OUR STYLE
“Form Forged by Utility. Beauty Beyond Luxury.”
WATA TOKEI’s Signature Style: Functional Beauty Rooted in Skindivers and Japanese Aesthetics
Skindiver watches emerged in the 1950s and 60s amid a marine sports surge, fulfilling the masses’ demand for affordable dive watches. By limiting waterproofing to a sufficient level for light-duty activities like skindiving, surfing, and swimming, these watches achieved affordability, compactness, simplicity, and a distinctive style, swiftly gaining popularity as practical timepieces.
Their hallmarks—a simple H-shaped case, a robust low-beat movement, a black dial, and bold luminescent indices and hands for clear legibility—eschewed excess. This design embodies the graceful simplicity of a purpose-driven tool, seamlessly blending form and function.
Inspired by the enduring charm of vintage skindiver watches, WATA TOKEI distills their essential qualities, finding resonance with Japanese aesthetics—minimalism and timelessness—in their functional beauty. Instead of replicating past designs, we reimagine them as our signature style, infused with our commitment to refined simplicity and timeless elegance.
The Pinnacle of Simplicity: Fusing Skindiver Essence with Japanese Beauty
WATA TOKEI’s style embodies Japan’s aesthetic of subtraction. The H-shaped case, composed of spheres, straight lines, and arcs, exudes disciplined simplicity. The glossy black domed dial, reminiscent of lacquerware, softly captures light, with delicate printed indices resembling makie artistry. Eschewing applied indices, we use equal-length bar indices, centrally positioned numerals, and bold, curved-tip hands, achieving ultimate simplicity and legibility. This design prioritizes a refined, poetic presence over rugged utility, harmonizing the dial’s serene stillness with the hands’ dynamic motion.
Reimagined Dial: Centrally Positioned Numerals and Uniform Indices
To maximize legibility—the cornerstone of tool watches—we reexamined conventional “3-6-9” or “12-3-6-9” numeral layouts. Do large numerals around the dial’s edge truly enhance readability, or do they hinder it? For skindivers, primarily used in daily life, comfort and clarity take precedence. We unified indices in equal length and width, with numerals repositioned centrally to serve as subtle markers for the dial’s cardinal points, ensuring all hours are read under equal conditions.
Static and Dynamic Contrast
The delicate, static dial contrasts with bold, dynamic hands, ensuring legibility while maintaining simplicity and sophistication, creating a unique style defined by the interplay of stillness and motion.
Custom In-House Numeral Font
WATA TOKEI developed a bespoke numeral font for the dial and rotating bezel, ensuring harmony across the watch’s design. With finely controlled line weights, this typeface enhances the watch’s cohesive beauty and refined image.
Bombe Dial: A Depth of Elegance
The domed dial, paired with a box-shaped sapphire crystal, lies at the heart of WATA TOKEI’s aesthetic. Inspired by the bombe dials of 1950s dress watches, adopted by select skindivers, it rises gently toward the center, enhancing the crystal’s lens effect to create a mesmerizing three-dimensional depth. Our distinctive larger dial opening draws in abundant light, accentuating the lacquer-like, jet-black curvature. This dance of light and shadow, harmonized with curved hands and a rotating bezel, evokes a profound beauty typically found in high-end dive watches. WATA TOKEI embraces this feature wholeheartedly, crafting a skindiver of unparalleled elegance and presence.
Brand Philosophy: “Form Forged by Utility. Beauty Beyond Luxury.”
WATA TOKEI shapes its form through materials, function, and performance, guided by a philosophy of simplicity inspired by wabi-sabi. Eschewing excessive ruggedness or fleeting trends, we embrace Japan’s tradition of finding beauty in the minimal. The skindiver’s aesthetic prioritizes grace over strength, utility over luxury. With a bespoke font, bombe dial, and H-link bracelet, our watches embody discreet yet distinctive elegance, crafted as timeless companions to mark cherished moments across generations.