I’ve been hands on with several March LA.B watches over the years but they’ve all been from the heavily facetted AM2 sports or Mansart dress watch collections. The March LA.B Belza Titanium is their first dive watch I’ve encountered – somewhat surprising as they are embedded in California surf culture with the LA in their name standing for Los Angeles. While it’s fundamentally different to those other collections (it has a round case for starters) it manages to maintain March LA.B’s core DNA.
Starting with the case, it’s made from sandblasted titanium with a round design, relatively long, facetted lugs, and a screw down crown at 4 o’clock. It measures 40mm x 14.5mm, so it sits fairly tall on the wrist but is by no means a huge watch. Plus, as it’s made from titanium it’s very lightweight so you almost don’t notice it on your wrist.
It also has a 200m water resistance rating, which makes it ideal for its intended purpose of surfing. The requirements of a surfing watch are technically a bit different to a diving watch but the ways in which they solve those requirements are actually the same, which is why we don’t tend to differentiate between the two and just use the umbrella term dive watch.
When you’re scuba diving, you need a high water resistance rating to combat the constant pressure of the water above you, but while you’re surfing your watch shouldn’t actually end up that far underwater unless something has gone horribly wrong. But the reason you still want a high water resistance rating of (ideally) 200m+ is that when you fall into the water, the watch will experience short moments of high pressure due to the shock.
Similarly, while diving you want a nice scratch resistant bezel in order to survive the occasional bump and bash against the sea floor or your diving gear. While surfing you are likely to experience, if anything, even more scrapes, so scratch resistance is equally important. For that reason, the March LA.B Belza Titanium is equipped with an extremely durable ceramic bezel in green with a textured grip. It features a 60-minute immersion timer scale for when you do decide to spend time below the waves instead of riding them.
For the dial, they’ve gone with a classic high contrast display featuring lumed bar indexes and a black wave pattern dial. The wave texture is a thematic alternative to the textures seen on March LA.B’s other collections – the wider, more open pattern giving the Belza a sportier vibe compared to the tight, Art Deco influence of the other watches. It has central hours, minutes and lollipop seconds along with a date window at 3 o’clock.
Below that dial is the La Joux-Perret G100 with automatic winding and 68-hour power reserve. It’s one of the higher spec third party movements around and sees a lot of use among independent and microbrands. Recently the LVMH group became a minority stake holder in the manufacture but part of the agreement was that LJP could continue working with existing clients so that shouldn’t affect the likes of March LA.B using their movements in future.
At first, I wasn’t sold on the strap because with its Jacquard weave, it has a very fine, delicate pattern that feels at odds with the Belza’s sporty design. However, it has been produced by French Maison Julien Faure specifically for March LA.B and is fully amphibious, meaning that in reality it is sporty. The titanium pin buckle also matches the case nicely.
The March LA.B Belza Titanium is limited to 99 pieces at a price of £2,051. I acknowledge that the following might sound like a backhanded compliment but I mean it with sincerity: the Belza Titanium is a better dive watch than I would have expected from March LA.B given my previous experience with the brand. They tend to be very arty and shape focussed, so pulling off the sportier style of a tool watch like this is impressive.
Price and Specs:
More details at March LA.B.
