Sometimes, I buy watches because I'm looking for a specific feature or attribute, or maybe it's a great value, or I just like the brand. Other times, I buy a watch simply because of how it looks. That's how I ended up with with the Héron Watches Marinor Rainbow.
I have been familiar with the Canadian Heron brand for a few years now through its presence on social media. The watches looked nice, but I never had a good reason to buy one. Then, just recently, I saw photos of the Rainbow version start to pop up. It looked too cool to resist, so I signed up for notifications and bought one in the morning right after it was released. I'm glad I did, as it had sold out by the afternoon.
Héron Marinor Rainbow First Impressions
Of course, when I opened the package, the first thing that I wanted to see was the dial. The colors are slightly more subdued than I expected, which makes the watch less distracting to look at. The dial is still busy due to the amount of numbers on it, but I expected that. The Marinor also wears a bit bigger than I expected, based on the dimensions, but I think it's a good size.
Héron Marinor Rainbow Details
Those who have seen the recent reissues from brands like Mido and Vulcain will find this dial layout vaguely familiar. Popularized in the 19060s, decompression scale dive watches use multi-colored scales to aid in timing dives.
As readers of the blog know, I only pretend to know the first thing about diving, so I'll quote the Heron website. "As divers descended, water absorbed different light wavelengths, causing colors to fade. This made the scales a practical way to associate depths with required stop times, helping prevent decompression sickness."
My understanding is that returning to the surface more slowly is required at deeper depths. The colored rings help the diver ascertain how much time at different depths is required to avoid ascending too quickly.
While the Marinor Rainbow's style is clearly influenced by these watches, Heron adds its unique style, combining vintage and modern elements. Rather than being covered in this pattern, the colors sit below cutouts in a matte black dial in a sandwich construction. This aids legibility and makes the rainbow pattern more subtle, making the watch look less busy and more modern.
A boxed sapphire crystal (with AR) is used, as is typical of vintage-style dive watches. Heron also uses a sapphire bezel insert, giving the vintage bakelite look. The scale is countdown style.
Wearing the Héron Marinor Rainbow
The Marinor is sized at 39mm in diameter, which is in the popular range for vintage-style divers. The lugs appear a bit long, but they curve downward, and the bracelet also has female end links.
It's also reasonably thin for a 300m diver and 12.9mm (11.3, not including the boxed crystal).
The coin-edge bezel overhangs the case, making it easy to grip. The clicks are very precise and pleasing, with a loud and high-pitched sound and positive engagement.
The crown is large and also features a coin edge treatment, making it easy to set the time and wind the watch.
While the hour indices are close to the center of the dial, and the minute marks are resigned to the chapter ring. The broad arrow hour hand is easy to distinguish from the minute hand. The minute hand is also easier to spot because the lume is only at the end of the hour hand (unlike the Omega Planet Ocean's hands, for example), and the second hand also has a lollipop-style lume insert.
The dial, hands, and bezel use Super-LumiNova BGW9 + old radium lume. It doesn't have as much lume as I usually like to see on a dive watch, but there was not a lot of space on the dial left for hour markers. It would be fantastic if the rainbow section of the dial had colored lume, but I imagine this would be difficult to produce.
Bracelet and Replacement Straps for the Héron Marinor Rainbow
The Marinor is available with an FKM Tropical-style strap, but since I already have plenty of those, I opted for the stainless steel bracelet version, which was $60 more. The bracelet is a flat link design with a brushed surface and the same surface hardness treatment as the case.
The clasp also features an internal quick micro-adjust mechanism. A button hidden inside the clasp extends it by a few millimeters to fine-tune the fit. The mechanism operates similarly to that of the Christopher Ward divers, such as the Trident.
Screwed links are used, making it easy to set up (and a screwdriver is included), and the bracelet attaches to the case with quick-release spring bars, eliminating the need for a spring bar tool. The bracelet is thin, and the links are not that wide. It is also double-articulated, making it comfortable overall, especially with the adjustable clasp.
Because of the multi-colored dial, many straps look great on it. We already know that it looks great on a Tropical Rubber.
I've been loving wearing various colors of the Deployant Rubber straps recently, and this watch looks great with the Men Wear Pink version, too!
Here is a list of other straps that would fit and look great with this watch. At the end of the article, you'll also find photos of even more strap combos.
-STANDARD H x StrapHabit
-Ribbed Rubber Pass-Through
-Ridge Rubber
-Deployant Sailcloth
-Premium Sailcloth
-Smooth Rubber
-Rubber and Sailcloth Hybrid Straps
-Vented Rubber
-Slim Ridge Rubber
-Waffle Rubber
-Epsom Leather
-Elastic
Héron Marinor Rainbow Movement
A Miyota 9039 movement powers the Marinor, the go-to choice for a microbrand watch in this price range. This is the no-date version of this Japanese caliber. Its 28,800 vph beat rate makes it an upgrade over the typical Seiko or Miyota 8-series movements you often find in microbrands. The movement is also thin, which allows the watch itself to be thinner.
Héron Marinor Rainbow Conclusion
The microbrand dive watch space is challenging for newer brands, as there is a lot of competition. This makes it difficult to stand out, especially if you're trying to maintain a vintage aesthetic that has been done many times.
While Heron clearly draws inspiration from existing decompression divers, It applied its style to the watch, meaning that nothing about it looks derivative. The whole watch is a nice package, but applying a sandwich dial to a rainbow decompression scale is the detail that sets it apart.
Héron Marinor Rainbow Specifications:
Name: Héron Marinor - Rainbow
Reference Number: 3301-A
MSRP: $630
Diameter: 39mm (40.1mm as measured at the bezel)
Height: 47mm
Thickness: 12.9mm
Lug Width: 20mm
Movement: Miyota 9039
Power Reserve: 42 hours
Water Resistance: 300m
Crystal: Box sapphire with anti-reflective coating
Crown: Screw-down
Bezel: 120-click unidirectional rotating with 60-minute countdown sapphire insert
Bracelet: Stainless steel, micro-adjust clasp, QR springbars
Shop Replacement Straps for the Héron Marinor Rainbow
Deployant FKM Rubber
Tropical FKM Rubber
Ribbed FKM Rubber Pass-Through
Premium Sailcloth
