Telling you about a brand for the first time always feels special. It’s like a treat, hopefully, for both you and I. And this kind of moment feels even more special when the first model we look at is a reedition of a popular model from the brand, redesigned and improved. And, an added bonus is when said watch is the type of timekeeping device I love writing about—a diver. Though I’ve become more of a field/exploration type of watch collector as of late, I always rejoice in getting my hands on a dive watch I’ve heard a lot about so that I can better understand what the fuss was all about and what, and how, this could be of interest to you. So will this one be of interest to you? I don’t know but I hope and believe it will as this watch comes with a few tricks up its sleeve. 

So the brand in question is Mitch Mason and the model is the Maelstrom MkII Tales of the Sea. A maelstrom is a powerful whirlpool (rapidly rotating mass of water) in the sea and so we obviously know we’re dealing with a water-themed watch. More specifically, the Maelstrom MkII  is a super compressor-style diver with intensely tactile crowns, a beautifully embossed wave pattern on the dial, a mesmerizing teal color, and the specs you expect for this type of watch so that it can equally perform well under and above the sea. The Maelstrom also comes with great dimensions to make it agile in the water and out, for a date, a business meeting, or whatever else it is that you do. It will be available for immediate purchase and shipping on February 14, 2025, at 10pm GMT +8 for the reasonable sum of $629 USD. 

Specifications

If you’ve been around watches for a while you know more or less what to expect in terms of specs for a diver. (It almost rhymed.) First, good water resistance which we do have here and some, with a staggering 300m depth-rating (enough of it so that you can pass the 200m point below the sea surface where light becomes scarce.) So much water resistance is achieved thanks to having a screw-down case-back and two screw-down crowns. The one at the 10 o’clock operates the bidirectional and lumed inner-rotating bezel whilst the crown at the 4 o’clock winds the movement and sets the time and date. Both crowns come with excellent grip made possible thanks to the angled and deeply incised ridges on both onto which the skin of my skinny fingers gets (literally) glued. Both crowns are decorated, the bottom one with the “M” from Mitch Mason and the other with the knot-pattern we also find on the hour hand. 

The case is made of 316L stainless steel and comes with a dual finish with a predominance of horizontally brushed surfaces on the case sides, vertical brushing on the upper sections, and thin polished chamfers on either side of the case. The fixed bezel is also fully brushed and so team brushed finishes win over team polished ones. (We are dealing with a tool watch after all.) The Maelstrom MkII measures 40mm in diameter, 47mm lug-to-lug, 12.5mm thick (in total) and comes with a 20mm lug width. So good dimensions which will fit many wrists including mine which has a circumference of 6.50”/16.5cm. Inside ticks a Miyota 9015 caliber (4Hz/42 hours of power reserve) Still being a tool watch, this model is equipped with a double-domed sapphire crystal complete with five layers of inner anti-reflective coating, and loads of BGW9 on the hands, hour markers, and bezel markings. 

A special note goes out to the bracelet which comes with a silky-smooth brushed finish and polished chamfers on the outer links, quick-release spring-bars, screwed links, and an old-school double-pusher clasp with safety latch and six (6) holes of micro-adjustment. All you need for a watch of this type and for everyday wearing comfort. The bracelet is indeed very comfortable to wear.  

Design 

Alright, let’s gush a little bit over the design and configuration of the dial. The first key element of which being the deeply textured wave pattern which, actually, makes me think of ocean waves swirling and glistening under the midday sun. Whichever angle you look at the watch—whether it be in the early hours of the summer or the late afternoon hours of a French gloomy winter—the pattern dances, is activated, and captivates me and that is the first time that I can say so about such dial design. (I’ve seen many watches with this pattern that don’t “dance.”) This pattern, and however it is made, paired with this deep and tropical teal color, really is mesmerizing and manages to make me think of my upcoming summer vacation even though I’m months away from it. The design is so enjoyable and well-executed, actually, that it goes to the point of making me reminisce about many summer vacations from my childhood. 

Wow, but ok I need to re-center myself for a minute. 

The show goes on. Another visual element this dial is endowed with and which I find equally fascinating and interesting is the design of the hour hand. The motif is what the brand calls a “knot-pattern” which looks modern and geometric and which has the particularity of making the hour hand legible and, from a design perspective, a conversation piece in and of itself. Conversely, the minute hand has a traditional pencil-style design and fully reaches the minute hash-marks printed on the minute track. The latter received a radial finish and four long and thick lines to highlight the cardinal points, something further emphasized by the large Arabic numerals at the 12, 3, and 9. The 6 o'clock marker was removed to make way for a small trapezoidal date aperture through which we find a color-matched date disc and white printed date numerals. 

As you can probably see from the lumeshot below, the Maelstrom MkII is endowed with generous quantities of lume which were strategically placed on the sandwiched numerals, the long hash-marks, the minute markers, as well as on all minute indicators on the inner rotating bezel. I think it’s quite neat how Mitch Mason decided to add a lumed disc underneath the dial just for the numeral hour markers, while pilot-style five-minute markers are printed inside the dial. We do have quite a few things going on here but all taken together, the Maelstrom is visually coherent and benefits from an almost perfect symmetry. One is actually the result of the other and vice-versa. I don’t know about you but I really appreciate what the brand accomplished here because 1) it’s unique and 2) is both visually compelling and practical to use. Again, the Maelstrom MkII is a tool watch. 

The Heart of the Matter

At the heart of the matter is the fact that Mitch Mason dared venturing outside the norm by improving upon the design of a diver which was, when it first came out, something odd and unusual. Not “bad” odd or unusual but uncommon and different. After having written many reviews of dive watches over the past four years, I can tell you with great certainty that it takes a certain kind of horological entrepreneur to dare come up with a novel design for the most classical and popular type of watches. Doing so is akin to painting the Mona Lisa in 2025 using a pop singer as a muse or inventing a new recipe for the traditional croissant (I’m French) using no butter. But Mitch Mason did invent a new dial design for a diver whilst cleverly pairing it with a traditional case design. So traditional that I didn’t bother talking about it actually. 

But that’s a good thing and it was the right move to make. 

Conclusion 

If you like dive watches and have $600 in your budget to buy a first or another one, you do have many options in the micro and independent watch market as it is. The Mitch Mason Maelstrom MkII Tales of the Sea is not the only one at this price point to come with these kinds of specs. But specifications is not the first, second, or third reason why you would purchase this watch. You would do so because you like the way it looks and because you are acutely atuned—and sensitive—to brands which do things differently. Brands which experiment and take risks with a new type of hand design and dial texture. Ones which are alright putting a small date aperture and long lumed lines on the minute track. In other words, brands which travel outside the paths that are common and safe. 

So if Mitch Mason and the Maelstrom MkII are your thing, then hop on the brand’s website to learn more about this collection and why not purchase one? 

Thanks for reading.