To pre-order your, visit this link now (they are selling out fast). The watches will ship in mid-October
As many of you know, StrapHabit has teamed up with Brodinkee since 2022 to raise money for the American Cancer Society’s MEN Wear Pink campaign. StrapHabit’s contribution has been the MWP Deployant Sailcloth Watch Straps. For this year, we already had a killer idea for the strap, but were looking for opportunities to do even more. Bro is always great at getting watch brands to donate individual watches for raffles. This has been an effective strategy, and we’re grateful to those brands, but I had a dream of designing our own watch. I kept thinking about different brands with which we had a relationship with the owner. Marc at Long Island Watch is one of my favorite people in this community. When I saw that he had rolled out an influencer program, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity. I sent an email to Marc, proposing that we work together, but instead of giving the influencer fees to us, we donate directly to MWP. This is not the first time that Islander has done something for charity (see the review of the Islander Journey), so I had high hopes that he would say yes.
Marc emailed back almost immediately and enthusiastically agreed to produce 200 watches, but he didn't want to donate the influencer fees. Marc generously offered to donate the ENTIRE sale price of every watch to the American Cancer Society! I was blown away.
I already had a few ideas, but now my brain started racing, and my mouse started flying through the Islander website. I chose a few models that would lend themselves well to the platform and mocked up a few ideas in Photoshop. Brodinkee helped to select a few favorites, and we shared them with Marc. He helped us narrow down the selections based on what he thought would be the best options. We wanted something that would offer good customization options, but also sell well based on Marc’s extensive experience.
As you are now aware, we landed on the SKX-based platform, which is an actual dive watch (unlike the Seiko 5 Sports line). Sales are strong for these models, and the pricing was a good range that was neither too expensive nor too low. This would allow the most money to be raised. Dive watches are popular and make excellent everyday wear, featuring additional components that allow for customization. I also love the Islander Sands Point SKX-style watch.
Marc said that the full-size models sell best by far, so we stuck with that size (despite people saying they want smaller models, they don’t actually buy them). I'm sure a few people will say that they wish it were smaller than 42mm, but trust me when I say that it wears amazingly, despite what the measurements might say. The lug-to-lug distance is also compact.
The goal of the design was to create a watch with clear visual ties to Men Wear Pink, but not be in your face. We wanted the watch to feel extremely special, but still be something that people would wear every day. To achieve this, we kept the watch predominantly black, but added bright pink in areas that felt appropriate for a dive watch.
It’s common for dive watches to mark the area between 0 and 20 on the bezel in a contrasting color, as this is the maximum time typical for decompression stops (although I wouldn't know). We decided to fill this area in bright pink, while keeping the rest of the bezel insert black to minimize the visual impact.
Of course, it had to be in sapphire with lume! I’ve always been a fan of coin-edge bezels, so we opted for that style. Islander applied black DLC to the bezel and crown for a stealthy look with excellent durability.
When timing dives, minutes are the most important measurement, so dive watches sometimes apply a different color to the minute hand to improve legibility. We did this in pink to tie things in with the bezel. We kept the hour hand in polished silver to match the hour markers, and applied a touch of pink to the second hand to make it easier to see when it’s running.
Using too much branding on the dial can often lead to overdoing things, so we decided to keep it simple. Matte black dials are always a good choice for dive watches, and we felt that polished markers would add a more upscale look. Marc suggested that we use text instead of a logo for the Islander branding. Making it pink would be subtle enough, but still add some color. Below the hands, we kept the white Automatic text. Instead of placing more branding in your face, we replaced the depth rating with a subtle pink MWP for Men Wear Pink. We figured that people can remember how deep it goes.
Displaying the day of the week is common in Seiko-based watches, but we omitted it. We wanted to keep it symmetrical, so we placed the date at 6, with a metal surround applied. The date numerals are pink over black, and I asked Marc for an additional special touch. My mom had breast cancer the year that I started with MWP. Her birthday is the 7th. I asked Marc if we could place a Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon at seven on the date wheel as a tribute to my mom, and also to provide some luck to people who wear the watch.
Marc said that a flat crystal works best with a flat bezel, so we opted for a flat sapphire with a blue AR coating on the underside.
Flipping the watch over, we started with the Islander lighthouse caseback, but added the StrapHabit/Brodinkee collaboration logo, plus the ribbon.
The next decision was the most critical part - the strap! Every watch includes a StrapHabit Deployant Sailcloth strap. Unlike the entirely pink MWP strap that StrapHabit will sell separately, this one is primarily black with pink highlights. This would match the watch better.
We also wanted to include a bracelet, so Islander provides its scales bracelet. Marc recommended this, as he thought that it would sell better. I was skeptical that this would be as cool as a jubilee, but after seeing it in person, I am pleased with the choice.
Going through the process was really fun. We evaluated approximately 30 different configurations before settling on the final product. I loved how it looked in 2 dimensions, but had to wait for Marc to finish the prototype impatiently. When he sent me a few photos of it, I knew that we had a hit, but I waited not-so-patiently for mine to arrive. When I finally received it, I was blown away by how great it looked. I hope that you like the watch as much as we do! If you’re interested in buying one of the 200, please go here.
Specifications
Name: Islander x StrapHabit x Brodinkee "MWP" (Men Wear Pink)
Reference Number: ISL-342
MSRP: $350
Diameter: 42mm
Height: 45.5m
Thickness: 13.2mm
Weight: 165g on bracelet
Lug Width: 22mm
Movement: Seiko NH35
Power Reserve: 41 hours
Water Resistance: 200m
Crystal: Sapphire with blue inner anti-reflective coating
Crown: DLC, Screw-down
Bezel: DLC bezel, 120-click Unidirectional with lume and sapphire insert
Bracelet/Strap: Stainless steel bracelet and deployant sailcloth strap