MALM Watches: Swedish precision

Today I want to throw a spotlight on a Swedish Watch brand that has hit my watch radar, MALM. (By the way I'm trying to think of a decent conjunctive term for Watch Radar, Watch-adar? Wader? Something like that but not that).

In particular I want to draw focus on the MALM Commander.

Brief history

The MALM Commander was designed with members of the Swedish Navy to commemorate their 500 Year Anniversary! Once only available to service members, now this version of the MALM Commander 42 is for sale to the public. This tool watch packs a few nautical features, including the compass bezel as a navigational aid. The watches are assembled in Sweden, feature a premium wooden display box, include bracelet sizing tools, and come with a 5 year warranty.

Dive straight in

Pun intended on that one. I love how this watch has all the quiet nods to its nautical themes. It has the navigational aid by way of  compass bezel. On the back casing there is a 3d embossed compass rose inspired by old compasses found on old Swedish ships and an anchor on the crown a symbol of the Swedish navy.

The red and green line on the dial edge is my favourite invisible Navy-themed moment. You may be asking why doesn't it go all the way around?  I discovered it's designed to reflect the spread of a lantern on the boat so the vessel is visible from either end. It's representative of the bowel lanterns red on the port side and green for the starboard side.

Other Specs

It comes with a double dome sapphire crystal and anti-reflective coating which makes it much more photogenic for you social media guys. Though be careful of getting those photos when out about in London. It has a 120 click b- directional bezel and the aforementioned compass. At night you'll be dazzled by the c1 swiss lumanova (so I'm told, although looks beautiful in the photos).

The watch is powered by an N35 automatic movement from Seiko.

Let’s talk straps

Now I'm not normally a fan of leather on divers watches, but this leather strap looks gorgeous with punched patterns of perforations. The bracelet could do with having spring quick release bars, but the brush work is beautiful and the way they continued the knurling on the bezel and crown make it really standout. The dial face also looks beautiful, the pointer for the second hand I love for this much better than the lollipop second hands. The counter balance is a Commanders insignia again another nice nod to the military theme and the sun ray dial is spectacular.

Overall

At the time of writing this the brand has a fire sale going on their website. I'll be shocked if these aren't scooped up straight away. As you know I love my vintage feel when it comes to watches also so I'm looking at the Tunman Silver with great interest. Current pricing is £358 and it comes with a five year warranty.

If anyone from MALM watches is reading this and would like to send one on for review then please DM me on Instagram.