hoangbre@gmail.com
The sea of micro-brand dive watches is not a shallow one, and with crowd-funding platforms making it easier than ever before for enthusiasts to bring to fruition new brands and watches, the waters are filling up. I see a lot of these projects as they make their way through my inbox, but, to be perfectly frank, few are worth writing about. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not much of a dive watch guy, so a diver really has to be special to catch my eye. The Méraud Bonaire is one such watch. 
Allow me to qualify “special.” The Bonaire isn’t doing anything new or particularly unique. The Bonaire is a neo-vintage diver, with an aesthetic that clearly pulls from the heyday of dive watch design, so it’s not really moving the needle. But what does make this watch special is the high level of execution. Méraud’s proprietor, Stijn Busschaert, is a watch enthusiast through and through, and the Bonaire, his first watch, shows it. From the excellent case finishing to the movement within, Stijn considers the little things that make or break a watch in the eyes of a persnickety watch-head, and the Bonaire is all the more better for it.
