I have a soft spot for Héron dive watches. They blend practicality, fun, value for money and vintage inspired design elements in exactly the right quantities. Perhaps the best example of that is last year’s Marinor Rainbow decompression timer with its colourful display, sapphire bezel and automatic movement all for £480 or less depending on the bracelet/strap option – it’s little wonder that each production run has sold out near instantly. 18 months after the launch of that original decompression timer, Héron are introducing a second variant: the appropriately named Héron Marinor Rainbow White.
At a fundamental level, this is simply a new colourway of the existing model but that’s no bad thing. The black of the dial has been swapped to white which instantly changes the whole character of the watch. The single largest impact of this change is that it affects how we see the rainbow markings of the decompression scale. On the original, the colours are brighter than the black dial but now those same exact colours are now darker than the white of the dial.
It’s one of the elements of colour theory where the context in which you see a colour impacts how you view it. The green and blue look significantly darker on the Marinor Rainbow White because they have greater contrast whereas the black made them pop. Meanwhile the yellow and pink look a touch paler because they have less contrast to the white than they did the black, so the colour is less intense.
A second change present on the Marinor Rainbow White is the bezel. Instead of the coloured bezel with sapphire insert, they’ve opted for a steel bezel with a polished inner ring and brushed countdown timer for the outer ring. A countdown timer bezel is the natural choice paired with the decompression table on the watch’s dial. It means that once you have established how long of a decompression stop you need to make, you can mark that off on your bezel and once the minute hand reaches 0, you’re good to move on.
It’s really well sized for a dive watch too, measuring 39mm in diameter x 12.2mm thickness including the crystal, no where near as bulky or heavy as the majority of divers, though with 250m water resistance, it’s still a proper piece of aquatic gear. It does narrowly miss out on the 300m professional dive watch spec, but given the pricing and colourful display, that’s not really a major concern.
Inside, protected by a solid steel caseback, is the calibre Miyota 9039 with 42-hour power reserve. It’s a classic workhorse movement that helps keep the watch affordably priced, making it excellent value for money. It’s priced at just £490, which for a tool watch this solid is very good.
Price and Specs:
More details at Héron.
