Dive watches are really hot right now. And, in my opinion, I found one of the more interesting dive watch designs in quite a while: The 4ocean edition.
Because I do a lot of watch research, Spinnaker ads come up often on my social media. Yesterday I clicked through on one of the ads and found the 4ocean on their website. As you can see from the photo above, it’s unique and has a great story behind it, which makes it one of the best eco-friendly dive watches under $300 right now.
What Is the Spinnaker Hass Automatic?
Spinnaker’s Hass is one of Spinnaker’s core dive watch lines. And like all dive watches, it’s built for divers and adventurers who want something that can handle being in the water a lot. It has an automatic movement that runs off the motion of your wrist and features a clean, bold dial, luminous hands, and markers for low-light conditions.
Because of its great looks and durability, the standard Hass has a loyal following among microbrand watch fans. And now Spinnaker has released a very cool limited edition version.
Spinnaker and 4ocean
4ocean is a nonprofit organization formed in 2017 with the mission of removing plastic waste and other debris from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines. This while creating living-wage jobs for people in coastal communities.
To date, they’ve pulled millions of pounds of trash out of the water.
Spinnaker, founded in 2013 and known for its dive watches in the microbrand watch community, partnered with 4ocean to celebrate 4ocean’s ongoing fight against pollution by making watches out of recovered plastic from the water.
Spinnaker cleaned and processed the plastic and formed it into textured dial surfaces that look pretty amazing. And since the plastics are all different, each watch is really unique since no two dials look the same.
And if using recovered pollution isn’t cool enough, every sold watch funds the removal of 25 pounds of plastic and debris from oceans, rivers, and coastlines.
Four Color Variations and Causes
The Hass Automatic 4ocean collection comes in four color versions, with each one representing a specific marine ecosystem that is under threat from plastic waste in the water:
Manatee comes in blue and represents one of the ocean’s most gentle and vulnerable mammals. Manatees are always under threat from boat motors and plastics.
Sharks come in the color black. Their populations, despite headlines about shark attacks, have actually dropped significantly in recent decades due to overfishing and habitat damage.
Sea turtles come in green and are especially vulnerable to plastic pollution because they often mistake plastic bags and debris for jellyfish, one of their primary food sources.
Coral reefs come in purple and are threatened by warming ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and plastic waste.
As for watch specifications, it’s pretty solid:
- Japanese automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve.
- The movement runs at 21,600 beats per hour with 21 jewels
- Date display.
- 43mm case and 22mm Stainless Steel with Fold Over Buckle
Overall, these specs put it right up there with Seiko’s starting automatic watches. It might not compete with a $3000 Swiss watch, but it can definitely be your everyday watch.
And, importantly, the luminous hands and hour markers are bright enough to read clearly underwater and in dark environments. So whether you’re diving or just walking at night, the Hass won’t let you down.
If you want a solid dive watch, I don’t think you can go wrong with the eco-friendly 4ocean, but you may want to act fast. On the last check, only the blue and black color variations were left.
You can purchase the 4ocean at the Spinnaker watch website.
Below: An informational video on the 4ocean mobile skimmer cleaning up plastic waste and other garbage from waterways.
