17 months review of the Squale Sub-39 SuperBlue

Overview

It could be put forward that fans of dive watches have - in the past at least - defaulted to stalwarts such as the Seiko SKX series, or perhaps the Citizen Promaster line, and one can certainly see why; these models were built to take a knocking, and priced affordably to boot. As a budding watch collector whose collection at one stage consisted solely of divers (!) I too, took the well-trodden path of leaning on Japanese dive watches to kick off my watch journey mainly due to their ubiquity and accessibility.

Eventually, as would any watch enthusiast worth their salt, I discovered other brands that foray into the dive watch genre. Examples include Steinhart, Doxa, Longines, all brands with a Swiss watchmaking sheen, and most recently, Squale - meaning “shark” in Italian - evident in their shark logo that adorns most of the dials on their current lineup of watches. Timepieces from Steinhart and Squale often sat alongside each other in the glass cases of my local watch retailer, Gnomon watches here in Singapore, which led to intrigue toward Squale’s diver models. After some time, I chose to sell off a significant number of my Steinharts and other microbrand divers, as well as my beloved Seiko Turtle, to eventually get in the warm waters with Squale.

But first, a little history: the brand’s founder, Charles von Büren was a diving enthusiast, and he started the brand to primarily make cases for brands such as Blancpain, Auricoste, DOXA, and (TAG) Heuer back in the 70s and 80s, building its reputation in the industry as a famed case maker for dive watch purposes. My first dalliance was via the venerable 1521, but in PVD finish; I found that the 42mm model wore comparatively small on the wrist, and somehow I felt that the silver bezel markings stood out a little too much (forgive my quirky aesthetic sensitivities). My second Squale was the 101 Atmos - a relative behemoth at 44mm - featuring that incredibly present two-tone bezel and turtle/cushion case. Tough, unabashedly loud and large, I still don the 101 Atmos (paired with a rubber strap) when I go to the beach or the pool. 

So where does this Sub-39 come into the picture? To begin with, the vintage-inspired case design seen here on this model emerged as a classic design and has now been featured on a number of the brand’s models, holding its own to this very day. In fact, a quick ebay search would yield a number of similar case designs, albeit in a smaller form factor. Thus, without further ado, let us push out the boat, and show you what the Squale Sub-39 SuperBlue is all about.

Peeking above the surface

he chief design feature that stands out for this Sub39 SuperBlue is, unsurprisingly, that vivid sunburst blue dial. It has a depth in that rich aquamarine hue that turns to azure and navy in varying light conditions. With a matte finish, that sunburst is not distracting even in bright sunlight, providing excellent legibility when our eyes take in the printed “maxi” lume plots - large inverted triangle at 12, rectangular blocks at 6 and 9, and round dots for the remaining hour markers. 

The eyes then shift to the rectangular date window aperture at 3, with a neat white-lined border, as well as minute dash markers for the minutes. As mentioned earlier, there are two Squale logos, with the “main logo” located between the pinion and 12 o’clock marker featuring the Von Buren family crest; while the “heritage” logo, a semi-circular shark motif with “squale” wording, being a carry-over from the brand’s days as a case maker sitting above the 6 o’clock marker. We also see two lines of text cradled by that heritage logo: “30 ATMOS” and “SUPER”, indicating the case depth rating and design.

The handset is a pretty elegant affair, contrasting against the blockiness of the aforementioned dial features; we get a pair of dagger hands for hour and minutes, with a healthy amount of lume on both, while the seconds hands feature a small triangle placed such that the tip brushes the edges of the dot markers. I like how the mirror-polished treatment of the hands aligns well with the mixture of polished and brushed surfaces on the case and bracelet, something which we will get to shortly.

Sat atop the dial is a mesmerising double-domed sapphire crystal which has a healthy dose of AR coating on the underside. This crystal is somewhat tall, and while it contributes to the watch’s 12mm overall height, can hardly be felt; one could spend a long time just moving the watch head around observing the distortions and light interplay created by the crystal. For myself, if there is one thing modern sapphire crystal affords the most, it would be that approximation of the visual distortions from acrylic crystal, but now without having to buff out those scratches from daily wear every once in a while.

On to the bezel, we see a series of engravings for the dive-time indicators, handy to time things like cooking or any other tasks involving elapsed time, which are filled with black paint. Minutes 0 to 30 have individual minute markings, while after that the markers are at every 5 minute intervals. A single lume pip is placed within the inverted triangle mark at 12 o’clock, meaning this watch can fulfil its intended function of seeing elapsed time deep underwater. The bezel insert has a circular brushed steel appearance, and it is placed within the bezel case, which has a polished 1.5mm-thick coin edge before having a brushed tapered side back towards the middle case. The bezel is easy to grip, but the action is not fantastic even though it has 120-clicks; the play in the detents means that the sensation is not quite so accurate. This is equivalent to Seiko’s mid-tier bezel action.

Observing the watch side-on, we see a completely polished mid-case, featuring a series of angled surfaces that intersect with the cylindrical rear portion. This is capped off with a polished case back featuring a series of tapered steps terminating in a vertical brushed case back surface, complete with a laser engraving of the circular Squale insignia and the watch’s serial number. Overall, the execution of the case is straightforward and unfussy, albeit somewhat lacking finesse as evidenced by the somewhat soft edges between each respective angled surface. Some might see this as a way of keeping things classy, but fundamentally non-complicated when it comes to case execution, given the quality of the mirror-polish on the case in its totality.

