Created to honour a particularly hairy diving experience, the Second Hour Gin Clear has served as the Australian brand’s main dive offering since its introduction in 2020. Six years later, it’s now in its third, and most mature stage, combining clean features of the original, and the build quality that made the second generation stand out. The Gin Clear Mk3 is launching in four dial variations, and apart from a sleeker look, also offers some quality of life improvements when compared to its predecessor. The best thing of all? You can mosey on over to our new Melbourne showroom to check them all out – here’s a little prologue.
What is it?
As the diver flagship, you’d expect the Gin Clear to have some clear hallmarks of its capabilities. There’s a rotating, dive-time bezel in either anodized aluminium or gloss ceramic depending on the colourway, and now improved with a ball-bearing system for excellent feedback. The hands are redesigned to more closely match those of other Second Hour models while offering improved legibility, and the applied indices have been enlarged so they can be filled with even more BGW9. Paying attention to the ergonomics of the 40mm case, they have also improved, as the case-matching, hardened bracelet swaps to inverted end-links to help reduce the effective lug-to-lug, which sits at 47mm. Finally, the crown is of course of the screw-down variety, sealing in 300 metres of water-resistance.
On the movement side of things, the Gin Clear Mk3 now features the Sellita SW200, a proven automatic calibre that’s in this case adjusted in four positions (curious, as SW200s usually come in three or five-position-adjusted variants). In any case, I’ll take an additional adjustment position any day.
First impressions
The differences between the first generation and its follow-up were significant, and I feel like this extreme oscillation has now settled around a happy medium. For its third generation, Second Hour have pared back some of the Mk2 design features such as the logo counterbalance on the seconds hand and bisected indices at 12, 4, and 8 – all touches that I’m completely on board with. The dial as a whole seems to take more of a centre stage, with more prominent features namely thanks to the beefed up handset and indices. While you’ll have to trust me on this until you check it out yourself – the new bezel action is also fantastic. This particular variant in “rhodium”, with its subtle sunburst and brushing, is my pick of the bunch (though I could do with the brand logo being just a touch smaller).
While it won’t be grabbing any headlines, swapping the end-links to an inverted style is a change that often makes a huge difference on-wrist, especially with larger watches. Granted, the Gin Clear isn’t a behemoth by any means, but it’s a welcome change nonetheless, as it’ll make it more appealing to a wider range of wrist sizes.
Second Hour Gin Clear Mk3 pricing and full specifications
The Second Hour Gin Clear Mk3 is available in four different colourways, and you can now find them all in our Melbourne showroom, with prices set at A$1,325. You can also find the entire Second Hour collection in the WatchPoint Webstore.
