Regular readers might remember our coverage of the debut watch from VPC almost two years ago. This was a special project as it comes from Thomas van Straaten, whose byline many of you may have seen over at his main gig, as a writer at Fratello. The Type 37HW, the debut release from VPC, was conceived as something as the ultimate enthusiast’s watch, with special attention paid to the small details that serious watch lovers are particularly attuned to. In practice, that means you end up with a watch that is very subtle, with lots of things that are special about it but perhaps don’t advertise themselves in big bold colors. VPC, after all, is an acronym for a Latin phrase that translates to “beauty through restraint,” and if that isn’t a mission statement of enthusiast focused watch culture, I don’t know what is.
For the second VPC release, the brand is back with a watch that builds on the design language of the Type 37HW but shifts it specifically into the realm of the dive watch. The Type 39VM is, according to the brand, the thinnest 200 meter water resistant automatic dive watch on the market, which is a bold claim but seems to be backed up by a cursory review of the data. The case height is listed at 9.34mm, which is quite thin indeed for a watch like this. In keeping with VPC’s design principles, van Stratten set out to create a watch that was purely functional but also didn’t sacrifice ergonomics or aesthetics. Through an exploration of figuring out what exactly would be possible in the manufacturing process (minimizing tolerances and airgaps, determining the thinnest possible execution of the dial, and so forth), VPC was able to methodically tweak the design until they arrived at a case that is about one millimeter thinner than their closest competitor.
To create an extremely thin dive watch, every little nuance of the design has to be considered. In the press materials for the Type 39VM, van Straaten notes that the hour hand reaches 0.1mm from the hour markers so that it does not have to physically clear them as it rotates around the dial. This single decision is of course reflected in other aspects of the deigns of the watch, including the size and thickness of the markers, the depth of the dial, the height of the crystal, and so forth. It speaks to the rather insane complexity and nested decision points that go into making any watch design successful, and is something the people who pay extremely close attention to these things consider on a frequent basis.
The Type 39VM will be available in two dial configurations: Graphite (black) and Frost (silvery white). Van Straaten is somewhat famously (in watch media circles, anyway) critical of dive watches with overly complex dials, with extravagant sunburst or fume effects. For van Straaten, these types of embellishments break the spell of the tool oriented diver as they don’t add anything to the functionality and in fact “break the conceptual integrity” of the watch itself. So it’s no surprise that for his new diver, van Straaten went with dials that have a matte effect, but he’s sought to keep them from being boring by giving them a very fine texture that is potentially more easily appreciated from understanding how its applied than by actually viewing it. To achieve the finish on these dials, a brass blank is polished to a high shine before a fine layer of powdered texture is added. Color is then layered on in varying levels of opacity, which van Straaten says creates a natural depth. The texture on both dials is there, but not in your face. The idea is that execution itself is high end, so the end result does not need to be flashy in the way many dials today are.
The Type 39VM runs on a Sellita SW300 caliber that has been chronometer certified. Other specs include a custom bracelet with a toolless micro-adjust feature built into the clasp, and a hard-coating of the stainless steel case that the brand says will reduce the appearance and accumulation of small scratches (again, more enthusiast focused details that are critical but not flashy). The bezel has a matte black ceramic insert and is calibrated to 120 clicks (this might be a point of contention to at least some – we look forward to a spirited debate).
The Type 39VM is available to order on a pre-sale basis right now, with deliveries expected in 7-9 months. A minimum of 300 watches will be produced, and a maximum of 300 as part of this batch. The retail price is €2,998. VPC
