Newly released from Magrette is their latest version of the Moana Pacific Pro Diver, or MPP Diver as itโs come to be called, in the stainless steel/grey dial. This is about the 5th or the 6th variation of the MPP, and might be, in my opinion , the best.
First, letโs take a look at the packaging, which is also new from Magrette. If you have purchased from Magrette in the past, you are probably familiar with the branded pine wood box they would ship in, which had your watch in a nice canvas roll on the inside. With the purchase of the new MPP divers you now receive this beautiful, zippered leather travel case.ย Very nice leather on the outside, and when unzipped, you have different compartments that hold the watch, straps, tools and more. These can also be purchased separately from Magrette if you wish. While the pine box and canvas roll was always nice, this travel case is a big upgrade in my opinion, and just another reason why Magrette is one of the top micro brands for the price.
Moving on to the case, this is your cushion style/vintage military inspired case Magrette has become known for. ย It measures in at 44mm wide, 15.6mm thick and a length of 53mm. On the rubber strap the MPP weighs in at 151 grams. This version is all brushed stainless steel on the case and lugs, with the bezel and crown done in a contrasting high polish. Sitting atop the case is your 60-click, unidirectional, diver bezel, which has a matte ceramic insert with painted luminescent numbers and markers.ย Now, unfortunately, one known issue with the bezel markers is while they did use lume paint, it is very weak, as you will see in the lume shots later. The crown is deeply knurled so you can get a nice grasp, and this example has just the tiniest amount of wobble or play when unscrewed. Nothing that seems like it will be an issue at any point, but something I thought I should point out.ย At the 9 oโclock side of the case you have a helium release valve, as the Magrette MPP is water resistant to 500m, good for you deep divers, and more than adequate for many of us โdesk diversโ.ย The lugs utilize drilled lugs, which allow for quick changing of the straps with just a push pin tool. I love this feature on watches, and hope more companies that use spring pins for strap attachment would do this.
The dial on this example is a nice matte grey dial, with rose tone baton style hour and minute hands, and a red second hand with white lume paint applied at the tip. Early prototypes and renderings of this version showed steel hands, which gave a nice monochrome look, but owner of Magrette, Dion, has told me he changed to the rose gold hands to give the dial a little extra pop and contrast. While the hands are not my first choice, I will say that it does give some nice contrast to the dial. Adding a little bit of color are the words โMoana Pacificโ in orange at the bottom of the dial, and โprofessionalโ below it in white. The date window is located between the 4 and 5 oโclock hour markers and is a black on white date window. This looks a little washed out because of the grey dial, and I would have rathered a black background with white numbers. I really like the way Magrette did the large Arabic numbers for the 12, 3,6 and 9. The use of the 0 in front of them is something not seen on many watches with this number and dial configuration; just another thing to make it stand out a little. The chapter ring is a little different in that is shows water resistance and select time indicators (500m, 10min and the 30-35 min range). You also have orange minute markers that surround the inner portion of the ring. Covering the dial is a double domed sapphire crystal with an inner AR coating.
2 comments
Very nice article, totally what I wanted to find.
Right away I am ready to do my breakfast, after having my breakfast coming
again to read other news.