Marloe Solent Cardinal
The watch industry is full of dive watches, which makes sense as the public has shown with their money that a dive watch is what most want. But not everyone wants a dive watch, and while we have pilot watches, field watches, and more, there is another subset of watch styles, which I refer to as the casual sport watch. That brings me to my review today of the Marloe Solent Cardinal, a maritime-inspired watch, that could be worn on a boat or like most of us, just a great weekend watch, or for when we want something sporty but doesn’t bog down the wrist and just stays out of the way while having a little style. That’s exactly what I consider the Solent, a watch you can put on and forget about but when you look down at it, it is not just some boring piece. Of course, Marloe put in a lot of the work into the dial and intended it for use out on the ocean, or while manning a lighthouse, but as usual, I give the perspective of a watch enthusiast, as that is what most of us are.
Specifications:
- 42mm diameter,
- 10.5mm depth
- 22mm lug distance
- 48mm Lug to Lug
- Bead-blasted bespoke case
- Sapphire domed crystal with anti-reflective coating
- Three-piece dial with a signature yellow colored ring
- Nautical divider hands, hairline running seconds hand
- Exhibition case-back
- Custom crown with concave cap
- 79.7g
- 10 ATM
- 1-year warranty
Price $415
https://www.marloewatchcompany.com/collections/solent
Now, as I said, Marloe didn’t just design a dial to be stylish, it does have an intended purpose and I will quote from their website below:
The Cardinal dial takes inspiration from navigational buoys of the same name, used in maritime pilotage to indicate the position of sub-surface hazards, such as wrecks, reefs, and rocky-outcrops, by displaying the direction to which you must pass the buoy – either North, East, South or West – using a simple set of triangular marks.
The black, subtly textured dial replicates the main cardinal points at 12, 3, 6, and 9 in Solent signature yellow, with bold white hour markings making time-telling clear and legible. The hidden, recessed signature color ring brings an element of complexity to the dial, with the chamfered upper ring adding depth dynamics – a real treat for the eyes.