Kickstarter has become a breeding ground for small, independent watch brands to flourish, and while the platform inherently has its issues, there’s no denying that some great products have emerged from the crowdfunding platform. Marnaut, a watch brand based in Croatia, has just started a campaign to fund its first timepiece, an accessibly-priced mechanical diver that looks to be promising.
Called the Dark Surge 300, the watch has a lot of features you’d expect to see in a well-rounded diver, including a 300-meter depth rating, a 120-click unidirectional bezel with an aluminum insert and lots of Super Luminova. What helps the Dark Surge stand out in a sea of similarly-styled dive watches, though, are additional lume plots that segment the dial at every hour; this is an aesthetic choice that is, according to the brand, inspired by the skeletal structure of a sea urchin. Inside the watch ticks away a Miyota 9015 automatic movement.
The watch is available either with Black PVD coating or in plain stainless steel at a pre-order starting price of $449, a $170 discount from the watch’s full starting price once it’s fully funded.