Spinnaker is not a brand I was aware of before this Dumas dive watch arrived for review.
Having opened the box, inspected the quality of the case and strap and felt its well-engineered heft in my hand I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Spinnaker Dumas has a £315 price tag.
By look and feel alone my guess would have been a price almost twice that amount and it’s not like Spinnaker has been cutting corners here.
The case is 316L stainless steel and the strap a high-quality flexible Milanese mesh; the bezel is unidirectional and made from mineral crystal and the glass is a sapphire lens.
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The Spinnaker Dumas is a lovely looking watch and there is an impressive array of colours, though I think the navy with red highlights looks particularly classy and appropriately nautical. It’s fairly big and chunky on the wrist but doesn’t feel cumbersome.
It’s functional, too, with a look that harks back to the boating watches of the 1970s – it has a water resistance rating of 30 ATM and can dive to a depth of 1,000ft (300m), so you know you’re safe to head beneath the hull to scrape a few barnacles off.
Though the strap looks great its design is flawed. It’s useful that you can adjust its size without the need to remove links but the floating keeper that keeps the tail of the strap in place slides towards the buckle and needs regular attention to keep it in the correct position.
The bracelet’s strap retainer is prone to slipping
Without it, the tail of the strap flaps about and gets caught on cuffs and other items.
This hopefully easily rectified issue aside, the Spinnaker Dumas is a really impressive piece of kit that seems staggering value given its attractive design and feeling of quality.
RRP: £315 / $400
MBY rating: 5/5
Value: 5/5
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First published in the March 2021 issue of Motor Boat & Yachting.
Pros
- High-grade stainless steel casing
- Waterproof to 300m
- Chunky but not cumbersome
Cons
- Floating strap tail comes loose easily
Price as reviewed:
£315.00
