I stumbled upon the Evant Tropic Diver 300 purely by chance – browsing watches on the Internet – as one does. I was reading an article on an obscure diver from Breguet from the ‘60s – reference no. 1646. Apparently, only 60 pieces were made and the watch community was practically unaware of its existence until 2014, when a collector who bought the watch decided to authenticate in through Breguet.

While I was trying to find more photos of this stunning-looking diver, I came across pics of the Evant Tropic Diver 300. Imagine my surprise – the very cool, but relatively unknown watch made by a legendary watchmaker I just discovered had a great-looking homage for an affordable price! The trouble was, I was a couple of years too late with my discovery.

Namely, in 2017, Evant have made a total of 600 pieces of their tropic diver – 300 with a black dial and 300 with a gorgeous fumé blue. And of course, they were sold out. They have made (and still do) other models with similar design aesthetics, but this first version remained my favorite.

Fast forward a few years, I was browsing watches on the Internet – as one does – and I spotted a fumé blue tropic diver up for auction. The price and the condition of the watch were too good to be true, but I decided to take a chance. I placed my bid immediately, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up – I’ve never won an auction in my life – and forgot completely about it. Imagine my surprise a week later when I got an email saying that I’ve won.

The first impressions were really good: the Evant Tropic Diver 300 comes in a surprisingly big presentation box made of wood, a NATO strap and 3 different Italian leather hand-made straps. But this one really is all about the dial – the combination of sunburst and fumé, coupled with the domed sapphire crystal, make it both stunning to look at and a nightmare to photograph. I never would’ve thought that rose gold and blue go well together, but the combination of the hands and the dial works amazingly well.

Other good stuff include BGW9 lume, the domed sapphire crystal, the Bakelite-like ceramic bezel insert, ETA 2824-2 élaboré and the rather nice engraving on the caseback. It does, however, wear bigger than the 41mm diameter and 48 lug-to-lug would suggest. I suspect this is due to the chunky case thickness of 13mm which, with a slim movement like the ETA is a bit excessive, in spite of the 300m water resistance. The chunkiness, combined with the slim lugs, make it a bit top-heavy. The case finish also leaves much to be desired – completely polished, it’s a bit unrefined and a touch too dressy, not to mention a scratch magnet.

And then there’s the brand – Evant. While I appreciate when brands don’t bullshit you with made-up origin stories and over-the-top statements, there is precious little information about Evant, even on their own website, other than the fact that the brand was founded by a group of watch enthusiasts from various backgrounds. There’s not even information about the brand’s country of origin.

The fact that they use ETA movements, but there’s no “Swiss made” on the dial, makes me believe that the watch is assembled in Asia and it doesn’t meet the criteria for the label (which are laughable anyway) – otherwise, I think they wouldn’t miss the opportunity to advertise it on the dial. The upside of this is that the Evant Tropic Diver has a really clean and uncluttered dial.

In summary, the Evant Tropic Diver 300 is a quite unique watch – definitely not your typical homage, offering a refreshingly different (albeit not original) take on the dive watch genre. I wish more microbrands would go off the beaten path and make homages of lesser known and more interesting models from the past and adding their own personal twist on the design.