Like many of our readers, I have a sweet spot for small, independent brands? the watch startups of today pushing the market in new ways the big players not always can. It?s part of the reason I think I like RGM and the 151-COE piece we covered last week so much, but it?s also the reason I?m actively searching out small brands? especially those with vintage influences? on a daily basis.
 
One of these brands is Nezumi Studios, a brand we covered a few months ago with their first watch and chronograph, the Voiture. This watch drew the attention of many publications with its fascinating combination of different vintage inspirations, which include the Universal Genève Tricompax, Omega Speedmaster, and Tudor Montecarlo, among others. These are details the brand took, reorganized, and modified into a modern piece that both pays homage and holds its weight to gain the popularity it enjoys within horological circles today. Now the brand is back with its second watch ? this one a diver, called the Baliene.
Where voiture in French means “car,” baliene means “whale,” a name perfectly appropriate to the diving spirit the piece works to channel. Influenced in part by the Rolex Submariner Ref. 6538 369 Explorer dial, vintage Tudor Rangers, and the Omega Seamaster Ref. 135004, among a few other historical sports watches, the Baliene is distinctly more modern than the Voiture yet still manages to place a few key historical nuances within its design.

With a 40-mm...