Time+Tide welcomes microbrand powerhouse Baltic to our shop

Borna Bošnjak

Today we’re delighted to announce that the T+T shop is now stocking Baltic, the flagbearers of excellent, affordable design. The French brand lays claim to being the microbrand, launching just over five years ago on Kickstarter, and continuing on its upward trajectory ever since. Baltic’s most-loved designs will be hitting the shop right away, including the two pieces that launched the brand – the HMS002 and Bicompax chronograph – along with the versatile shape of the Aquascaphe and its many variants.

Check out the entire Baltic collection at the Time+Tide Shop.

Aquascaphe

Though it wasn’t their first, the Baltic Aquascaphe is certainly the brand’s most successful piece. It began as a vintage-styled dive watch with modern specs – like the Aquascaphe Classic with a steel bezel above – eventually evolving into different case materials and shapes, as well as gaining a complication along the way.

Apart from steel, Baltic also offers the Aquascaphe in three bronze and two titanium colourways, both models slightly re-designed to fit the aesthetic of their respective case material. The titanium is decidedly more modern, especially with the brushed ceramic bezel insert, also adding an additional 100 metres of water resistance. On the other hand, the Aquascaphe Bronze, a collection recently expanded with the sapphire-bezelled Bronze Brown, will age together with its wearer, the CuAl8 bronze gaining that sweet sweet patina.

The GMT and Dual-Crown show off the versatility of the Aquascaphe collection, both being capable sports watches in their own right, with different added benefits. The Dual-Crown is a blast from the past, recalling compressor-cased divers with internal rotating bezels and spring-loaded casebacks that would seal the gaskets tighter as the water pressure increased, though doing so with a regular screw-down caseback. The Pepsi bezel GMT is a bit of a no-brainer when it comes to a vintage re-issue dual time zone watch, Baltic making the most of the caller GMT Soprod movement.

Bicompax

The Baltic Bicompax was the very first watch the brand launched with, along with the HMS002. The sector dial two-register chronograph became an instant fan-favourite, as it used the affordable Seagull ST1901 movement in a stunning stepped case with wrist-friendly proportions. At 38mm in diameter and 47mm lug-to-lug, it’s likely larger than the 1940s pieces that inspire it, though when it launched, most affordable mechanical chronos were often large, ungainly pieces that didn’t gel too well with a vintage aesthetic.

The Seagull ST1901 is based on the ancient Venus 175 calibre – more precisely, it is a development of the Venus, as the Swiss sold all the tooling, machinery and documentation for the movement to Tianjin Watch Factory, which was looking for a chronograph movement to put into a Chinese-made military issue chronograph. It’s an integrated chronograph with a column wheel, and though by no means rivalling the Lange Datograph, offers enough visual interest to warrant a see-through caseback.

HMS 002

Baltic’s other launch piece was the three-handed HMS 002, which followed the design language of the sector dial chronograph and further simplifying it. The feuille hands stand out beautifully against a mixed-finish dial, powered by an entry-level Miyota 8315 calibre that keeps the price very appealing. The 38mm case once again features a stepped bezel design, and though a 12mm height for a time-only watch seems excessive, much of that is due to the domed crystal.

Head over to the Time+Tide Shop to browse the full range of Baltic watches, but hurry, stock is limited.