Hands-OnThe Typsim 100M

Behind the brand is founder Matthew Zinski. Based in Seattle, he spends his day as a professional architect, and on the side, he is a watchmaker and watch designer. That's not an exaggeration – Typsim has a dedicated page for watch repair and restoration. But as a watch brand, Typsim executes the idea of vintage tool watches through an art school aesthetic. Where it succeeds most in its execution is in the easy-to-miss details that make the watches what they are.

Today, the brand introduces the Typsim 100M to the lineup, which currently features a few divers, field watches, and dual-time travel watches. Priced at $999, the concept at its core draws inspiration from the skin divers of years past – the compact, no-frills steel case with contrasting brushed and polished surfaces creates a simple silhouette, while the drilled lugs immediately pay homage to the historical nod from the side. The 100M continues with conservative case sizing, featuring a 36mm case and a bezel that produces a total diameter of 37mm, including the overhang. Lug-to-lug is a reasonable 45mm, and case height is 11.3mm. A triple-gasket screw-down crown, engraved with the Typsim logo, helps ensure the case remains water-resistant to 100 meters. Like many vintage skin divers, the bidirectional anodized aluminum bezel here is friction fit, moving smoothly with sufficient resistance.

Behind the simple, solid caseback is an automatic, chronometer-grade Sellita SW300-1. With a power reserve of 56 hours and beating away at 4 Hz, the movement is rhodium-plated with blued screws. Though the movement is not COSC-certified, the grade of the movement is specified to match the -4 to +6 seconds of COSC, but Typsim then regulates every watch to -2/+2 seconds a day. A solid caseback here makes sense, as the watch is delivered on a proper double-pass NATO strap from UK-based Phoenix, the historical provider of straps for the British Ministry of Defense.

But the star of the show here is, for sure, the dial. It's where Zinski gets to really add his aesthetic touch, and it might be one of my favorite dials this year. It is surprisingly modern in its graphical sensibility, with the circular lume-filled hour plots balancing well against the minutes track and lettering on the black, sunray-finished dial and the gold-plated sword hands. Bright green touches on both the 12 o'clock lume plot and the "100m" text also feel contemporary, but that's about where the modern stuff ends and the vintage detailing begins. 

A vintage aesthetic on a modern watch is usually accomplished by imitating a gilt dial, aged luminescent patina, or both. What Typsim does, for its so-called vintage inspiration, is to actually accomplish both faithfully. The 100M, like many of the brand's other models, has a real gilt dial and ageable SuperLuminova.

If you're not familiar with how a vintage gilt dial (if we think back to, for example, certain vintage Rolex 1016 Explorers) is made, no, it's not gold printing on the dial despite the word "gilt" in its name. Rather, the base dial blank, commonly made of brass, actually has what appears to be its positive printing stamped in a clear lacquer. After the lacquer is applied, the dial is galvanically coated black, filling the negative space of the dial, which is unprotected by any clear lacquer, with the dark color. The clear lacquer on the markings remains, acting as little protective transparent windows to showcase the base metal of the dial. 

The gold elements on the dial—like the Typsim logo, minute track, and markers around the lume plots—aren't simply printed on top. Instead, they're created using negative relief, meaning they're actually recessed into the dial surface. Most modern watches take a shortcut by just printing metallic paint onto a black dial. But this watch uses the traditional, proper method. It's far more complex than the printing approach, but this is exactly the kind of detail that watch nerds live for.

If this wasn't enough of a selling point, the truly unique aspect that Typsim brings to the table is this aforementioned ageable Super-LumiNova. While the great fauxtina debate is contentious when it comes to many of the vintage reissues, with brands choosing to use Super-LumiNova in colors that match what an old radium or tritium dial might look like after decades of aging, Typsim approaches it differently. 

For his designs, Zinski worked with RC Tritec, the Swiss manufacturer of Super-LumiNova, to develop a proprietary luminous compound that reacts to both time and UV light. Aging Super-LumiNova is really an oxymoron, as the modern luminescent compound is certainly designed to prevent such a thing from happening. However, here, the compound contains materials that age from an off-white to a cream color over the course of many years. While I haven't seen any models with the end result, Zinski compares the idea to 1950s white Fender Stratocasters that have aged to a creamy hue.

On the wrist, the 100M does wear like many a skin diver of the past. It's light, compact, yet bulked up by the NATO strap. A leather strap would certainly be a great choice to mix things up here, given that the watch maintains dive watch aesthetics but tones them down a bit, sitting between a field watch and a diver. The boxy (and slightly domed) acrylic crystal makes the gilt dial stand out optically, though I will always prefer a sapphire crystal. I suppose, though, Typsim's watches simply must have one to go with the theme of a proper gilt dial. I'm not always the most enthusiastic about the vintage reissue trend, mostly because I find that there are few truly successful executions out there. But there's just something about how Typsim has managed to design something within its parameters that still feels fresh and compelling. When's the next time you'll find a real gilt dial in a watch at this price point?

For more, visit Typsim online.