Glasgow-based Paulin has done an enviable carving themselves out an aesthetic niche in the watch world, one full of off-kilter colours, eye-catching typography and some funky, arty collabs. But how does that fun, quirky, almost cartoony style translate into something more serious? Something, perhaps, like a diving watch? That’s a question I’ve never asked but one that Paulin has decided to answer anyway with the new Mara.
A dive watch is a very, very different proposition to Paulin’s previous pieces. I got myself a Neo C (the bright blue version) on the basis that it was a stripped back, minimalist design with lashings of colour, nothing more, nothing less. It was a bit of fun and I still love it as a summer wearer.
A dive watch however is a lot more serious. Any watch can tell the time (at least in theory) but a dive watch needs to do so underwater. Beyond water resistance, there are elements it needs to even be called a dive watch – plenty of lume for low-light visibility, a unidirectional rotating bezel, the usual. So, when I heard the Mara was coming out, I was a little bit worried.
I shouldn’t have been, really. It’s not necessarily that the Mara (Scots gaelic for ‘of the sea,’ by the way) is the perfect dive watch or anything as hyperbolic as that. There are already too many contenders out there for that particular honour. No, it’s more that despite being a completely different horological proposition, the Mara is still distinctively Paulin.
Let’s take the diving bezel as an example. Rather than the more common insert with engraved numerals, Paulin opted for something like the Fifty Fathoms approach, with a sapphire unidirectional number. The sapphire itself is incredibly domed, with the numbers printed in superluminova on its underside. So far, so good, but the Mara’s bezel stands out by being broader in comparison to the dial. The end result is a bezel that’s surprisingly practical. By that I mean it looks like a funky design statement, but it also gets the job done.
The case itself is a little more recognisable as a slightly adapted version of the Modul. It’s a lot broader to accommodate the new bezel – 39.7mm compared to the original 35mm – and 300m water resistance, but retains those curving lugs that give the watch its retro cushion shape. That also pumps up the lug-to-lug considerably too, 8mm more in fact, so while it shares a shape, the Mara’s a completely different wearing experience, especially as the bezel slightly overhangs the case.
It’s not unwearable by any stretch and even 40mm dive watches are relatively small outliers. And if you’re looking at that bezel and wondering if they could have slimmed it down, the answer is probably. But it wouldn’t be nearly as fun, nearly as unusual. And when you’re building something in the most fittingly saturated sub-genre of tool watch, fit to bursting with Submariner riff-offs, standing out is half the battle. It helps that it feels great on the wrist, too.
It’s not just the overall shape of the Mara that stands out of course. For the dial, Paulin have gone full Bauhaus with a geometric dial (appropriately German-made) consisting of lumed squares, circles, triangles and numerals at 12 and 9 in their signature typography. Perhaps it’s that my living room is littered in baby toys, but it reminds me of those shape sorting block puzzles.
That said, I find both versions a little bit dour compared to what I’d expect from Paulin. There are two colourways at launch, blue or the black we have here, both with white indexes. The blue comes with a slightly brighter blue bezel; the black comes with a cool, ghost-adjacent grey version. The black version has a yellow marker on the bezel, the blue version brings that same yellow onto the second hand.
There’s still plenty going on here, but given the retro, shouldn’t-work-but-does colour combinations on the Neo and Modul, I was expecting a little bit more flair. Granted, I’ve come to accept that my tastes are a little at the wilder end of the spectrum, likely a result of professional overexposure. But I didn’t buy the Neo C because it was a utilitarian field watch.
Both watches are equipped with the La Joux Perret G101, the third-party movement many a respectable microbrand has graduated to. It’s about as good a stock movement as you can get, with a 68-hour power reserve and 28,800 vibrations per hour. It’s miles above most ‘in-house’ calibres. It’s normally nicely decorated too, but you won’t see that here through the solid caseback.
Each watch comes with two straps, your typical rubber diving strap and one made from upcycled ocean plastics. Where most of these upcycled pieces wear like sandpaper, Paulin have roped in their siblings at anOrdain to line the straps with faux alcantara, making them actually wearable – which is good, because I don’t like having to choose between that woven texture and not rubbing my wrists raw.
Now, price. Paulin’s always been a value proposition, but a diver requires a touch more investment. So, what’s the damage here? £1,200. The Modul always seemed great value at £900, but the Mara has both a better movement and serious diving specs, making that £300 increase feel like an absolute steal.
So, what does this mean for Paulin? Will we be seeing GMT bezels? Chronographs maybe? Time will tell but don’t hold your breath. If any of that’s in the pipeline, it’s a long way off. For now, I’d settle for more of the Mara in a few more out-there colours.
Price and Specs:
More details at Paulin.