Finally, we turn our attention to the “cupcake-type” crown (would it be weird to call it a “crown-shaped” crown?) which has a series of angular cuts that are decidedly more abrasive than grippy. The crown action itself is nothing to write home about as the somewhat sandy/gritty rotation of the crown owes its characteristic more to the Sellita SW-200 movement within. But this is a screw-down crown, and it is not super easy to turn. This, coupled with the crown’s dimensions means that winding up the movement is not the best experience overall, although more a fault of my fat fingers: the edge of my thumb rubs up against the similarly abrasive coin edge of the bezel, while the cutaways in the crown edge further abrade the skin on the forefinger. I tend to find my skin feeling as if it has been unpleasantly scraped after winding up the watch and screwing in the crown. 

Around the Wrist

On to the bracelet, it would be remiss to mention that the end links are hollow, denying this watch the extra solidity it deserves. Featuring a polished central portion with brushed flanks, the female end-link design contributes to that very wrist-friendly 48.5mm lug-to-lug dimension. The bracelet drape is excellent, with full articulation of the links as they drop down from the end-links, enabling a very comfortable wearing experience. The main bracelet links have the same aesthetic treatment as the end-links but are solid in nature, and have polished sides. While the links have a certain degree of play between them, lending to a somewhat rattly sensation when off the wrist, these links are thankfully held together with screws, which helps to keep things acceptable overall.

The clasp is a stamped affair where the folding lock is brushed and features the Von Buren crest; the clasp main avoids the usual accusation of cheapness as the finishing is nicely-executed: we observe brushed sides and top surface, while the chamfered corners on either side are highly-polished. We do get 4 holes of micro-adjustment and a diver’s extension, but the “bite” of the metal tang holding the diver’s extension in place was a little too much, and it deploys inadvertently when taking the bracelet off the wrist. Conversely, the tang holding the clasp shut had far too much bite, and the clasp was difficult to undo.

Beyond all that, the clasps’ inner scissor mechanisms are milled and have the Squale branding stamped into it, with a solid and reliable feeling overall. Certainly, I have worn this watch both with and without the bracelet, and have vaccilated between bracelet and strap on multiple occasions. My main foible with the bracelet is how it can feel a little less than 100% solid from time to time, but it is undeniably an attractive complement to the watch head, and integrates well into the overall outlook of the watch.

When on the wrist, the Sub-39 fits my 7.25” wrist well, and will likely happily serve those with 6.5” wrists and up. The case itself measures 39mm across, but that overhanging “UFO” bezel brings the maximum width to just a touch above 40mm or so; thus the 39mm dimension can be somewhat deceiving for most who do not take the bezel diameter into account. The balance overall is decent given the relative lack of excessive heft for the watch head, and how the bracelet has its own sense of substantiality given its mostly solid build. My foibles about the tightness of the clasp tags aside, the bracelet execution is firmly in the “above average” category.

What’s in a Name?

For most people, Squale’s brand proposition seems to land more in the “entry-level Swiss-made” camp, and if you are the owner of this model, you might just feel inclined to believe as such. Certainly, the slightly wiggly bezel action, hollow end-links, iffy clasp action and rather unrefined edge execution for the crown and bezel alike don’t inspire confidence that the Sub39 has what it takes to wear that Swiss-made badge loud and proud. However, I would like to outline a few things that might just redeem this plucky little fella.

For one, we need to remind ourselves that this is a watch rated for 300 metres of water-resistance, and while I have not put it to the test, I would posit that the brand’s heritage lends credence to this dive capability. Secondly, while nothing glamorous, the Sellita SW-200 is a very reliable and ubiquitous movement, being a clone of the ETA-2824A, which itself is popular to the point of being cliche. Both factors already point to a promised life of rock-solid dependability, and my third point will likely cement that impression upon you given how this watch has performed in one of the most extreme environments I have experienced in my life.

Just a few weeks into ownership of the watch as a birthday/wedding anniversary gift from my wife, I wore this watch on a trip to Iceland at the height of its harshest winter on record in the past decade or so. That winter of 2022 saw record snowfall, and temperatures that went below -20 degrees centigrade; as a person born and raised in the tropics and more used to monsoon rains than waist-high snow, those conditions were effectively “North of The Wall”, and pushed me to the limits of what I could persevere in terms of cold, snow and lack of sunlight. 

Suffice it to say, I won’t be heading back to Iceland in the wintertime, no matter how peaceful it might be. But all of this is really to highlight how the Sub39 performed beyond expectations whether it was driving in the dark, or waking up to scrape the ice off the windscreen. The movement kept excellent time, the lume shone brightly in the 20 hours of wintertime darkness, and I even climbed a glacier with this thing strapped to my wrist - just don’t ask me to pronounce that glacier’s name!

Last Bite

As the owner of several Squale pieces, and having been exposed to other adjacent Swiss brands, Squale comes up as “above entry-level” in the grand scheme of things. Build quality is above average, and the choice of movements is unsurprising as it leans towards dependability over pizzazz. However, what sets the brand apart from countless homage brands is its very real and very solid heritage as a manufacturer of dive watch cases, and this “reissue” of their vintage case design embodies the essence of that deep-diving derring-do.

I think this is an objectively handsome watch, and when it lands on my wrist as part of my watch rotation, it continually surprises me with how much it makes me happy when I look down upon it. The legibility is excellent with the enlarged indices, and the contrasting interplay of shapes from the straight-edged hands to the sinuous case lines prove that all Squale need to do is to provide that extra point of innovation via COSC-certified movements, and perhaps refinement in the bezel action and provision of solid end links.

In short, go and give this watch a try; the 48.5mm lug-to-lug dimension and the accessible bracelet drape should handle most wrists well. We can continue to swim around hoping for the “optimal” dive watch, or we could grab a piece of (reissued) history and go about our day with confidence, and a spring in our step.