MARNAUT SEASCAPE: AN ORIGINAL TIMEPIECE, BUILT TO DIVE

End of May Update
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 29, 2020 at 12:50:16 PM

Hello,

we are making our way to the final lap here with the Seascape. I have been inspecting the production samples for the last 2 days and I am confident that we can deliver a very cool watch :-)

The main question I had to answer was go with a rotating top crown (just like all vintage pieces and many today) or with the screw down rotating top crown. We chose to try both options to investigation as production samples and the decision is made to go with the non screw down top crown. The water resistance will not change and it has a nice weighted feel on it.

With regards to the screw down top crown there are elements at play in the construction of that inner crown that I cannot comfortably approve without doing much more testing, at least 6+ months worth. There are parts that are fractions of a millimetre in size and need to be perfect for the wheel to engage and disengage properly and from what I have seen that the operation is not 100% dependable. The inner ring still moves slightly once screwing the crown back into position and that is not acceptable. The non screw down crown has been tried and test over almost a year and works without issue.

Now to the mesh bracelet.... adding this I definitely did not foresee beforehand. I have never personally worn mesh bracelets and after trying the Seascape with around 10 different metal bracelets the mesh just worked with the overall look of the Seascape better than any others. I have been wearing the final version for a few days and my first impression is that it is much more comfortable that I imagined it could be and the weave pattern looks great.....so top marks here.

The schedule is looking tight but still workable for an end June or early July shipment. My goal is to get most if not all of you tracking numbers of your shipments before July 10th. What happens next is that we start moving the parts to the assembly facility. Once all the parts have arrive assembly and QC will take 3-4 weeks, that leaves us near the end of June and we get moving to prep and ship :-)

Last thing I want to touch upon is that I am pretty proud of what we have been able to do. Corona threw a large wrench in almost everything we were doing so I hope everyone can see the effort that has gone in trying to make a beautiful and unique timepiece and to get them done on time especially in these trying times. Thank you all once more for being a part of bringing this unique watch design to life, without your support we would not be able to get this done. We are very excited to be able to get these to you soon!

Speak soon and stay safe,

Mario

Early May 2020 Update
almost 4 years ago – Fri, May 08, 2020 at 03:06:50 AM

Hi everyone,

  just another quick update. A first slight delay has occurred. The printing factory that does the numeral printing on the inner rings is running late by 10-14 days. That means that the samples of the rotating inner bezels that we were suppose to be in our hands to test out and feel are late. They should be with us around May 20th.

This has not altered our June target shipments but I will probably say that the goods will ship the latter part of June.  Once we approve the parts and give the green light - assembly should take 3 weeks to complete. 

Seascape cases:

Seascape movement holders, movement and dial:

I will have another update in a few weeks. Until then stay safe and regards,

Mario

April 2020 Update
about 4 years ago – Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 06:55:51 AM

Hi,

it has been a busy month for us. We have produced our dials, hands, blank cases, ordered our rubber, leather and stainless steel mesh bracelets. The Miyota 9015 movements have been secured and delivered to us so they are ready. Everything is cooking and is going decently well. The dial I am very pleased with as the enamel application to it is great, super deep.....I think we nailed it. 

As nearly all of the parts are ready to be sent to assembly one key development left to do is to check the case and how it feels with the top crown that rotates the inner bezel. This is a very technical part of of the development that deals with micro millimeters. In about 10 days I should get 2 case samples - one with a screw down top crown and one with a regular rotating top crown. It is very important to me to gauge how they feel, move, sound etc and then make a decision on what is the best way to proceed.

The mesh bracelet pattern, weight and overall structure is very nice. The "MARNAUT" logo as seen below is  lasered but it will be etched in for a deep finish during the production run. C3 Superluminova is applied to the indexes and is doing its job :-) 

After we have made our final decision and once all the parts arrive at the assembly factory it will take about 3 weeks to complete our production which will include pressure testing the watches to their 200M depth rating. My guess is that it will be early to mid June for the watches to get finalised, they will then arrive at our office where we pack them with all the necessary items and extra straps then we start dispatching them to all of you end of June.  

I hope everyone is safe and doing well considering the circumstances. Lets hope for a nice summer!

Best regards to all and speak soon,

Mario

MARNAUT featured on Time & Tide
about 4 years ago – Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 07:47:16 AM

Hi everyone,

 we are still cracking away - some obvious challenges with the world turning upside down but I am happy overall with our progress and where we stand at the moment. I will provide another production update soon but prior to that I wanted to share the most recent write up regarding MARNAUT courtesy of Time & TIde's  Micro Mondays.

Goes slightly in-depth and you can see some watches I have collected in the past that there :-)

Hope everyone is staying safe and fingers crossed we are on the tail end of this pandemic. 

Best regards,

Mario

Review of the Dark Surge on ABTW
about 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 01:47:19 AM

Check out the latest review on the Dark Surge 300 here.