Squale Master Grand Vert Review

It's funny that having worn and handled countless watches over the past twenty five years that the style of watch that first got me interested in watches is now the type of watch I enjoy collecting the most. While in college in the early 2000s I was able to scrape enough money together to buy a new Omega Seamaster GMT for just under $3,000. I just loved the look of the watch and the impossibly deep 300 meters of water resistance. A few years later when the Seamaster Planet Oceans were launched, I ended up selling my GMT and picking up the even crazier Planet Ocean with its 600 meters of water resistance.

Soon after these two Seamasters I started my career in the watch industry building one of the largest pre-owned watch sales sites. Since we were mostly dealing in pre-owned watches, that allowed me to wear pretty much any timepiece as if it was my own until it was sold. It was during this time that my love affair with watches like the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore and IWC Big Pilot started. Decades later I added one of each of those watches to my personal collection, but they're more of an emotional connection to a long period of my life when they meant everything to me, then what I enjoy collecting and wearing.



Starting Hourstriker a few years ago has really broadened my mind in the sense that my watch knowledge isn't limited to just the top dozen or so Swiss watch manufactures. We cover over two hundred brands on the site that prior to starting the site I wasn't super familiar with. Also we now have a good portion of those brands sending us in watches to review. This allows me to get serious on wrist time with every imaginable type of watch, basically letting me live with the watch as if it were my own.

I also spend an unimaginable amount of time researching and listening to content about all sorts of watches. A few years ago I really went down the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms rabbit hole. Prior to starting Hourstriker, I had always known about the Fifty Fathoms, but more as a slightly unpopular dive watch from Blancpain. I wasn't aware of how important the Fifty Fathoms was to the creation of the entire dive watch genre and ended up having tremendous respect for it. So much so that I ended up adding a Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms to my personal collection.

Why am I bringing this all up? Basically after sampling every type of watch over the past quarter century, I have firmly made up my mind that the dive watch is the watch I enjoy the most and more than likely what will continue to make up the majority of my collection going forward. The Fifty Fathoms also has a unique connection to a former case maker who went on to create their own brand of incredible dive watches. The brand I'm talking about is of course Squale.



Squale was founded by Charles and Helene Von Buren in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1950. Some sources say Von Buren SA was actually started in 1946, but the factory scale-up occurred in 1950. Charles Von Buren was not just a businessman, he was also a passionate amateur diver that had an obsession with waterproofing. With diving becoming such a popular pastime, the watch industry quickly jumped on board to create watches for divers.

The biggest issue to these watch companies was that they did not have the capabilities to manufacture waterproof cases. This is where Von Buren came in, offering waterproof cases for other brands movements. Notable clients of Von Buren were Blancpain, Heuer and DOXA.

In the case of Blancpain, a crate of new old stock (NOS) Blancpain cases from the 1950s was found in Squale's warehouse. This was a lesser known connection between Squale and Blancpain that showed Squale had a hand in building early cases for the Fifty Fathoms. Later in the 1970s, Squale 1521 cases were used in the production of the Fifty Fathoms Bund 3H watches. You can even see the Squale shark logo on the dial of these Fifty Fathoms.



In terms of DOXA, Squale supplied their off the shelf cases to late 70s and 80s models of the SUB 600T and SUB 250. These cases were not the traditional cushion shape seen in the original SUB 300, but more angular cases seen in the Squale Tiger and 1545. DOXA decided to go this route during a turbulent time in their history to save money, modernize their designs and also ensure water resistance.

Getting back to our story, Von Buren was not successful just for his ability to bend steel into watch cases, but also for the waterproof seals he engineered. These patented seals were far superior to what was on the market at the time and allowed Von Buren cased waterproof watches to be less bulky then their competitors.

On July 10, 1959 Charles Von Buren registered the Squale trademark, which means "Shark" in French. This is when the curved shark logo first appeared and served as a hallmark on the dial to let customers know that the watch was safe to dive with. This shark logo was so well known that brands using Squale cases would include the logo on their dial "double stamped" with their brand logo to prove the watch's dive worthiness.



