Meet the Timex Vintage Marlin, the brand’s first mechanical watch in a decade and one of the most proper reissues we?ve seen – as well as one of the cheapest.

By James Buttery

I?m currently wearing a mechanical watch that costs considerably less than a replacement strap for some watch brands but what’s more surprising is that I like it a great deal.
Timex has produced a reissue of its 1960s favourite, the Marlin. It?s not one of those reissues that lumps on a extra few millimetres to the case diameter or adds a date window to make allowances for current tastes. No, this watch is as close to a direct facsimile of the original as I believe it?s possible to achieve.

The case is the same diameter as the original, a diminutive 34mm. Currently we applaud the bravery of modern watchmakers producing 38mm watches for men and consider those wearing 36mm pieces as positively experimental, so a 34mm watch is likely to be divisive, but more on that later.
Aesthetically the single-piece case with push-on caseback is a replica of the Marlin but in terms of materials it?s a solid upgrade, made of polished stainless steel rather the chrome-plated brass that was used in the 60s. It?s finely polished with nice sharp edges, tapered lugs and a bezel and caseback that meet in the middle at a pencil-thin caseband. The crown sits in a little recess at the three o?clock position, preserving the integrity of the watch?s silhouette.

The dial is also a crowd-...