Did an Unexpected Brand Just Launch the Year’s Funnest Dive Watch?

This Glaswegian dive watch works as hard as it plays.

Close-up of a blue dive watch with a blue bezel marked with white numerals in increments of five. The watch face is dark blue with white geometric hour markers, including circles, triangles, and a square. The word "GLASGOW" is printed in small yellow-green letters near the 6 o'clock position. The watch has a blue rubber strap and a silver crown on the right side. The background is a textured stone surface.

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By Brad Lanphear

Published August 25, 2025

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Updated August 25, 2025

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Glaswegian watch brand Paulin blends horology and graphic design like no one else.

Timekeeping comes second to visual appeal for the boutique watchmaker, equipping most models with affordable, reliable quartz movements. But the brand’s debut diver works as hard as it plays, above and below the waves.

Blue wristwatch with a stainless steel case, featuring a blue bezel marked with white numerals in increments of five. The watch face is dark blue with white geometric hour markers and luminous hands. The strap is blue rubber with embossed designs. The watch is resting on a textured rock surface with some orange and green lichen. — The Mara applys Paulin’s talent for graphic design to a serious dive watch with 300m water resistance.

The Mara, which translates to “of the sea” in Scots Gaelic, was inspired by a 2023 conversation with dive watch expert and Gear Patrol alum Jason Heaton. Paulin’s design team set out to make a capable aquatic tool watch that possessed the brand’s playful aesthetic.

Two wristwatches with round stainless steel cases and rubber straps are shown on a blue background. The watch on the left has a black dial with white geometric hour markers, a translucent bezel with white numerals, and a black strap embossed with a pattern. The watch on the right has a dark blue dial with similar white geometric hour markers, a bright blue bezel with white numerals, and a matching blue strap with an embossed pattern. Both watches have three hands and a crown on the right side. — The Mara comes in black and blue.

The foundational elements — like bold geometric hour markers, distinctly shaped hour and minute hands, and an elliptical case — are borrowed from 1970s dive watches by brands like Doxa and Zodiac.

A wristwatch with a black dial featuring white geometric hour markers (circles, triangles, and squares) and white numerals at 12 and 6. The watch has a silver stainless steel case, a gray bezel with white minute markings, and a yellow triangle at the 12 o'clock position. The hour and minute hands are white with luminescent centers, and the second hand is thin and silver. The watch is attached to a black woven fabric strap and is placed on a light wood surface. The words "PAULIN" and "GLASGOW" are printed in green near the 7 and 5 o'clock positions on the dial. — The Mara’s dial is inspired by 1970s divers from brands like Doxa and Zodiac.

But that fan-favorite blueprint is painted over with Paulin’s signature use of geometric shapes, balanced spacing and complementary colors. Like good industrial design, the Mara uses basic symbols in a pleasing and eye-catching arrangement to execute its function efficiently.

A distinctly Paulin dial

Like many of Paulin’s watches, including the Neo, Modul and Zapata, the brand’s name and home city of Glasgow, Scotland, are printed along the seconds track. This creates blank space at the center, resembling vintage military divers with sterile dials.

A wristwatch with a black dial featuring geometric hour markers (circles, triangles, and diamonds) and a black fabric strap. The watch has a silver bezel with minute markings and a yellow triangle at the 12 o'clock position. The watch is worn on a wrist with a dark knitted sleeve visible. — The Mara has a 40mm elliptical brushed steel case.

The hour markers use an Arabic 12 and 6 in Paulin’s in-house “Wim” font. A pattern of circles, triangles and squares fills out the remaining spaces. The triangles are oriented to resemble up and down arrows, fitting symbolism for a dive watch.

Using a shorter, wider hour hand and a longer, narrower minute hand to differentiate the two is an old dive watch trick. Paulin rounded off the hour hand and squared off the minute hand to match the geometric theme.

The hour markers, hands and bezel are filled with Super-LumiNova.

Paulin

The hour markers and minute hand are filled with blue Super-LumiNova, while the minute and seconds hands use green. The 120-click unidirectional brass bezel has a fully lumed 60-minute track under domed lacquer.

A barely noticeable detail that emphasises Paulin’s commitment to the geometric theme is that the bezel grip is made of hemispherical drilled holes.

An expert-approved diver

Paulin retrofitted the elliptical case from its Modul collection by rounding off the edges, adding a crown guard and applying a vertically brushed finish. It follows in the wake of iconic divers like the Seiko 6306 “Turtle” and the Doxa Sub 200.

The Mara has curved lugs, and the bezel grip consists of hemispherical drilled holes.

Paulin

A domed sapphire crystal, a screw-down crown and a screw-in caseback help ensure the Mara’s 300m water resistance. The signed crown has a gear-like machined grip.

A wristwatch with a blue bezel and blue rubber strap is worn over a black wetsuit sleeve. The watch face is dark with white geometric hour markers and white hands, and the bezel has white minute markings. The watch appears to be underwater. — Paulin tested the Mara in the frigid waters of coastal Scotland.

Paulin proves its commitment to building a genuine retro tool watch by foregoing its typical quartz movements in favor of an excellent Swiss-made automatic option. The La Joux-Perret caliber G101 has a 68-hour power reserve and a beat rate of 28,800vph.

Since the remarkably accomplished diver Jason Heaton inspired the Mara, Paulin felt it was only right to have him test it in the frigid waters of Scotland’s Hebridean Isles.

It is fair to say that Paulin absolutely nailed its first crack at building a proper dive watch. Priced at $1,687, plus import duties, it is a bit north of affordable, but the original design makes it the funnest fully capable dive watch of 2025.

Availability and price

The Paulin Mara is available now from Paulin for $1,687, plus import duties.

The dial comes in navy blue with a light blue bezel and black with a gray bezel. Two straps are provided — a two-piece fabric strap and a rubber strap, both with pin buckles — and you can choose between black or blue in each at checkout.

Blue wristwatch with a stainless steel case, blue bezel marked with white numbers, and a blue rubber strap embossed with a design. The watch face is dark blue with white geometric hour markers and white hour and minute hands. The second hand is thin and silver with a small yellow detail near the tip.

Paulin Mara

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	La Joux-Perret caliber G101 automatic
Water	300m

$1,687 at Paulin

About the Author: Brad Lanphear is an associate editor at Gear Patrol covering watches and style. Before joining the publication, he previously wrote for Heddels and Men’s Health. Now, he’s on a never-ending quest to find the perfect pair of Japanese denim.