Personalities
Why a Desert Dweller Designed a Dive Watch
Growing up in Kansas City, Walters’ obsession with design started while he was knee-deep in all things pertaining to the world of skateboarding, although he admits candidly that he spent more times designing decks rather than riding them. It was a chance affair that landed him an opportunity to work in a small setup that was trying to design and produce watches in the US. “We were making the cases and crowns — the movements were from Eterna — basically we assembled everything. But it was all rushed. It’s not like I had any formal training putting watches together. I was just a drone, doing the work in front of me. I did this for two and a half years, working 17-hour days, sleeping in the workshop and then waking up to my tools. I loved it at first. But, man, it really took a toll.”
“That’s when I first put pen to paper and came up with the design language for Alterum (Walters’ other watch entity and the one which led us to connect first). But it all stemmed from a frustration of being told ‘no,’ of being told that I can’t design what I think would work and what I think people would want.” He continues, “When I quit — hang on — can’t remember now if I quit or was fired. Nonetheless, I then went down to Clearwater, Florida to work on satellites with Honeywell. People ask, how’d I go from working on watches to working on satellites, and I explain that I have quite a lot of family working at Honeywell, and we’re all comfortable with working with our hands and mechanics.”
Walters responds with a chuckle, “Yea, I live in a desert now; I work out from this closet that I’ve turned into my office, and I design dive watches where there are no bodies of water for miles. But I think dive watches are more than just for diving. They’re the absolute best for anyone and everyone considering a daily beater. Like I have this Seiko diver, I wear it every day. I love the utility of it and just how easy they are to read and use.”
So now we understand that when he set out to release his first watch, he wanted it to be something that anyone could wear, any day. It would have to be an easy-to-use watch, with a clean minimalist design approach. All of which then explains Marin Instruments and Walters’ Standard and Polar skin divers. At 39mm, rendered in black and white, with large lume-plots for the hour markers, 200m water resistance and a 60-click unidirectional, fully lumed bezel, the Marin Instruments Skin Diver really presents a thoroughly loaded dive watch.
Finding the right production partner was important for Walters because when designing his Skin Diver, he wasn’t simply coming up with a design for said watch, but a complete design language for the brand that is Marin Instruments. In fact, Walters has already put pen to paper on several generations’ worth of watches that would help the brand focus on the realm of tool watches. To that end, he’s already offered a glimpse of the next offering that is to come from Marin Instruments. He’s called it the Fieldmaster, a dive watch with a chronograph and GMT function the will come in a monochrome option and an alternate with colors used for the hands to differentiate the individual complications.
Tech Specs
Marin Instruments Skin Diver Standard & Polar
Movement: Self-winding Sellita SW200-1 mechanical movement; 5-year warranty on the movement; 38-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes, running seconds; date
Case: 39mm x 11.5mm; stainless steel; 60click unidirectional, fully lumed bezel; water-resistant to 200m
Dial: Standard: black dial with white details; Polar: white dial with black details
Strap: Quick release Marin rubber strap
Price: USD 1,150
Availability: Standard Skin Diver limited to 300 pieces; Polar Skin Diver limited to 200 pieces
Until the end of May, 10% of sales will be donated to All Together New Mexico, with funds supporting people effected by wildfires. Donations will be matched by a private entity.
More information: marininstruments.com