Hodinkee has been on a roll with its limited-edition watch collaborations, but its latest might be the coolest yet. The new Paulin Mara Limited Edition for Hodinkee is a $1,000 dive watch that brings back a nearly forgotten gilt-dial technique from the 1950s. And with just 250 being made, this vintage-inspired diver could be one of the most coveted affordable watch releases of 2026.
Created with Glasgow-based watchmaker Paulin, the 39.7mm automatic dive watch features a genuine gold-plated gilt dial, a stainless steel case, and a Japanese Miyota movement. Unlike modern watches that simply imitate the look of vintage gilt dials, the Mara uses a traditional process to achieve the real thing. It’s an impressive level of craftsmanship for a watch at this price—and another standout collaboration from Hodinkee.
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“Mara” is Scots Gaelic for “of the sea,” and for the Glaswegian brand’s dive watch, Hodinkee and Paulin wanted to resurrect a mostly vanished, traditional gilt dial-making technique. To that end, the pair tapped Paulin’s production partner in Germany to execute the gilding process. Each dial produced for the time-only watch starts as a brass blank. It is first electroplated in gold.
The minute track and text are then printed with a chemical resistant barrier before the dial is galvanic-bath-plated matte black. When the barrier is stripped away, the gold is revealed below the finish. The remaining print is applied in lacquer, and covered with a protective clear coat. The hour markers are hand-painted in antiqued-tone, Super-LumiNova, matched to the fill on the sword-style hands and bezel. The “Glasgow” printed at 4 o’clock on the standard Mara’s dial has been replaced with a gilt “Hodinkee,” and the 100m depth rating reads in meters first, as it does on vintage mid-century gilt-dial divers.
The 39.7mm case is crafted in 316L stainless steel. The light grey 120-click unidirectional bezel wraps a double-domed sapphire insert with a traditional dive scale. The bezel overhangs the case at 12 and 6 o’clock and its edge, along with the watch’s screw-down crown are textured with polished, sphere-shaped indentations for easier adjustment when submerged.
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According to Sarah Reid, Hodinkee’s director of limited edition, the Mara was a labor of love. “We’ve spent years obsessing over vintage dive watches, and gilt dials have always been one of those details that stop us in our tracks,” Reid said. “When we started talking with Paulin about the Mara, we knew we didn’t want an impression of a gilt dial; we wanted the real thing, made the way it was in the 1950s. Having worked with anOrdain before, we knew this was a team that wouldn’t shy away from doing things the hard way, and they’ve delivered a watch that captures everything we love about mid-century divers while remaining unmistakably Paulin.”
The Mara’s timekeeping is powered by a Japanese Miyota 9039, uni-directional, automatic caliber. The movement offers a 42 hour power reserve and is accurate to -10 ~ +30 seconds per day.
The watch arrives on a classic grey woven NATO strap with a custom Hodinkee-branded stainless steel buckle.
The Paulin Mara Limited Edition for Hodinkee is available for pre-order starting on October 19th for $1,000, the watch is available for pre-order through the Hodinkee App and Watches of Switzerland, with first deliveries expected in mid-November 2026.