My friend Jonathan turned me on to the the Foster 11 Atmos Skin Diver, the first watch out of Oregon-based Foster Watch Co. To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t heard of the brand or its founders, Everett and Christian. Apparently, Everett co-hosts a popular podcast where they talk about affordable watches. I haven’t listened to a single episode, but when Jon couldn’t contain his excitement and shared with me how the Foster founders were trying to make a dive watch that addresses all the issues with models they saw on the current market, as well as wanting to put their own personal spin on things, I was hooked.

The Foster 11 Atmos Skin Diver is a diver (obviously) that measures 39mm in diameter, with a lug-to-lug of 48mm and takes 20mm straps. It’s powered by a Miyota 90S5 movement, giving it a purported 42 hour per reserve. There’s no date complication. They initially offered 200 black (though that number is not meant to be limited), and a limited edition of 50 green and 50 orange dials. I had my sights set on the orange one and through some sheer luck (perhaps a return or cold feet from an unfortunate buyer), I was able to secure one. Packaging and shipping were perfectly fine.

The dial is very shiny, without any sort of radial or other patterns. It’s just uniformly glossy, which I like. There’s lume applied to the hour markers as well as to the baton hands. The whole thing is topped with an acrylic crystal which seems not great, but it doesn’t bother me one bit. It means I could easily polish it if needed. I will say, the curvature of the crystal is not gradual, so it creates a slight distortion in the inner diameter. It’s hard to explain but you can see this clearly in photos on their product page.

The case is made of316L stainless steel, and the PVD-coated bezel has 48 clicks. The bezel, now that’s where a lot of this story lies. It is incredibly smooth and satisfying to operate. Now, I don’t know much about dive watches, so I don’t know if 48 clicks is a lot. I suspect it’s on the lower end because I can sense that each click moves the bezel quite a bit. But it doesn’t matter to me. It’s the smoothest operating bezel on a dive watch I’ve experienced.

The case has an unusual shape. I am not sure what you’d call it. Maybe a cushion shape? This means it has both a forehead and chin, so overall, it looks more plush-y. No, not plush, as in comfortable. But plushy, like a pillow or stuffed animal. This is the main thing I dislike about this watch. I guess they were going for something vintage or maybe a throwback to the 70s? It’s not for me. But it sits comfortably on my wrist, despite the 39mm size so I’m fine with it.

A bracelet is included, which I appreciate. I feel like you are required to include a bracelet if you are going to design a dive watch. However, $500 doesn’t leave much in the budget for a bracelet. I think this bracelet is just okay. It’s what you’d expect at this price point. It’s nicer than the one I got with my Seiko solar diver, but not by much. I swapped it out to a MN-style strap, firsts from the Watch Steward and now a special edition NASA model from Nick Mankey.

Overall, I am delighted with the Foster 11 Atmos Skin Diver. I like supporting small independent watchmakers, and I think that Foster actually brought something different to the market. I was happy overall with the ordering and delivery process, and I think the watch is comfortable to wear and very functional. I’m excited to see what the brand comes up with for its sophomore debut.