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Draken Tugela

The SOB Diver

Isn’t it funny how trends come and go? How, when we thought we were satisfied with attainable (not the same as affordable) tool watches, we actually wanted ones with better movements and higher tech? And how now that we have fancier and more expensive tool watches, we actually want less expensive and more straightforward ones? Maybe this is just me but that’s what I observed has happened in the past few years based on what brands offer and, therefore, what people ask for. Watch brands should have just listened to me (I know, I’m humble folks!) and stay the course of attainable, simple, and solid tool watches most of us can actually afford to buy and feel comfortable bashing around on the side of a humvee or against a rock whilst mountain climbing. We would have saved each other a lot of money, time, and sorrow. 


Anyhow, today things are better again for amateurs and connoisseurs of utilitarian timekeeping devices as there are brands such as Draken which exist to bring balance to the watch world. Earlier last year I had my first encounter with Draken, the South African-soul and New Zealand-based microbrand by reviewing their Tugela GMT which I dubbed “the GMT for Rambo, You, and I” before checking out the Peregrine pilot’s watch, and, lastly, their field watch which has become one of my favorite of this type, the Aoraki Mil-Spec. So, I ought it to you and myself to take a look at their Tugela diver which is exactly as I imagined it would be: straightforward, beefy, solid as fuck. For $449 USD I would be hard-pressed to find a better example of a modern, singular, and tough-as-nails diver. 



Specifications


The Draken Tugela is a big boy especially on the bracelet. The full bead-blasted 316L stainless construction measures 42mm in diameter, 48.5mm lug-to-lug, 14mm thick, and comes with a 22mm lug width. (It weighs 179g on the bracelet adjusted to my 6.50”/16.5cm wrist.) The package is tall because the flat sapphire crystal is thick and the bezel shoots high, providing excellent grip. The 120-clicks are sharp and come with a low pitch tonality which, in Mainspring’s pragmatic horological vernacular, equals solidity. So much so actually that there is zero black-play and the bezel is perfectly aligned. From a design perspective, what makes the bezel even easier to operate is the fact that the case-sides have a downward slope which makes it possible for my fingers to envelop and rotate the bezel. I hope that makes some sense. And all Draken’s have this case profile which shows the brand’s commitment to ease of use of their tool watches. 



Inside the Tugela we find the iconic and tractor-like Seiko NH35A caliber which beats at 21,600 BPH (3Hz) and has 41 hours of power reserve. I love this movement—and its siblings the NH36 and NH38—are they tend to run great out-of-the-box. With a 7mm screw-down crown and thick screw-down case-back, we get 300 meters of water resistance—that means business folks—and more than generous applications of green-glowing SuperLuminova on the hands, hour markers, date numerals, ezel (the entirety of it) as well as the signed crown. All Draken’s I have tested come with equally good lume which charges fast and lasts for many hours. Say what you must about SuperLuminova (whether it’s good or bad actually) no two watches with the same lume formula glow as well. Sadly, a watch can have lots of lume but which takes time to charge and which fades quickly. 


I don’t know why that is but that is that. 



Design


Similarly to the fact that the Tugela is built tough and feels as such on the wrist, it was designed to be legible, extremely legible. I would even say that it looks aggressive, as in it wants you, the wearer, to be aggressive with yourself to push your own boundaries to embark on new adventures. Take the handset as an example. We find a plongeur-style combination here with the orange minute hand and stubby hour hand, though Draken designed its own version of it. Both hands are wide and easy to see, and by being so big they make it possible to add lots of lume on them for superlative nighttime legibility. They and the seconds hand have a matte texture as if they had been bead-blasted (is that possible?) and the latter comes with a rectangular lumed element and an orange tip. Set against a matte black dial the hands really are easy to see. 




The aforementioned visual aggressivity, which we can also and perhaps best described as being boldness, can be found on the design of the hour markers which is unique to Draken. The markers at the 3 and 9 look as if a rectangle and hexagon had children, giving them an appearance of cubic flying saucers. The marker at the twelve looks like a stylized “H” which I haven’t seen before (though this doesn’t mean it didn’t already exist) whilst the other markers are simple triangles. This juxtaposition of angular shapes on the dial further contributes in making the Tugela look bold and, again, aggressive. Conversely, the date aperture at the six is round and framed by an orange ring, a color we also find for the printed model name below the pinion. 



The unique visual identity of the Draken Tugela carries out on the case which has an overall angular and brutalist appearance. The angled mid-case and lugs are tall and appear massive, akin to buttresses supporting a rampart, and the design of the bezel sides, looking like dense rows of metal pikes, further contribute to this effect. The crown is also massive and is densely wrapped by short but wide crown guards. Even when looking at the matte bezel insert I get this impression of solidity and boldness given the fact that the Arabic numerals marking the 10-minute increments between 20 and 50 are tall and wide, making them easy to see. There is no doubt that Draken was once again going for a singular visual character here and one which perfectly matches the nature of this model. 




The Heart of the Matter


At the heart of the matter is the fact that Draken created a robust diver which looks and is made to be so whilst remaining relatively affordable. $449 USD isn’t cheap change but it isn’t a life-altering investment either, and for this sum of money the brand ships the Tugela on the bracelet and a high-quality color-matched nylon strap. For this price and quality you have what I want to call a “proper” tool watch meaning one that is well manufactured, made with good components (having a Seiko NH35A caliber means, for example, a movement that is reliable and easy to service) and one which you will certainly feel comfortable pulling out of your watchbox to actually do things with. (As opposed to spending $10,000 on a Rolex Submariner or even $4,000 on a Tudor Black Bay to only wear them when it’s “safe.”) But that would mean you are a certain type of watch collector and not another. 



Moreover, reviewing a Draken always brings me back to this one particular question: if one prefers to wear a watch to keep track of time whilst adventuring around the world—or even to be simply wearing a talisman on said adventure—why not wear a watch one isn’t afraid to put through its paces, scratch, and even damage? Isn’t it what tool watches are meant for? I’m the kind of person who likes to wear his favorite clothes all the time whether they are cheap or expensive, to not be afraid of denting a car, or scratching a watch. Because all of these things are tools and not superfluous items which I want to preserve for tomorrow or for a “better” occasion. So of course the Draken Tugela is totally my type of watch and I’m starting to believe that only those who intend to use it as it was designed to be used should buy this type of watch. 



Conclusion 


I lost track of how many micro and independent brands exist today, and how many options we have for solid divers meant to see some action. There are actually better value dive watches out there which on paper have better specs than the Draken Tugela and which, in theory, are as well-built. But as I mentioned in the introduction, I would be hard-pressed to find many options for divers that come with the same specs and uniqueness in design for this amount of cash. My catchphrase is “we cannot put a dollar sign on creativity” and I believe the Tugela proves me right. Because whilst I can spend $200 USD on a better spec’ed homage, I would rather spend more than double for a Draken. 


I encourage you to check out the brand’s website to discover its full catalog and to check out the reviews I wrote on other models linked in the introduction.


Thanks for reading. 

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