The 1960s gave birth to the "Von Buren Case" which is still used by Squale today. The hallmark of this case design was the crown set at 4 o'clock. The design wasn't just visually interesting but also served a very practical purpose. A crown at its typical 3 o'clock position is highly susceptible to getting snagged on objects such as a rock or dive ladder and then breaking off. By positioning the crown at 4, the wrist naturally shields the crown from damage while still allowing it to be operated on wrist.

Also during the 60s the 101 Atmos was released with an astonishing 1,000 meters of water resistance. It was the first watch to feature a Bakelite bezel with a push to turn safety feature that would prevent the bezel from being turned by mistake. The Master and 2002 series would also go on to set diving records during the decade. Finally, during this era Squale would become the official watch supplier for the Italian Navy as well as the Folgore Paratroopers. This started a long run of MILSPEC watches produced by Squale.

The 1970s and 80s were extremely hard for all mechanical watch companies. Squale was able to survive this period by transitioning to quartz powered movements. The brand also had a very strong connection to Italy and when it came time for Charles Von Buren to retire in 1982, Squale was sold to the Maggi family, who were the brand's Italian distributors. After this acquisition, Squale became based out of Italy while manufacturing remaining in Switzerland.



The period after the Maggi acquisition was rather quiet for Squale. For the most part the brand produced small batches of watches from new old stock parts left over from the 1970s for professional divers and Italian collectors. Just like I discovered the interesting story behind Fifty Fathoms that eventually led me to Squale, many other enthusiasts started to learn about the brand as the amount of watch content available on the internet exploded in the 2000s.

Seeing the renewed interested in Squale, Andrea Maggi officially relaunched the brand in 2010. Squale then moved its headquarters back to Switzerland, this time to Ticino near the Italian border. Squale's headquarters was now reconnected with their Swiss manufacturing roots. Initially Squale didn't produce new designs, but instead opened the archives and produced nearly identical timepieces to their past successes. The relaunched 1521 and 2002 were pretty much the exact same design as the models that came before them.

Squale didn't stick to this principal of just reproducing watches and would start to experiment with both new materials and venturing further into the depths. In 2019, Squale launched the T-183 collection which featured cases made out of high-tech and lightweight glass fiber and carbon. For the brand's 65th anniversary in 2024, Squale released the full titanium Master with an incredible depth rating of 1,200 meters.





Initial Thoughts

The original anniversary Master was an amazing watch that we covered upon its release. The watch has a stunning look to it and blends past and future together very well. Nods to the past are the usage of "aged" lume and a sandwich dial to give the look of a vintage Italian dive watch all while being housed in a high-tech grade 5 titanium case. I was instantly in love with that watch, but wasn't able to get hands on with it at the time. I was actually able to see it just recently at a show Squale was presenting at, and it was pretty awesome.

Today we're not going to be looking at that original Squale Master, but instead one of the pair of follow ups the brand put out a year after releasing the anniversary Master. Once again these Masters were also crafted out of titanium and this time came in two different dial variants, one being the Grand Bleu and the other being the Grand Vert. The Grand Bleu's dial color was inspired by the color a freediver sees as they start their descent into the depths of the ocean. On the other hand, the Grand Vert's dial represents the rays of filtered sunlight shining down on them as they make their ascent to the surface. Both dials are just stunning, but I'm not the biggest fan of blue on watches, so the Grand Bleu with its blue dial and bezel were just a bit too much for me. On the other hand, the black bezel and mesmerizing teal dial of the Grand Vert instantly sung to me. I knew I had to get a Master Grand Vert in for review and luckily Squale was able to get one over to us.

When the watch arrived, the first thing I noticed about the Master Grand Vert was of course its insane dial. Squale uses a 3D wave pattern dial on the Grand Vert that has a gradient that gets darker as you get further away from the center of the dial. The teal on the dial can look drastically different depending on the lighting. I have pictures where the dial is nearly neon colored and others where it is much more subdued, almost appearing to be two different watches. The wave pattern is really the star of the show here though; it is mesmerizing and puts you into a sort of trance where you can imagine the gentle lapping of the waves.



