches with a similar price list, but with sapphire. That is, it does not look like savings, but the goal is not clear.

Functionality

It is an everyday self-winding mechanical watch powered by the Japanese Seiko NH35 movement. It can be seen through the transparent cover of the watch, but with a branded rotor.

This caliber endows the watch with the date, as well as the function of its rapid translation. The crown is screwed down, similar to the one familiar from Invcita watches or the same Vostok. In general, this watch can be collided with Invicta, and I do it in the video, because Invicta also seems to be a “homage”, but for some reason, in relation to it, I would rather say “replica / copy / fake”, but here is how made by Spinnaker — I like it, and the term in the sense of «tribute», I think, is appropriate here.

In the video, I practically do not characterize the watch, but there you can catch a couple of shots with how they sit on your hand, so I attach:

Watch cost

I’m lucky. More precisely, not so. Last year I was not very lucky, I put it off for a long time and missed a convenient price for them. I grew up, became smarter and did not lose. I bought a watch for 12800 rubles on sale. And so I got a good, high-quality mechanical watch in an excellent, intelligent (in my opinion) design. Now the discounts have rolled back (I don’t know whether it’s temporary or not) and the watch costs its main money — about 20 thousand.

The Bestwatch store is responsible for the brand in Russia, so it’s better to look at the entire current catalog there.

There is a backlight, bright, but, as for me, it is also not very durable.

I wish you a good weekend and remind you that in my signature I have a couple of links (to VK and TG). If suddenly you are curious about notes about watches, I sometimes publish them there.

Thank you!