I don?t envy young brands looking to make their mark in the ~$1,000 dive watch category. Finding acceptance with a clean sheet design is no easy feat, and neither is producing a watch to a standard that can hold up amongst the titans of the genre. This hasn?t stopped a seemingly endless amount of upstart brands from trying, however, and for that, I am thankful, because every now and again one breaks through the noise. One design that made such an impression on me when I first saw it on Instagram, was the Marin Instruments Skin-Diver. I say design because these things can be an entirely different experience in the metal, which we?ll get to. But I want to first start with the concept of the Skin-Diver, and what might be the perfect jumping off point for a new brand looking to make their so-called mark.  I love the idea of a skin-diver, which is to say, a more casual approach to the often hard-core, over-engineered dive watch. A dive watch that doesn?t take itself too seriously. It?s got the chops to dive recreationally, and the style to match. Read more about the concept of skin-divers right here, and you?ll appreciate the need for these kinds of watches within the budding culture of recreational, ie. no skin suit, style diving. Skin diving, if you will.

Without the need for extreme depth ratings, helium release valves, and bracelet extension gizmos, skins-divers were free to be a bit more ergonomic and stylish in their approach. That often meant thinner cases, and...