The next thing I noticed about the Master Gand Vert during my initial time with the watch was just how serious of a tool watch it was. Looking at the press images you mostly just notice the dial color and pattern on a flat image. Getting the watch in hand really brings to light that this watch is capable of going down to 1,200 meters. The titanium build keeps the watch lightweight, but looking at the profile of the watch illustrates the true intent of the Grand Vert. The Master measures a full 15.6 mm in terms of thickness. Around twenty five percent of the thickness of the watch is due to the 4 mm tall sapphire crystal. That is actually insane and is needed to help the Master cope with the intense depths it could theoretically encounter.

The last thing I took note of during my first encounter with the Squale Master Grand Vert was the rubber strap. When I saw the first press pictures of the Grand Vert I thought the watch came on a leather strap, which is a bit strange for a watch with 1,200 meters of water resistance. Reading over the press release I learned that the strap was in-fact rubber with an alligator leather texture. The purpose of this was to allow the Master Grand Vert to be more formal when out of the water but still retain the water resistance rubber offers. Initially I wasn't a fan of the design choice, but when I had the strap in hand my opinion changed. The rubber is obviously top quality being nice and thick, yet decently supple. The pattern is rather subtle and would be easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. Also the shine isn't as strong as it appears in the press images. I understand what Squale was trying to achieve with this strap and I feel the accomplished it. Each time I wore the watch and I got more and more used to it, to the point now I don't even think about the leather look to the strap. Just like the 3D wave pattern dial, the alligator leather rubber strap is just an integral part of the design of the Master Grand Vert.





A Closer Look

The Squale Master Grand Vert is crafted out of grade 5 titanium which harder and more scratch resistant than pure grade 2 titanium. The watch has a 40 mm case diameter that expands to 41.6 mm when measuring the bezel which slightly overhangs. The lug to lug length is right at 49 mm. On our scale the Master Grand Vert weighed in at 91 grams on the rubber strap and titanium pin buckle. At its thickest point the watch is 15.6 mm tall.

The Master Grand Vert uses a slight domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating. As mentioned earlier the sapphire is a full 4 mm thick to deal with the extremely pressures experienced at 1,200 meters, or 1,500 meters tested for ISO 6425 standards. Surprisingly there is virtually no refraction seen through the crystal of the Grand Vert. The sapphire just gives you a crystal clear view of the awesome 3D wave pattern dial.

The center of the dial is a very bright teal and as you venture out towards the bezel gets shades darker. Like I said in my initial thoughts of the watch, the dial can have a dramatic color shift based on lighting conditions. Even before you get to the 3D wave effect the dial's color is truly dynamic. Speaking of the wave pattern, Squale employs a horizontal repeating pattern that strongly resembles what nature would create on a somewhat calm ocean. Highs and lows of the waves are distinguished by darker and lighter tones. Looking at the dial at different angles really illustrates the depth to the waves as well. I have to compliment Squale's designers with pulling off this dial, it's really breathtaking.



Around the outside of the dial is a white printed minute track with each minute represented by a small hash mark and each five minute interval being done in a thicker hash mark. The Master Grand Vert uses applied hour markers that have a polished border and are filled with Super-Luminova BGW9 which glow a bluish green in low light and appear teal in normal lighting. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11 o'clock are represented by round markers, while 6 and 9 are done with bar markers and 12 has a large triangle. There is no hour marker at 3 o'clock since it has been replaced with a black backed date window.

There are three centrally mounted hands on the dial of the Squale Master Grand Vert being the hour, minute and seconds hands. The hour and minute hands are large fence post style hands. The minute hand is done in orange as was seen on traditional dive watches while the hour hand is polished. The slender running seconds hand is also polished and has a large arrow tip. The minute and hour hands are mostly filled with lume as is the tip of the seconds hand. The hour hand's lume appears teal in normal lighting and does a good job blending into the dial's hue. In low light the hour hand glows bluish green and the minute hand and tip of the seconds hand glow green, while appearing white in normal lighting. The green glow of the minute and seconds hand match the lumed triangle on the bezel of the watch at 0/60. Since these three elements are all used together while diving, it makes logical sense to have them match. The seconds hand is a safety feature to make sure the watch is running and the minute hand is used with the triangle marker on the bezel to track dive time. Also having the hour hand blend into the dial makes it easier to quickly make out the orange minute hand when diving in more favorable lighting.



