As
I mentioned in Part 1, my meeting with Phil Rodenbeck of the Visitor
Watch Company was a veritable feast of new watches (and sushi, but
mostly watches). The first was the Calligraph Linden. The second was the
Duneshore Shallows, a sport watch variant of the original Calligraph Duneshore.
I remember when Phil launched his first watch, one of the Watchuseek
forum members piped up and said he should make a dive watch version,
and I rolled my eyes. "Oh sure," I said aloud to my computer screen, my
voice dripping with sarcasm, "because everything has to be a dive
watch." I felt pretty sure of my decidedly pompous opinion until Phil
pulled out the Shallows. "Aw crap," I thought, "the forum guy was
right." So, random forum guy, whoever you are, I apologize. You were
right and I was wrong. A Duneshore diver was a pretty damn good idea.
In
a world of watches named Deepsea, Superocean, and Fathoms, you may
wonder why Phil chose "Shallows" of all things. It's a bit
tongue-in-cheek. He recognizes that his creation is not a professional
diving tool, and that even if it were, it (like most of the divers in
The Time Bum's stable) would likely never see depths greater than that
of a casual swim. Nonetheless, he built it for 200 meters water
resistance – no small feat for a watch with a concave case. He
accomplished this with a solid back, a 1 mm increase to the wall
thickness of the central case, an additional seal in the screw-down
crown, and a 3 mm thick sapphire crystal. The dimensions are nearly
identical to the original Duneshore. The new watch is still 44
mm wide and 51 mm lug to lug but the thickness has increased to 15.5mm.
The two watches are close, but every aspect of the Shallows is new.
Of
course, a dive watch needs a timer and the Shallows delivers. It is a
unidirectional 120-click bezel that is coin-edged, domed and features an
engraved, lume-filled index. Overkill? Nope. It is just the kind of
detail necessary to create a bezel cool enough to cap the Duneshore's
unique faceted cushion case. The transition from dress to dive required
some other cosmetic changes as well. The mirror polish of the original
is replaced by a more tool-appropriate brushing and the case back now
bears the image of a sea lion instead of the feline variety - but he still is still chomping a door-knocker. Inside, you will find the same Miyota 9015 automatic movement.
Less
obvious are the changes to the dial. It still has the Calligraph
layout, but the dial is smaller to accommodate the new bezel and other
changes, necessitating a new handset. It is similar to the original but
shorter, while the pen nib tip of minute hand has grown. This allows
better differentiation between minutes and hours, addressing one of my
few gripes about the Calligraph series. Other changes include the
elimination of the date and a switch from BGW9 to C3 SuperLuminova.
Planned colors include white, teal, orange, and bright blue.
The
Shallows will come with a rubber strap and the new Duneshore bracelet.
At our meeting, Phil had the watch on a generic rubber strap (not the
final) and mentioned how difficult it was to manufacture a custom
bracelet to his satisfaction. Now I see why. The bracelet is a
beads-of-rice style and each bead is a teardrop like the hour markers on
the dial, and the double-deployant clasp echoes the complex shape of
the case, embossed with the Visitor door-knocker logo. The whole
arrangement looks fantastic, although I do wonder about the size. The
clasp is not particularly wide, but it does appear large in the wrist
shot. [Update: I tried the bracelet myself tonight and it is not too large. It is about the diameter of a quarter, much thinner than it appears in photos, and quite comfortable to wear.]
I
thought the Duneshore was too pretty for a sport watch, but with some
thoughtful tweaks, it made a seamless transition. It not your typical
diver, and this is good thing. Like the other Visitor offerings, it is
unique, a bit whimsical, and immensely satisfying. Pricing is not yet
final, but Phil expects the Shallows to sell for about $750 and the
bracelet to be a $100 option. For more information, see www.visitorwatchco.com.
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