Spinnaker Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost Review

Spinnaker has really impressed me with the two watches that they have sent us over the last few months to review. The Croft 42 Skeleton and Hull Titanium Bronze Lapidary Malachite were excellent watches with the Croft having an awesome skeletonized dial and the Hull showcasing an amazing natural malachite dial.

After spending good time with both of those watches I was genuinely a fan of Spinnaker. Just over two months ago the brand released their Tesei Forged Carbon collection of three limited edition watches. The highlight of the collection was the focus on forged carbon. One model had a full carbon case, while the other two featured steel cases with a carbon bezel insert and in the case of the watch we'll be reviewing today, a carbon dial as well. All the carbon in the collection is also infused with luminous material that glows an out of this world green in low light.



Before we get into the review of the Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost, let's first talk a bit about Spinnaker. Spinnaker is a relatively new watch brand established a few years ago with the sole purpose of producing high quality dive watches at affordable prices. Although today it is not uncommon to see five figure dive watches from brands like Rolex and Blancpain, that's not how the genre was started. Taking 1950s prices and adjusting them for inflation, the Submariner would now retail for around $1,800 and the Fifty Fathoms would be around $1,100. That is a far cry from today's retails of just over $10,000 for the Rolex and near $20,000 for the Blancpain.

By staying laser focused on dive watches Spinnaker was able to build a robust collection of pieces where some take inspiration from vintage divers of the 1950s and 60s and others like the Tesei focus more on high tech case materials and increased capabilities. Spinnaker's most expensive watch is just over $1,000 and their least expensive is around $200. All of their watches carry more than acceptable water resistance for recreational diving and are powered by workhorse movements. Spinnaker is a brand that truly follows the original concept behind the dive watch, an affordable tool watch this is highly reliable.



Initial Thoughts

To be fully transparent, the model that I had the most interest towards was the Black Frost variant of the Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic. This model has a case that is crafted fully out of forged carbon and would probably best align with my preference of lighter weight case materials such as titanium, carbon and ceramic. As luck would have it, the review sample of the full carbon version was unavailable but Spinnaker did have the Steel Frost version which they sent me.

When the Tesei Forged Carbon arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was the forged carbon bezel and dial. Under normal lighting the bezel looks like a swirled mixture of blacks, grays and whites. The dial on the other hand seems to have a mostly clouded black appearance. As soon the light goes down or the watch is hit with a UV light the bezel and dial just explode. The white areas of the bezel now glow a very bright green and the entire dial just comes to life with a near crystallized bright green look. It really has to be seen in person to be appreciated, I did try my best to capture it with pictures and video though.



The next thing I noticed was how the two included white straps also have the same glow in the dark properties as the bezel and dial. Spinnaker includes a white rubber strap along with a white fabric NATO style strap with the Tesei Forged Carbon. Once again in low light or when under a UV light both of these straps give off the same alien like green glow. While wearing the watch out on the rubber strap, I'd notice that whenever I got in a shaded area even during the day, the strap would just radiate green. For example during the day while driving, there was enough shelter from direct light to have the strap come to life. I've never seen an OEM glow in the dark strap, and I have to say I'm really a fan of it after wearing the Tesei Forged Carbon around.

The final thing that caught my attention during my initial time with the Tesei Forged Carbon was its weight. Now this is where my personally preference starts to get away from how most watch collectors feel regarding weight and stainless steel. I started collecting watches in the very early 2000s so my taste tends to favor larger watches. On the other hand, I do not like heavy watches. This has led to me not liking bracelets and also staying away from stainless steel as a case material. I found I was able to have a lightweight large watch if it was crafted out of titanium, ceramic or carbon. Most watch collectors do not think like me and prefer a watch to have some weight to show its quality. At 135 grams on the rubber strap, the Tesei Forged Carbon isn't a heavy watch, but it's a lot heavier than the idea of the watch I had in my mind. Remember I had initially thought of this watch as being carbon cased and weighing much less, more than likely 90 to 95 grams when just replacing the steel case with carbon but still retaining the steel internals housing the movement. It's just something I had a hard time with while wearing the Tesei Forged Carbon.



