I should begin by disclosing that Matt, the Typsim founder and watchmaker, is a friend. I paid in full for my 200M-C just like every other customer, and I’ve definitely publicly embarrassed Matt with my display of enthusiasm for his watches. I picture him reading this and doing a facepalm.

By 2017 the market price of a Rolex Submariner 5513 was comfortably into five figures. Instagram was choked with bokeh-filled, moody vintage dive watches on leather straps. I was suckered in; I wanted one, but the opportunity cost of buying one vintage Rolex at the time (and the price tag) seemed too high. I was just getting into watches; I bought my first mechanical luxury watch, a manually wound Nomos Club Campus that year.

As has been the craze forever for newer enthusiasts trying to convince themselves that luxury watches are utilitarian purchases, I couldn’t shake the dive watch delusion. I went to unhealthy lengths to get my hands on a Black Bay 58 as soon as I possibly could because in 2018 that was the dive watch to have, and I’m glad I did because it taught me a lot about what interested me about watches. It also taught me that the allure of the mythical, ideal men’s dive watch is real, and that I am disappointingly susceptible to it.

What is my ideal of a men’s dive watch? I think it’s any watch that gives its wearer that emotional connection to the storied history of this indispensable tool in a diver’s kit, and the assurance that while all else around it in the world may buckle under pressure, the watch will take a beating and keep on ticking. Some of it is marketing and hype, a lot of it is the magic of putting something on the wrist that sings to the wearer.

And Typsim is apparently run by magicians and singers.

Since I’ve received my Typsim 200M-C, it’s seen probably the most wrist time of all my watches. I can read the time on this watch – with a single glance – faster than on any other watch I own. I chalk that experience up to the negative relief gilt dial that creates insane contrast between the black paint and the gold plated base plate that shines through for the chapter ring and logo printing. The broad hands with gilt edges are effortless to spot against that dial. This is before we get to the lume, applied in big plots on the hour markers and in the bezel markings under its acrylic insert. The lume compound was developed by LumiNova to turn a creamier color with wear; it’s a process that could take years, though.

The bracelet, with its fully articulating, actually riveted links (with solid end links) is mad comfortable to keep on for extended periods of time. The period correct drilled lug holes and tapered lug shape make swapping the bracelet for a strap quite convenient and ensure the watch always sits low on wrist. The acrylic crystal on the Typsim 200M-C is similarly, gloriously “warm” in look and its superior readability at extreme angles is an added bonus. There is no on-the-fly micro-adjust mechanism, just some drilled holes in the clasp to choose from. The entire watch (not just an uncased movement) is chronometer certified at the Besançon Observatory in France.

How does all this add up to magic? It gives me the feeling of wearing not a specific reference from a specific brand, but of carrying on my wrist the accumulation of horological and diving history, and it achieves that by thoughtful design choices. It is not the answer to the question of which is the best dive watch, or the most renowned, accomplished, technically advanced, or other similar superlative. It is, for me, an ideal dive watch. I would love to own a 5513 someday, another ideal dive watch. But this Typsim 200M-C is something more to me now: it’s just a watch I want to keep on my wrist forever so with wear over the years it turns into my own 5513. I picture Matt reading this and doing a facepalm.