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Located at the eastern end of Long Island, New York, the windswept coastal hamlet of Montauk is surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic’s crashing waves. Home to more saltwater fishing records than any other port in the world and immortalized by Quint in the movies Jaws who claims he “caught a 16-footer off of Montauk,” Montauk is a fitting name for any dive watch, but it’s hard to think of anything more appropriate for a collaboration between Long Island Watch and Ticino, Switzerland-based Squale. Now on its third iteration, the newest Squale Montauk is available in four sunburst dial options and an optional beads-of-rice bracelet.
Squale (Italian for “shark”) can trace its history back to 1959 when it was founded by avid diver Charles Von Büren. No stranger to dive watches, Von Büren had already established his bona fides as a case maker, producing watch cases along the shores of Lake Neuchatel, Switzerland for a host of other brands. Squale’s focus was on producing dive watches for professional divers and its reputation quickly blossomed amid the dive community. Eventually, the brand was handed over to friends and long-time distributors, the Maggi family, who own the brand to this day. Though Squale is well-versed in modern manufacturing and materials (check out the carbon-cased T183), the brand’s focus remains on dive watches that capture the allure and nostalgia of the 1960s and 70s. The Montauk perfectly captures that vintage skindiver aesthetic in several striking colorways with modern fit, finish, and construction.
Squale may be best known for its classic 1521 case shape, but a mid-size skindiver needs a slim and simple case. Measuring 38mm in diameter, 11.4mm in height, and 45.8mm in diameter, the Montauk hits Goldilocks dimensions for a skindiver, yet manages to maintain 300m of water resistance. The stainless-steel case mixes brushed and polished surfaces and keeps to the vintage brief by eschewing crown guards in favor of an oversized and signed screw-down crown and including a fully indexed aluminum insert on the 120-click unidirectional bezel.
The Montauk is offered in four colorways: Black Sea, Rich Blue, Frozen Silver, and Copper. Whichever dial you choose, each is created with simplicity and legibility in mind, mixing applied indices at 3, 6, 9, and 12 with painted indices, each filled with Super-LumiNova for nighttime visibility. Each dial features a dynamic sunburst finish and no rehaut, maximizing the visual impact of the dial. The classic black and blue dial options are set off by bright accents of orange and red respectively. Meanwhile, the silver and copper dials let their primary colors shine, with the silver hinting at an icy blue in the right light and the copper providing a timeless coppery salmon dial that’s rare to find on a diver.
The Squale Montauk is equipped with a no-date Swiss Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement. Beating at 28.8kbph and featuring a ~38-hour power reserve, hand-winding, and hacking, the Sellita is an ever-reliable movement that’s a welcome find at the Montauk’s $775 USD price point.
The Montauk comes mounted on a Squale Von Büren professional rubber strap that tapers down from 20mm at the lugs to 18mm at the buckle — black for all dial options except Rich Blue, which comes with a color-matched blue rubber strap. If, however, you prefer the look and feel of metal, Squale also has the option of a beads-of-rice bracelet.
There’s no lack of charm in Squale’s third exclusive Montauk released with Long Island Watch. Whether you opt for the icy Silver dial or the classic Black Sea, each offers an outstanding value proposition at $775 USD for a period-perfect vintage skindiver from a foundational brand of SCUBA diving’s golden era. To learn more about the Squale Montauk, please visit its exclusive retailer, Long Island Watch.