Technical Specifications

As mentioned before, the Spinnaker Tesei Forged Carbon Steel Frost is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 44 mm and a lug to lug width of 51.8 mm. The thickest point of the case measures 16.5 mm and the watch weighs in at 135 grams. The case diameter and lug to lug measurements are pretty much perfect for me and with the larger size the thickness of 16.5 mm wears well and balanced.

The Tesei Forged Carbon uses a nicely domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating. Underneath the super clear sapphire crystal is the black forged carbon dial. The dial is a mixture of deep blacks and grays, mostly giving the appearance of a muted black. Spinnaker uses large applied indices for the hour markers which are covered in luminous material that glows blue in low light. 12, 6, and 9 are done in double stick markers while the rest of the hours have a single stick marker. At 3 o'clock there is a black backed date window surrounded by an aqua blue border. Next to the date window is a smaller block hour marker.



Spinnaker uses large sword style hands covered in luminous material for the hour and minute hands. The minute hand extends a bit past the center mount and has an aqua skeletonized end which matches the aqua on the date window's border. The seconds hand is also tipped with matching aqua and has a lumed point on it. The lume on the hour, minute and seconds hands match the hour markers blue glow as well.

Around the outside of the dial is a printed minute track which matches the dial aesthetic nicely. Spinnaker branding can be found printed in white at 12 o'clock and at 6 you have "Automatic" printed in matching aqua and "1000FT/300M" printed in a lighter shade of red. Over all Spinnaker did an amazing job on this dial and all of its elements really go well together.



All of this is nice and well, but the real star of the show is the luminous material infused into the dial. If you look closely at the dial you can see lighter and darker areas. When in low light and especially under UV the lighter areas light up an intense green while the darker areas still show some lume to them but are noticeably darker providing a very interesting crystallized looking pattern. The dial when lumed has a pretty solid green base to it, which contrasts extremely well with the blue lumed hour markers and hands.

The Tesei Forged Carbon has a very nicely scalloped uni-directional bezel which requires 120 clicks to complete a full rotation. The bezel has a very satisfying click to it and there is absolutely no back play, something my very expensive Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms even has issues with. The forged carbon bezel insert is a mixture of swirls of color ranging from white to black. The lighter areas of the bezel glow a very bright green in low light and under UV while the darker areas remain dark.



The 0/60 minute point of the bezel is capped with an aqua triangle that matches the aqua elements on the dial. Large stick markers are used for the 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, and 55 minute markers and Arabic numerals are used for 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50. Between 0 and 15, smaller stick markers are used. All bezel markers glow a bright green in low lighting as well as under UV, the blue triangle glows blue to help distinguish the most important marker on the dive bezel. The blue also matches the hour markers and hands, which is critical for timing in low light conditions.

All together the bezel and dial really provide quite the lightshow. I love when brands go out of a limb and have a bit of fun with the use of materials and using lume infused forged carbon is really interesting. The forged carbon version of the Tesei actually has a case injected with lume as well, meaning the entire case lights up. I've seen this once before with the Nuun Official The Wrong Wrist Edition V2 and the effect is just amazing in person.



Looking at the case you can see that Spinnaker uses a brushed finish on the entirety of the Tesei Forged Carbon. The only area that shows any polish is in the scalloping of the bezel which catches the light nicely. The profile of the case shows a gentle taper to the lugs which follows the curve of your wrist nicely. The left hand side of the watch feature an automatic helium release valve and the right has a screw-down crown nicely protected by large crown guards.

The crown like the bezel is nicely scalloped and is topped off with the Spinnaker logo. Once unscrewed the crown allows you to manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date and pulling the crown out to position two stops the seconds hand and allows you to set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and screwing the crown back in requires no extra care to get it to align.



The Tesei Forged Carbon has a lug width of 22 mm and comes on a glow in the dark white rubber strap. The strap features a slight taper down to 20 mm at the brushed stainless steel pin buckle. The watch also comes with a white fabric strap that also glows in the dark. The rubber strap is extremely supple and required no break in to be very comfortable. When hit with UV light or in low light both straps glow a brilliant green. If you look closely you can see the rubber strap also has more pronounced "glittery" highlights that glow brighter then the green background.

