Squale ‘Squalematic’ 60ATM

It all began when a jet-set member from an entrepreneurial family, Charles von Büren, started assembling his own watches in 1946. In the fifties, scuba diving quickly became popular, both as a leisure activity as well as professionally. Charles got into the hobby, diving close to his home in lake Neuchatel. In 1959 he decided to focus on creating dive watch cases under a new name: Squale, Italian for “shark”.

Back in those days, it was much more common for watchmakers to specialize and combine parts from different manufacturers. Von Büren found an eager clientele for his cases in a.o. Blancpain, Heuer and Doxa. Oftentimes, the client-brand would place its logo at the twelve ‘o clock position. Squale, as the case maker, would place its own logo at the six ‘o clock position. This is why in current Squale watches, there are two logos on the dial. The main logo at twelve, in which you can spot Von Büren’s initials, and the curved shark at six.

Besides making cases for others, Squale also sold their own complete watches, which became particularly popular among divers in the late sixties. They were involved in several free diving record attempts and often given away as prices at such events. Furthermore, the watches were adopted by several special forces, among which the Italian navy and the French “Berets verts”
When Von Büren retired, the business was handed over to the Maggi family, who still operate it today.

For those who love the vintage aesthetic of a traditional Squale diver but prefer a bigger size, there is the Squale Matic 60 atmos. A 44mm variant of the famous Squale case featuring all the familiar curves and angles, simply scaled up. While the case is very similar to the 1521, the dial and bezel are distinctly different. Still, both models share the great legibility one would expect from a professional diving tool. The Matic features a beautifully domed crystal, with anti-reflective coating on both sides. Combined with the polished rehaut this makes for a very cool look, reminiscent of a bubble of soap. The sixty click uni-directional bezel comes with a gloss enamel inlay. The complete package is water-proof up to 60ATM or 600 meters. That will suffice, we assume? This variant comes with a hand-painted black dial and polished applied indexes.

Specifications:
Case: brushed steel
Diameter: 44mm
Water resistant: 60ATM / 600 meters
Movement: Swiss made ETA 2824-2 with 42 hour power reserve
Crystal: Domed two sided anti reflective coated sapphire
Bezel: Unidirectional 60 clicks with enamel inlay