Incredible build quality, design and a movement to match. This might be the best diving watch under £300 on the market right now.

The Spinnaker Fleuss is a timepiece that’s not known to many but it had certainly caught our eye when we started looking more into the specifications on paper and the price it’s being retailed at.

Named after pioneering master diver Henry Fleuss, The Spinnaker ticks a lot of boxes and has small intricate details we were not expecting that really makes this watch worth talking about.

When you visit the Spinnaker site, the watch aficionados will notice a lot of these watch designs closely resemble a lot of other luxury swiss variants that are most likely 10x the price of Spinnaker ones.

Instantly that made us a bit hesitant as we’ve seen this many times before but then again what’s wrong with adapting timeless classics if you can put a spin on it yourself and deliver something quality.

Rather than make a decision based purely on an e-commerce page, we thought the only way to really make a certified opinion on this was to try it out for ourselves, so we did.

Design

Upon opening the parcel and looking at the packaging it almost felt as though we’d been here before. Just another watch brand trying to fill a space in a market already very saturated, but when we took the watch out of the box and held it in our hand and took a closer look that it got very very interesting.

Firstly the weight, this doesn’t feel like most watches we’ve held in this price range. At 173g, this thing feels very premium and looks it too.

The early Spinnaker Fleuss models came on leather straps but in this bracelet version, it almost takes on a new life of its own and has the characteristics to carve out a new space for itself.

The bracelet bears resemblance to the iconic Oyster but it looks as though it is a bespoke milled bracelet due to its thicker its risen mid-links, a sturdy clasp with its own detailed branding and one of our favourite features, an expandable diving latch. It has a 22m lug width which also tapers down like an Oyster does giving it sleek lines on the wrist.

 

 

 

 

As the case itself the watch wears really well on most wrists with it being 43mm in diameter and 13mm thick. It will definitely feel like you have a watch on but it almost fits into that size category of a Sub and Sea dweller that allows you to wear a diver in a casual way without it being too garish.

It has a soft brushed finish with nice polished chamfered edges and in terms of detailing the crown has its own Spinnaker sail etched into it too.

As we mentioned earlier the eagle-eyed watch collectors may feel like you’ve seen this watch somewhere before and that’s because you probably have. The acrylic dome bezel and markings look very similar to a newer Blancpain Fifty-Fathoms which the numbers and hands have a lot of similarities to the older version.

The Bezel itself is a 120 click unidirectional diving bezel and we must say, this is probably the best bezel we’ve turned at this price range, even better than Seikos. It feels extremely well built.

As for the dial there are a few colour options to choose from white/blue and black. All of the dials have an almost sandpaper like finish to them and whilst we wouldn’t have chosen the white (or slightly off-white) variant the dials themselves have an incredible amount of detail on them and we especially like the red text on the depth description.

The hands also borrow some stylistic influence from Blancpain but when coupled with the bezel and arabics at night, they all let off a surprisingly very powerful lume.

On the case front you have a scratch resistant sapphire lens which is anti-reflective, again something else we think is a great addition at this price point and on the reverse you’re met with a new screw down exhibition case back to see the internal movement.

Movement

Whilst it’s not uncommon for watch brands to borrow movement from manufacturers, Spinnaker has chosen the ever-versatile Seiko NH35 movement to power their Fleuss.

The NH35 is not just a brilliant automatic workhorse it’s also extremely accurate and comes with a date movement too.

With the NH35, Spinnaker has chosen something to compliment their design making it an extremely good watch on paper. The 24 jewel has a 41-hour power reserve when fully wound which is more than adequate for a watch that’s going to give you change from £300.

Specification

• Movement : Japan NH35 TMI Automatic
• Case : 316L Stainless Steel
• Case Diameter (mm) : 43
• Case Thickness (mm) : 13
• Lens : Scratch Resistant Sapphire Lens with Anti-Reflective Coating
• Bezel : Unidirectional Bezel with Hardened Glass
• Band : 22mm Stainless Steel Solid Bracelet
• Lug to Lug (mm) : 51
• Water Resistance : 150m
• Warranty : 2-Year International

 

Images

Verdict

Overall the Spinnaker Fleuss is an absolute joy to not just use as a daily driver but also to look at.

It has all of the design elements needed to be able to wear this both in a casual and smart manner and has a lot of fine finishing touches we love on a timepiece at this price point.

We weren’t so taken back by the packaging but what it missed out there, made up for a lot on the watch itself and you can see where Spinnaker has cleverly chosen to invest their money.

Its build quality took us by surprise and with an NH35 movement powering it coupled with a 2 year warranty, it’s fair to say we’ll be keeping this in our rotation.

 

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