Let us travel back to the age of legitimate micro and independent utilitarian horology. The type of horology that hooked many of us into this hobby, this obsession of ours, and did so with such intensity that we can’t ever go back. (Back to what? I don’t know…whatever life was for you before you knew about the fascinating, dream-inducing, and intricate world of watches.) There are but a few brands whose name equates to passion-driven small houses of timekeeping devices and those are getting rarer each day. This is so because the market over saturates constantly and that most brands struggle to come up with new and interesting ideas. Once a brand created the ultimate enthusiast-approved beefy and badass diver, it can’t be created a second time. At least not with the same level of singularity in design and generating the same amount of excitement when hearing about—and seeing and handling in the metal—such timepieces. 

Ever since I seriously got into horology ten years ago I’ve had one particular dive watch in my sight: the Helm Vanuatu, for it epitomized, and still does today, the ideal tool watch for me—affordable, legible, solid. Three adjectives which have guided my personal collecting habits (with a few detours) ever since and which might be guiding yours as well. And I bet that the Vanuatu—an affordable, legible, and solid diver—is the ideal tool watch for you as well. (It is, let’s not beat around the bush.) I’m the first one to say that we don’t have to pay too much to acquire a good utilitarian timekeeping device and I’d be the last one to dish out several thousands of dollars to put one in a safe. And perhaps it was serendipitous that ten years later I would at last take a Vanuatu for a test drive—a sort of celebratory milestone for me as a watch nerd and self-proclaimed journalist. 

So today we’re taking a close look at the Vanuatu Titanium, most likely the ultimate tool watch which mysteriously retails for only $350 USD. 

Specifications 

You know how we get told what to think about anything and everything in life including watches? We should be wearing this type of watch and not that one; this movement is better than that movement; 42mm in diameter is an ok size if your wrist is 7.5” or more, but too big if it is smaller. What on earth? Ok, I generally say that I prefer smaller watches and I can be the happiest man in the world wearing a World War II-inspired 32mm pilot’s watch. I find that watches below 38mm in diameter generally look better and are more comfortable to wear than those whose diameter is above 38mm. But a preference for smaller watches shouldn’t preclude me from enjoying larger watches, not once in a while but everyday. Because more than the dimensions and specifications of a watch, it is its soul with which my horological heart must resonate, not numbers and lines of texts on a virtual piece of paper. 

And should this phenomenon take place with a 42mm x 50mm x 14mm diver, then so be it folks. So I was at first apprehensive strapping the Vanuatu Titanium to my 6.50”/16.50cm wrist on account of the aforementioned dimensions. But as soon as I did—and I bet I would have had the same impression with the stainless steel version of this beast—I was immediately taken aback by its splendid utilitarian aesthetic and matching dimensions and weight and wrist presence. Because we wouldn’t get excited driving a Ferrari-powered Toyota Prius, neither would we get thrilled wearing a 300m diver in a tiny case. Say what you must about what makes sense in watches and how certain cases are better suited for certain watches etc. Sometimes, a combination just works as it does here with the Helm. And a 50mm lug-to-lug is long for me though the lugs end right before my wrist curves down which makes it alright then. 

So this massive case is made of brushed grade 2 titanium (grade 2 Ti is full titanium while grade 5 also includes aluminum and vanadium which makes it harder and harder to work,) so is the bracelet and clasp. The bracelet is of the Super Engineer style allegedly created by Seiko, the particularity of which is the five-link construction where all links are of the same length and width. This makes the bracelet look sporty and sophisticated and massive: each link measures 4.2mm in height and the bracelet tapers by a meager 2mm at the clasp. The links are held together by highly-engineered screws (nice pun, yah?) in that they have wide and flat heads and narrow bodies which makes them easy to insert and screw down/unscrew. The bracelet is further made awesome for the fact that the end-links are of the female type, and that the clasp has six old-school holes of micro-adjustment. (An on-the-fly system would have certainly made the clasp thicker and longer.) 

And the rest of the specifications are quite impressive—should you have gotten my point already. 

A thick and flat piece of sapphire with colorless inner anti-reflective coating for superlative legibility; a deeply knurled crown and bezel, the latter has 120-precise ratchety clicks, deprived of any backplay. To guarantee effective operation at all times, the bezel is made of PVD-coated brushed steel and the insert of brushed ceramic where each marking was machined and then filled with BGW9. BGW9 is also what we find in great quantities on the hands and printed markers, with a little twist being found on the orange-colored SuperLuminova dots at the hours stylistically matching the seconds hand. And there’s more: the 300 meters of water resistance is tested according to ISO 6425’s requirements and each watch comes with a certificate of testing. Which is why “Diver’s 300m” is printed on the dial. Oh, and the movement is a Seiko NH35 (3Hz/40 hours of power reserve) and the one I test-drove ran at - 5 seconds per day. Shoot. 

