If we were looking for a new business venture, starting a boutique dive watch company would probably be one of the last markets we’d choose. The space is crowded — really freaking crowded. Boschett, NauticFish, Deep Blue, Ocean7, and the list goes on. It’s like a kiddie pool filled with piranha (without the kids in it, mind you). One of the fiercest competitors in the boutique diver market is Halios. The Vancouver-based watchmaker, led by Jason Lim, has been selling out just about every release since their 2009 establishment.
It’s one thing to put together a functional, nice enough looking watch and sell it to a niche pool of buyers. It’s another thing entirely to fuel a rabid fan base with a number of budget-friendly, unique watch designs. That’s what Halios does down to the letter. Lim manages to put together slick designs that aren’t blatant homages of Submariners, Fifty Fathoms, or Seamasters like so many other boutiques seem to gravitate towards. In fact, we would challenge you to find a more versatile and better looking diver (especially at its price point of $650) than Halios’ most recent release, the Tropik SS.
Halios’ latest sold out diver, the Tropik SS
For Halios’ next trick, they’ve developed another diver, the Delfin. It’s somewhat similar to the Tropik SS in appearance, but with more emphasis on the tool watch look. More specifically, the beveling on the bezel looks to be more pronounced, and the screw-down crown is protected by a set of crown guards. The case size has been bumped up to 44-millimeters in diameter and 15-millimeters in thickness from 41mm and 14mm on the Tropik, respectively. Powered by the same Miyota 9015, Lim also sourced a curved ceramic bezel, which really increases the bang-for-your-buck amongst its competitors. To complete the serious diver package, the Delfin is rated to 500-meters of water resistance — that extra bit of depth for when you’re wading in the backyard pool!
With a price that should land somewhere in Tropik SS territory, and judging by the buzz around the Delfin seen on Halios’ Facebook page, you can expect it to sell out rather quickly – so, get that wallet ready. Since Lim discontinues his watches after a run or two, second hand Halioses don’t fall very far below retail price. This is a pretty rare occurrence in the boutique diver market, with the exception of MkII, and maybe a couple others.
Another shot of the Delfin
As it stands, the Delfin seems to be in final prototype form, so what you see in the pictures should be pretty accurate to what gets shipped in August. Lim plans to keep the first run to just a black dial and bezel, but we wouldn’t be surprised if another color comes with a follow-on production run. He’s hinted at a white dial version, but that would be a long way off at this point. Either way, we’re really looking forward to this release, and we’ll do our best to get our hands on one for a full review.
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