Rounding out the dial is Squale branding at 12 o'clock as well as the double branding at 6 o'clock with Squale shark logo. Also at 6 is "120 ATMOS", "Master" and "Swiss Made". Overall the dial of the Master Grand Vert is a master class, excuse the pun, of dial design. Squale was able to take a very serious diving instrument and inject both color and personality into it while still keeping it extremely functional.

Moving on from the dial is the 120 click uni-directional rotating bezel. Squale equips the bezel with a black ceramic insert complete with the dive scale. 0/60 is set with a red outlined triangle. From 1 to 15 each minute is marked with a hash mark, with each five minute interval using a larger mark. From there 25, 35, 45 and 55 are done with these larger hash marks and 20, 30, 40 and 50 get an Arabic numeral. Every minute from 16 to 59 is done with a small dot. Every marker on the bezel is fully lumed, appearing teal in normal lighting and glowing bluish green in low light. The triangle at 0/60 appears white in normal lighting and then glows green to match up with the minute and seconds hands. The bezel operates with precise clicks and ratchets into each position with a satisfying sound. The bezel action of the Master Grand Vert might be one of the best feeling bezels I've used and there is also zero back play on each turn. Finally the bezel is nicely scalloped offering great grip and should be able to easily be used with dive gloves on.

The majority of the case on the Master Grand Vert is brushed, with just the chamfers being polished to add a bit of visual flair. Looking at the profile of the watch you can really see the thickness needed to achieve such a high level of water resistance. There is a very nice curve to the mid-case which follows the curvature of your wrist. The left hand side of the case has a flush automatic helium relief valve which is necessary for saturation diving, something the Master Grand Vert is more than capable of.



On the right hand side of the Grand Vert is the screwed down Von Buren crown located at 4 o'clock. This screwed down crown is one of the essential pieces along with the 4 mm crystal that aids in the 1,200 meters of water resistance. Un-screwing the crown allows you to manually wind the automatic movement in the resting position. When un-screwed if you look at the back of the watch you can see red at the base of the crown signaling the crown is un-screwed and needs to be screwed in before getting the watch wet. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date and pulling the crown all the way out to position two stops the seconds hand and allows you to set the time. As you move the crown between its various positions, you can really feel the strength of the gaskets Squale uses on the Master to once again allow such a deep water resistance. Pushing the crown back in didn't cause the minute hand to jump and getting the crown to catch and screw back in didn't take any extra care.

Flipping the Master Grand Vert over shows off the solid screw down case back, which once again is another piece to the extreme depth rating puzzle. The case back is engraved at its center with a version of the wave pattern found on the dial and features the Squale shark logo as well as "120 ATMOS". Other important information about the watch like "Swiss Made" and "Titanium" are also engraved around the wave pattern image.

Underneath the solid case back beats the Swiss made Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement. Squale went with the elabore grade SW200-1 which is more accurate than the standard grade version. The SW200-1 beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of around 42 hours. While not the longest power reserve, 42 hours should be more than long enough for the Master since it is the type of watch that will more than likely be worn daily. The functions of the SW200-1 are hours, minutes, second and date. On our timegrapher than SW200-1 in the Master Grand Vert showed an accuracy of +4 seconds a day when averaged out over several positions. This is extremely accurate and even within chronometer specifications.



The lug width of the Squale Master Grand Vert is 20 mm, which is the standard lug width, meaning there are basically unlimited amounts of aftermarket straps available for it. One thing I just love about the Master Grand Vert that you just don't see enough of are its drilled lugs. Having drilled lugs makes removing the spring bars a snap and there is very little chance of damaging the strap or case when removing them. The only thing better than drilled lugs is having a screwed in strap, but that's few and far between.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Master Grand Vert comes on a very interesting black rubber strap. The top of the strap has a pattern to it representing that of alligator leather. There is even a bit of a shine to it really doing a great job of mimicking leather. Further pushing the look of a leather strap is the grey stitching seen on each side of the strap. The backside of the strap is nicely textured and does a great job of keeping the watch in place on your wrist. The strap tapers down from 20 mm at the lugs to 18 mm at the brushed titanium pin buckle featuring the Squale logo. The pin buckle features a pretty beefy pin as well, measuring in at just over 2.5 mm wide. The rubber used on the strap seems to be very high quality and was a bit stiff on the first wear or two, but then softened up nicely and is now rather supple.



