Budget-Friendly With Vintage Charm: The Updated Wolbrook Skindiver 38 Automatic

It’s always nice when you run into an old acquaintance. A few years ago, I spent quite a bit of time on the Wolbrook website, as I really liked the brand’s Tropic-style rubber straps. To me, they were the perfect combination in terms of material and looks. During those visits, the brand’s watches caught my eye more than once. Now, I finally have the pleasure of checking out one of Wolbrook’s horological creations. The Skindiver Automatic in 38mm is the perfect example of what the brand stands for: making very charming, vintage-inspired, and very capable (dive) watches at a reasonable price.

In June, Thomas went hands-on with Wolbrook’s funky Pan4Timer. It’s true that he wasn’t too impressed with its time zone complication. However, he did appreciate the ingenuity and fun they managed to pack into a watch priced at €449. Perhaps the more traditional approach of the Wolbrook Skindiver 38 Automatic might do the trick. With a humble price tag of €559, bang-for-buck is already assured.

The Wolbrook Skindiver 38 Automatic

If you’re into Wolbrook, you might already have read Gerard’s article on the differences between the Wolbrook and Douglas skindivers from a few years ago. If not, it’s an interesting read on how the new Wolbrook came about and what the watches looked like in the past. It seems the company no longer makes the Douglas Skindiver. So we’re sticking with the current catalog and going hands-on with the Wolbrook variant in 38mm.

As Gerard explained in his article, the Wolbrook Skindiver had a box-domed sapphire crystal, whereas the Douglas opted for a Hesalite crystal. So, today, we have the honor of putting the sapphire variant of the Skindiver through its paces. Its 316L stainless steel case has the classic, relatively flat, squared-off skindiver profile. It has a diameter of 38mm, a thickness of 12mm (including the protruding sapphire crystal), and the lugs span 46mm. Finishing is fairly straightforward: horizontal brushing on the sides and circular brushing on the lugs. The bezel features a PVD coating and a 60-minute scale.

The oversized, screw-down crown at three o’clock is unguarded. With it, you can operate the Japanese automatic Miyota 9015 movement inside. This off-the-shelf movement runs at 28,800vph, features 24 jewels, and has a power reserve of 42 hours. It’s regulated to an accuracy delta of ±15 seconds per day. The watch has a screw-down caseback, and the first 949 pieces — a tribute to Wolbrook Watches’ founding year, 1949 — are equipped with a special limited edition caseback. It features an enamel-filled engraving of the motto “the proof is in the coral roof“, accompanied by a depiction of the clown triggerfish (Balistoides conspicillum) from the family Balistidae.

Pick your dial style

Wolbrook lets you choose from several configurations for the Skindiver 38’s dial. You can go with no Arabic numerals, two Arabic numerals, or six Arabic numerals (like the one I’m looking at today). For the dial color, you can also choose between white, black, orange, or yellow. And you can even pick your favorite lume style: white, vintage, natural, or green. So, in the end, there should always be one that suits your style.

To make it even harder, you can also choose whether you’d like to wear the Skindiver 38 on a colorful Tropic-style rubber strap or a stainless steel Jubilee-style bracelet. Or is it a beads-of-rice? I’ll let you decide that. Anyway, if you’re not aware of Wolbrook’s Tropic-style rubber straps yet, go and read my review from a few years ago, as these are still my go-to rubber straps. Needless to say, that would be my choice in the matter.

The stainless steel bracelet is still a nice option. Unlike most other Jubilee-style bracelets, all its links are brushed, and the middle ones feature a subtle ridge. Together, these two things make the bracelet look sportier and more tool-like. Therefore, it’s. natural fit for the utilitarian skindiver case. It comes with a push-button-operated folding clasp with micro-adjustment possibilities, and with quick-release spring bars, though switching straps shouldn’t be too hard thanks to the drilled lugs.

Matte black and green, even numerals

The Wolbrook Skindiver 38 we had in the office featured a slightly grainy, matte-black dial featuring the maximum number of evenly spaced numerals. This isn’t an unfamiliar layout, as Glashütte Original uses the same for its SeaQ, and it can be found on many vintage and vintage-inspired divers. At three o’clock, there’s a trapezoidal date window, which enforces the vintage vibes. Both the handset and the printed numerals feature a good amount of green Super-LumiNova, so reading the time in darker situations won’t be a problem.

As noted by Gerard in his review, the bezel’s triangular lume pip features blue lume, but unfortunately, the minute hand’s lume color doesn’t match. However, at this price point, we might be wishing for too much, and this minor detail shouldn’t spoil the fun.

A lot of vintage-inspired watch for the money

Overall, I still think the Wolbrook Skindiver 38 Automatic is a great-looking, vintage-inspired diver at a very reasonable price. Did I already mention that the watch is water resistant to 200 meters and that the movement features Wolbrook’s proprietary shock absorbers? That’s a very complete package for €559 on the rubber strap and €599 on the stainless steel bracelet. However, what I really like about the Skindiver 38 is that it combines great specs with very attractive, vintage-inspired looks.

If anyone’s looking to try out whether a mechanical watch is their thing, I’d definitely recommend checking out Wolbrook. The watches are designed and assembled in France, and for the money, I don’t think there are many other options that are this capable and look this good. If I had to choose, I’d go for the yellow dial with two numerals and white lume, for something that would stand out nicely among the rest of the collection. Which makes me think that it would work great as my next summer watch, especially on the matching yellow Tropic-style rubber strap.

What do you think of the Wolbrook Skindiver 38 Automatic? Let me know in the comments below.