Flipping the watch over shows off the screw down display case back. The limited edition number out of 200 is displayed here along with other important details of the watch such as the 300 meter water resistance. Underneath the rear sapphire crystal you can see the Seiko NH35 Japanese made automatic movement topped off with a black Spinnaker branded winding rotor. Being a tool watch there isn't any over the top finishing of the movement.



The NH35 has a power reserve of just over 41 hours and beats away at 21,600 bph (3Hz). Seiko rates this movement as having an accuracy of -20 to +40 seconds per day. On our timegrapher the NH35 inside of the Tesei Forged Carbon showed an accuracy of +2 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. This is far better than Seiko quotes for the movement and within chronometer specs. I believe this might be the most accurate NH35 powered watch we've tested, being close to some of the higher performing Swiss made Sellita movements we've recorded.

On The Wrist

When the Tesei Forged Carbon arrived I was able to have a few days where I wore the watch for extended periods of time. The 51.8 mm lug to lug length is literally perfect for my 7.25 wrist with a 55 mm flat area, the watch covered my wrist nicely and didn't favor one side over the other. The 44 mm case diameter also looks very proportionate to the lug to lug length as does the 16.5 mm thickness. Once again I didn't find the watch heavy, but it was definitely always present on the wrist. This doesn't bother me, but I just love having a watch that disappears when being worn. I feel the 40 or so grams the forged carbon case would have saved would have made this Tesei feel like that.



The black dial with large white hour markers and hands means the Tesei Forged Carbon is extremely legible. To test legibility I try to see how hard it is to tell the time while driving at just a glance. The Tesei Forged Carbon passed this test with flying colors. Also with how much of the dial and bezel are covered in luminous material, telling the time in low light is extremely easy. The bezel, hour markers, hands and strap do glow longer than the dial though. This actually does make telling the time on a darker background easier in less than ideal lighting.

During my time with the Tesei Forged Carbon I wore it running weekday errands like going to FedEx and the grocery store along with weekend trips to the playground with our young twin daughters. During these activities the watch was just an ideal companion. I also wore the watch out to lunch, dinner and drinks. The watch does have a pretty extreme aesthetic in low light, but in the daylight it's actually pretty subdued. That meant the watch went well with pretty much anything I was wearing which mostly consists of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers.



In daylight the Tesei Forged Carbon did get a decent amount of looks. I think the bright white rubber strap kind of grabs people's attention to be honest. When we would come in from the outdoors to dimly lit areas the watch really caught a lot of people's eyes. Whatever material Spinnaker uses for their glow in the dark rubber strap is extremely strong and long lasting. Even with only receiving a brief period in the sun the strap will stay illuminated for a good deal of time. Combining this with the lumed bezel and dial really makes this watch anything but a wallflower. I had a few people ask me about the watch and were really impressed by the build quality as well as the lumed forged carbon and glow in the dark strap. I do keep a tiny UV light in my wife's purse, so showing off the full spectrum of the lume was easy. Everyone was blown away by the price of the Tesei Forged Carbon as well.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Spinnaker Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost retails for $650. For this price you are getting a robust stainless steel diver with a very reliable and accurate Seiko NH35 automatic movement along with a stunning lume infused bezel and dial. The watch is no slouch with 300 meters of water resistance as well. The 200 piece limited edition also ensures that the likely hood of seeing another one while out and about is near zero. Now is a good time to look at some other watches with similar features and see how the Tesei Forged Carbon fairs value wise.



Up first is the T-183 Forged Carbon from Squale which has a 42 mm case crafted out of forged carbon. The Squale has a dial made out of forged carbon as well, none of the carbon used on the Squale is luminous though. The T-183 does have twice the water resistance of the Tesei at 600 meters and is powered by a Swiss made Sellita SW 200-1 movement. The Squale is much more expensive than the Spinnaker at $1,810.

Moving on we have the Mako 300M Diver Cerakote Carbon from Zelos which is a 40 mm diver with a cerakoted gunmetal stainless steel case. The Mako also has a forged carbon bezel and dial like the Tesei, but the carbon is not luminous. The Zelos has 300 meters of water resistance like the Tesei and is powered by a similar level of movement in the Miyota 9015. The Mako is $50 less expensive than the Tesei but once again does not offer luminous carbon.