On The Wrist

Since I've been waiting a good deal of time to see a titanium Squale Master in person, it's needless to say that I took every chance I had to wear the watch while it was in our possession for review. While the Master Grand Vert isn't even close to the thickest watch I've worn or even owned, it does appear tall on wrist. The reason for this is that the lug to lug length is rather conservative at 49 mm, making the watch seem proportionally taller than say if it had a lug to lug length of over 50 mm, like most of my personal watches have. This really didn't bother me at all since I knew the Grand Vert was capable of 1,200 meters of water resistance and also sported a 4 mm thick crystal. If anything, the thickness was a visual reminder of how over engineered the watch actually is.



On my 7.25 inch wrist with a 55 mm flat area, the Master Grand Vert fit very nicely. While my sweet spot for lug to lug length is 50 mm or over, the 1 mm deficit wasn't noticed, probably due to the thickness of the watch. For being such a chunky and serious watch, the Master Grand Vert was well below my target weight of 100 grams by a substantial 9 grams. In all seriousness, the watch completely disappeared on wrist only being there when I wanted to check it out or get the time. Even during the longest of wearing sessions there was never a hint of wrist fatigue.

I wore the Master Grand Vert out running boring everyday errands and the watch was an excellent wrist companion. The mostly black and teal look of the Master Grand Vert also went perfectly with my mostly everyday dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers. I'm extremely casual in the way I dress and the watch played to that just perfectly. I do feel with the leather look of the rubber strap, that if I wanted to dress the watch up it would also do just fine in more formal settings. This means that the Master Grand Vert could easily be a daily wearer excelling in both office and weekend activities.

For testing the legibility of a watch I use a very simple test where I try to tell the time at a glance while driving. In this test, dive watches with their high contrast dials and large markers do the best. Complicated and skeleton watches do the worst since they aren't as concerned with legibility as they are with design. Unsurprisingly the Master Grand Vert did a great job at this test with one little demerit. With the main focus of this watch being for diving, the hour hand is not that important. With that being the case, Squale made the hour hand somewhat blend into the dial color to emphasize the bold orange minute hand. This does slow down quick time telling by the slimmest of margins, but I actually love what they did with the color matching hour hand. Low light legibility couldn't have been better with the extreme amount of lume used on the dial and bezel. Even more so, every minute is lumed on the bezel, which is very rare, so precise low light time telling was even possible on the Master Grand Vert.



When I wore the Squale Master Grand Vert out to run errands as well as to dinner and drinks, I noticed a lot of people looking at the watch. I had more than a few people even comment on how nice the watch looked. My wife, who has been getting more and more into stone dials, even remarked that from distance the Master Grand Vert appeared to have a stone dial. The brilliant teal dial is probably 90 percent of the reason the watch was noticed, replace it with a black dial and it would be a stealth under the radar watch. Everyone that looked at the watch was blown away with the 3D wave pattern dial and also loved the teal hue. Most people also remarked on how lightweight the watch was. When it came to price, everyone seemed to think the watch was well priced if not a bit on the low end.



Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Squale Master Grand Vert retails for $2,650. For that price you are getting a watch that has amazing heritage in the history of dive watches and is the pinnacle of what Squale is currently producing. The Master Grand Vert also has a full grade 5 titanium case boasting an astonishing 1,200 meters of water resistance. The watch is powered by a Swiss made Sellita automatic movement that is a proven workhorse that can be repaired by any local watchmaker and is deadly accurate. Now is the time in the review where we take a look at other watches with similar features and specifications to see how the Squale Master Grand Vert adds up value wise.