Design

It’s been a while since I’ve typed so many words about the specifications of a watch but I had to. Already looking at what it is made of we can evidently see that the Helm Vanuatu Titanium is, as it is said in the horological vernacular, a spec monster. And much more so than the plethora of dive watches sold at similar prices—remember, $350 USD—whether coming from North American, European, or Asian-based watch brands and further away even on the Australian continent by a certain personality turned entrepreneur. But I digress. And so the Vanuatu has a lot to offer in the area of mechanics which matters to many including yourself and yours truly, which partially explains why I have become so enamored with it: when I strap the Vanuatu Titanium onto my wrist I can see the specifications as if they were an integral part of its design. In other words, what this watch is made of becomes part of what it looks like.

So, what we’re talking about here exactly is this: the darker color of grade 2 titanium and its brushed treatment endows the Vanuatu with a profound utilitarian aspect, and matches the principally monochromatic aesthetic of the bezel and dial. The brushed nature of the case repeats itself onto the brushed ceramic bezel insert, whilst the matte aspect of the lume-filled markers of the latter travelled onto the dial in the form of large printed hour markers and hands. The markers actually glisten at the lightest and briefest exposure to any light source, whilst the hands are resolutely matte. The hour hand is rectangular, the minute hand is in the shape of a skyscraper, both so large that continental-sized amounts of lume inhabit their center, framed by matte black surrounds. The seconds hand is partially black, mostly orange, and equipped with a black lumed lollipop element. The dial itself is matte black and all text elements are printed in dark grey color which also glisten. 

And lastly, the case. As we know, dimensionally the Vanuatu Titanium commands quite the wrist presence but it does so with relative lightness and unusual elegance—145g on the titanium bracelet with all links and 90g on the provided nylon strap. Oh yas, Helm gives you two fastening systems by the way and offers many other options made of leather, rubber, and canvas. (Second “oh yas” moment: did I mention already that you can purchase additional swappable bezel inserts for $35 USD? Effing insane, right?) And so the case…fully brushed as we know, angular and flat, with long and narrow lugs which turn down towards the wrist, slab-sided flanks, and stubby crown-guards at the three. The case-back is equally impressive for having a deeply-etched decor showcasing the brand target-like logo and sectors within which we find a paired-down-to-the-essentials spec sheet. The whole grade 2 titanium apparatus commands an impressive visual presence indeed.  

The Heart of the Matter

Now I know why so many folks have praised the Helm Vanuatu for so long and why the brand operates on a waitlist basis for this and all of its other models: this watch is the poster child of the straightforward and hardcore tool watch that only micro and independent brands can make. It has the body and soul of the truest of tool watches which mainstream and historical brands will never be able to design and manufacture. Not because they don’t have the means to, but because they wouldn’t understand how. Only a watch enthusiast—not a watch collector nor an expert—can put together such a compelling piece of utilitarian horology, as it takes a special type of person to understand what a hardcore and capable tool watch needs to be so and what, therefore, it can look like. As I tried to say in this desperately long review, the specs of the Vanuatu Titanium are integral parts of its design and dictate how it looks. 

Helm was created in 2014 by Matt Cross, a tool-watch enthusiast whose philosophy of creating the brand and designing its watches is readily available for you to discover on the brand’s website here. What, and how, he wrote and said about himself and Helm is rare in the watch world—it’s authentic, straightforward, and articulate—just like the Vanuatu is authentic, straightforward, and articulate. Specs wise, well, it’s a fucking monster. Design wise, it’s clean, bold, and easy on the eye. As said just earlier, only an enthusiast for hardcore tool watches—read: straightforward, humble, and driven by purpose—could have come up with the Vanuatu for only one who truly uses his/her tools understands how such watches should look, feel, and work. In other words, this watch is the opposite of what a tool watch designed by an armchair enthusiast would be. Matt has a deep, broad, and sincere understanding of the watch industry and the Vanuatu is the three-dimensional representation of this clear understanding. 

Conclusion 

If you stuck around to the end of this review, and I hope you did, well thanks! There are a few last pieces of information I would like to share with you to wrap and conclude this encyclopedic write-up of the Helm Vanuatu Titanium. First, it does only retail for $350 USD which is just weird and wonderful. For this amount of cash, you get a Seiko NH35 caliber, 300 meters of tested water resistance, a grade 2 titanium case, bracelet, and clasp, radioactive-like amounts of BGW9 on the hands, markers, and bezel markings, a flat sapphire crystal, and a bracelet and nylon strap. And then you can purchase additional bezels (60-minute or 12-hour in stainless steel or black ceramic,) slimmer clasps, extra bracelet links, extra screws, and leather, rubber, or canvas straps. All accessories are more than reasonably priced and that’s something unique to Helm to ensure you get all you need to be able to use your watch for a long time and thus worry-free. 

Lastly, you do have to join a waitlist to acquire a Vanuatu Titanium or any models from the brand for that matter. For each one you can join the list and then calculate your position on it. I did for the Vanuatu Titanium and I’m #222. I know, that’s a long, long time to wait but trust me, it’s 100% worth it. You won’t find anything like it anywhere else on the market and for that price, you won’t actually be losing anything, neither time nor money. The Vanuatu is iconic for a reason and as such a bit of patience is required. 

Anyway, thanks for reading.