Next up is the Ocean Crawler Lumed Carbon Fiber Prototype which features a 43.2 mm case made out of lumed forged carbon fiber. The watch has double the water resistance at 600 meters and is powered by the same Sellita SW200-1 found in the Squale. The case, bezel and dial area are all made out of luminous carbon fiber which glows green in low light. The Ocean Crawler is much more expensive than the Tesei at $1,299.

Finally just for fun we have the Royal Oak Concept Split-Seconds Chronograph GMT Large Date from Audemars Piguet which has a 43 mm case made out of luminous forged carbon. Unlike the Spinnaker and Ocean Crawler, here the forged carbon is infused with blue lume. The Royal Oak Concept only has 50 meters of water resistance and is powered by an in-house Audemars Piguet movement. The Royal Oak Concept is orders of magnitude more expensive than the Tesei at just over $200,000.



As you can see from the four watches we compared to the Spinnaker Tesei Forged Carbon, the watch offers great value for its specs. Watches offering more water resistance and Swiss made movements are much more expensive. Lumed forged carbon is still a very new technology and only a few watches contain it. As you can see from the Ocean Crawler and Royal Oak Concept using this material bumps up the price a lot. That Spinnaker could use it in a watch way under $1,000 is a true testament of how good of a value the Tesei Forged Carbon is.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the Spinnaker Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost for me? Now this is a real tough one for me. In a vacuum where only the steel cased Steel Frost and White Frost versions of the watch existed I would say the watch is 100% for me. The Steel Frost version is a bit superior to the White Frost version by having a luminous forged carbon dial and being more limited. The lug to lug length and case diameter are just perfect for my preferences as well. Even at 135 grams on the rubber strap the watch isn't that heavy. The lume found in the carbon of the bezel and dial look awesome in even normal lighting and really turn the watch into some spectacular in low light and under UV. The Seiko NH35 movement is the most accurate version of that movement we have ever tested and the bezel is also one of the best we've had the pleasure of using.



So what's the holdup then? The issue is that Spinnaker also released the Black Frost version that comes with a fully forged carbon case which also has luminous material in it. Since I've liked pretty much everything about the Tesei Forged Carbon adding the lightweight and extremely interesting looking forged carbon case to the mix would more than likely have made the Black Frost version of the Tesei Forged Carbon one of my favorite watches of the last two years. I'm really bummed out that I didn't get the chance to experience the watch in full carbon since I'm sure my perceived notion of how much I would have liked it would have been proved in person, especially with how much I enjoyed the steel cased version.

So would I recommend the Tesei Forged Carbon Steel Frost to somebody looking for a unique dive watch? Besides my preference of the carbon case over the steel case, I really had zero negative things to say about the watch. I would absolutely recommend the Tesei Forged Carbon to anyone looking for this type of watch. I also know that most people would prefer the look and weight of the stainless steel version to the forged carbon variant as well. Like I said many times in my reviews, I have very unique tastes that aren't exactly what most collectors would agree with. After spending some time with the Tesei Forged Carbon Steel Frost I can whole heartedly say the watch is executed to an extremely high level and the lumed forged carbon adds just another dimension to any already stellar watch.



I'd really like to thank Spinnaker for sending us this Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost. This is now the third watch we have reviewed from Spinnaker and each watch has been an excellent piece. The Croft Skeleton showed in interesting take on the skeletonized dive watch while the Hull Titanium Bronze Lapidary Malachite showed a great blending of various materials like titanium, bronze and a stunning natural stone dial. Finally the Tesei Forged Carbon displayed Spinnaker's ability to work with high-tech cutting edge material like luminous forged carbon. I'm really interested to see what Spinnaker has planned for the future and am looking forward to getting more in for review.

For more information about the Tesei Forged Carbon Automatic Steel Frost please visit : Spinnaker Watches

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: SP-5143-03

Retail Price: $650

Case Size: 44 mm

Lug to Lug: 51.8 mm

Thickness: 16.5 mm

Weight: 135 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Luminous Forged Carbon

Strap: Glow in the Dark Rubber and Fabric Straps with Pin Buckle

Movement: Seiko NH35 Japanese Made Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Power Reserve: 41 Hours

Water Resistance: 300 Meters