First up with have the U1 from Sinn which has a 44 mm case crafted out of submarine steel. A more direct watch from Sinn to compare to the Master would be the T1, which is made out of titanium but is now discontinued. The U1 has been around for decades and is still going strong, it is powered by the same Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement as the Master and has slightly less water resistance at 1,000 meters. The U1 also adopts the Von Buren style crown at 4 o'clock. The Sinn is much more expensive than the Squale at $3,260 though.



Moving on is this Khaki Navy BeLOWZERO from Hamilton which has a 46 mm case made out of titanium. The BeLOWZERO is a very aggressive looking dive watch really pushing forward its tool watch intention, which might be divisive to some buyers. The BeLOWZERO is powered by an ETA automatic movement with 80 hours of power reserve and has slightly less water resistance than the Master at 1,000 meters.The Hamilton is slightly less expensive than the Squale at $2,175.

Next up is the Seamaster Planet Ocean Ultra Deep from Omega which is made out of titanium and has a 45.5 mm case diameter. The Ultra Deep was the record holder for the deepest rated mechanical dive watch at 6,000 meters until Rolex one upped them soon after with the monstrous DeepSea Challenge. The watch is powered by an in-house automatic movement with 60 hours of power reserve. The Ultra Deep is much more expensive than the Master Grand Vert at $15,300.

Finally we have the Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms from Blancpain which has a 48 mm case crafted out of titanium. The 500 Fathoms is the more extreme tool focused version of the modern Fifty Fathoms and boasts 1,000 meters of water resistance (200 less than the Master) and includes a helium relief valve. The 500 Fathoms is powered by an in-house movement with 120 hours of power reserve. The 500 Fathoms is again much more expensive than the Master Grand Vert at $29,100.



As you can see from the above four watches, the Squale Grand Vert is an exceptional value for what you are getting... 1,200 meters of water resistance and a full grade 5 titanium case. Only the Seamaster Ultra Deep bested it on depth rating, but it came at nearly 6 times the price. The 500 Fathoms has a direct lineage to the first Fifty Fathoms, as does Squale, but has slightly less water resistance and cost nearly 11 times more. The U1 is a great watch and I have owned two of them in the past. I ended up selling them because although the submarine steel is a cool case material, it makes the watch extremely heavy, even on a rubber strap. The Hamilton is one of the only watches I could find made from titanium that had similar water resistance at a lower price than the Squale, I have no hands on experience with the watch though. I own the 500 Fathoms, have owned the U1 and plan on owning the Ultra Deep and for those reasons I picked them to compare to the Master Grand Vert. After spending a good deal of time with the Grand Vert as well as those other three watches, I can confidently say the Master easily holds its own against them at a much lower price.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the Squale Master Grand Vert for me? If you've been paying attention over the last few thousand words, you can probably guess the answer to this question. The Master Grand Vert is 100% for me. Would I have preferred the case diameter to be 43 or 44 mm with a just over 50 mm lug to lug length? Sure. In practice though, the watch wears exceptionally well on 7.25 inch wrist and the weight is perfect. Before seeing the watch in hand I was a bit concerned with the dial color and pattern as well as the leather effect rubber strap. It would have been very easy to mess both of these up and have them come off gimmicky. Squale was able to pull them off and as far as the dial is concerned is a huge selling point of the watch. The strap is a nice added touch, but the dial really needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.

Apart from that, my personal collecting habits tend to skew towards watches made out of titanium, ceramic or carbon. The Master Grand Vert uses grade 5 titanium with a ceramic bezel, so check there. I also like over engineered watches, especially when it comes to divers. I do own three divers with 1,000 meters or over water resistance in the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms (1,000 m), IWC GST Aquatimer 2000 (2,000 m) and the Porsche Design by IWC Ocean 2000 (2,000 m). The thing about those watches is that although they are rated for obscene depths, I'd never get them wet. The Porsche Design and IWC pieces were made in the 80s and 90s respectively and I'd be nervous they weren't 100% waterproof at their current age. The 500 Fathoms is just too expensive to risk water ingress on, so I'm sad to say it's a desk diver. The Squale Grand Vert would fill that vacancy in my collection of an overbuilt diver that I wouldn't be scared of getting wet. Actually it stinks that it's winter time, since I'd just love to throw the Master Grand Vert on a parachute strap and go to the beach and swimming with it.



