Baltic released their first dive watch, the Aquascaphe, back in 2018, and it represented an amalgamation of the brand’s historic inspiration set into a modern framework. It’s skill the brand was born with, and while the Aquascaphe takes perhaps the clearest notes of inspiration from mid century classics, it still expands the original design language that Baltic has been developing since their founding in 2016. This week, the Aquascaphe is welcoming a highly anticipated second generation with the introduction of eight new watches in total, spanning two different case sizes.
The Aquascaphe MkII represents a maturation of the original, rather simple design. Everything has been dialed up a few notches here, and it takes a step further into modern tool watch territory, while moving away ever so slightly from vintage charm. Thankfully, the original Aquascaphe remains in the collection (for now), now called the Aquascaphe Classic, so buyers will have options. Most notably, the sandwich dial has been ditched in favor of large lumicast appliques made out of SuperLuminova.
There’s a distinct step away from the vintage details here, and it’s done in favor of practical legibility. The Aquascaphe MkII feels like a high performance version of the design, with no hint of faded or aged lume. Instead, we find four different dial color options (blue, green, grey, and warm silver) with pure white BGW9 lume (which also extends to the hands). There is no fume or sunburst texture happening here, just flat matte dials, with the warm silver and grey variations receiving a gritty stippled texture.
The bezel is now fully indexed, and the dial gets more numerals marking the minute segments at the chapter ring. And the bezel gets more pronounced serrated teeth for easier use. The whole thing feels more like an instrument than an aesthetic statement like the original, er, Classic. A sole Arabic numeral remains at 12, which is a clean san serif typeface representing the Baltic brand.
The Aquascaphe MkII is being offered in both 37mm and 39.5mm steel cases. The lugs are more muscular than you might be used to on a Baltic, and the biggest shift you’ll note is the addition of crown guards. The overall thickness has remained about the same, at a hair under 13mm with the double domed sapphire crystal (10.7mm thick when measured without). The 200 meter depth rating remains. In total, this is a watch with serious aspirations, and it’s following the same development path as a watch like the Submariner.
All examples of the Aquascaphe MkII ship on color matching FKM rubber straps, though bracelet options are available. Pricing is set at €630 for either size, and €695 including a bracelet. The pre-order window opens September 25th at 4pm, Paris time. Baltic
