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The Type 39VM is an impressive and agreeable dive watch. The spec sheet has everything you could possibly want, and the minimalist, modern-meets-mid-century design is attractive, if a little boring.
Where the watch loses me, though, is its price point. The Type 39VM retails for € 2,998 on the bracelet, which currently converts to a staggering $3,481. That price also doesn’t include President Trump’s 15 percent tariff on Swiss goods, meaning the all-in price to an American buyer will be at least $4,000. That is a crazy amount of money for a microbrand dive watch, especially when you look at divers from more established brands.
Price concerns aside, the Type 39VM is a good-looking watch.VPC
The Type 39VM is impressive, but is it more impressive than a Longines Legend Diver at $3,850? Or Christopher Ward’s Trident Lumiere — an acclaimed, full-titanium, COSC-rated 300m diver with the same movement and Globolight hands and indices — at $2,470?
CW’s standard Trident Pro 300 is honestly a closer match to the Type 39VM, and that retails for just $1,255. Even if you want to stick with another enthusiast-run microbrand, Wren — the brand from Wrist Enthusiast founder Craig Karger — sells its excellent and similarly spec’d Diver 38 for only $1,595.
If you take used prices into consideration, $4,000 puts you well into Tudor and even Omega diver territory. I like what VPC is doing from a design standpoint, but I think it’s going to be very tough for the brand to compete at those prices. Maybe I’m wrong.