Finally, the Squale Master Grand Vert is just a great watch to look at. As I mentioned earlier the dial is so dynamic that is can look like a different watch depending on the lighting. My wife went as far as saying it looked like it had a natural stone dial from distance. The way the hour hand blends into the teal dial and the vintage orange dive time minute hand really sticks out is awesome to me. The wave pattern dial is executed perfectly and never gets old to look at. Past all of that, Squale was really crucial to the early development of dive watches. Without Charles and Helene Von Buren waterproofing contributions in the 1950s, who knows where we would be today as it comes to dive watches. It's a history that I wish was more common knowledge and was really earned by the brand. The Master is the defining timepiece that illustrates just how far Squale cases have come in six decades of manufacturing waterproof watches.

Would I then recommend the Master Grand Vert to somebody looking for an over engineered dive watch? If I'd want to add the Master Grand Vert to my collection, then of course I would recommend the watch to others. The Grand Vert and Grand Bleu dials might be too much for some people who prefer more toned down watches. For that Squale still offers the more traditional black dialed anniversary Master. The anniversary Master also offers a titanium bracelet for those not fond of straps.

For the price Squale is asking for the Master series, it's extremely hard to find other watches that offer anywhere near the same specs as the Masters do. Water resistance of 200 meters is more than enough for even professional divers, but there is something romantic about knowing your watch can go down to extreme depths that would be far too deep for human life. Even watches with 500 or 1,000 meters of water resistance are extremely rare, so a 1,200 meter rating is unheard of. It's also a nice nod to the past when Squale pushed the limit to hit 1,000 meters of water resistance decades ago.



The Master Grand Vert also runs off of one of the most trusted and reliable movements in the industry in the Sellita SW200-1. One criticism of that movement is the rather short power reserve. I have a weird take on power reserve. It's either something you brag about like a 5 or 7 day movement, or something you live with. The difference between 42 and 60 hours isn't going to make or break anything. The Master Grand Vert will either by an everyday wearer, not requiring winding, or something worn in rotation and then even with a much longer power reserve will still need to be wound and set. Otherwise the SW200-1 can be serviced by any local watchmarker and parts are widely available. Also the watch will not need to be sent in for service and require a lengthy repair period. As with most Sellita movements we've tested, the SW200-1 inside of the Master Grand Vert was deadly accurate.

I often seen Squale lumped in with newer microbrands when collectors are comparing dive watches. This could be further from the truth and Squale has a long and rich history as it comes to dive watches. I wish more people would understand this. I'm a very serious collector of dive watches and feel it's essential to have a Squale in any true dive watch collection.

I'd really like to thank Tommaso and his team over at Squale for sending me this Master Grand Vert to review. This truly is one of those watches that is extremely hard to send back after the review period is done. Over the past few weeks I've become very used to having the Master Grand Vert in the safe and would grab it without thought to wear. The watch has served as a great example of the extremely high standards Squale puts into manufacturing their timepieces. When the original anniversary Master was launched in 2024, I knew that I'd really like that watch when getting a chance to see it in person. With the Grand Vert and Grand Bleu updates, I can now firmly say that I was not the least bit disappointed with the Master series, if anything I was blown away by it.

For more information about the Master Grand Vert please visit : Squale



Technical Specifications

Reference Number: MASTIBKGR.RAL

Retail Price: $2,650

Case Size: 40 mm (Case Diameter) / 41.6 mm (Bezel Overhang)

Lug to Lug: 49 mm

Thickness: 15.6 mm

Weight: 91 grams

Case Material: Grade 5 Titanium

Bezel: 120 Click Unidirection with Ceramic Insert

Strap: Black Rubber with a Titanium Pin Buckle

Movement: Swiss Made Sellita SW200-1 Automatic

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Date

Power Reserve: 42 Hours

Water Resistance: 1,200 Meters