Squale Matic S Green: A Smaller Diver Without the Smaller Specification

There is an obvious place to start with the new Squale Matic S Green: the colour. A sunray green dial, gold-tone details and, depending on which version you choose, either a two-tone steel bracelet or a bright orange rubber strap give both watches considerably more personality than the specification sheet might suggest. But the more interesting part is still the watch underneath.

The Matic S takes one of Squale's more substantial dive-watch designs and brings it down to 39.5mm, with a case just 12.6mm thick. Those are relatively restrained dimensions for a modern diver, especially one capable of 600 metres of water resistance.

That contrast has been the point of the Matic S since it arrived. It is smaller and easier to wear than the full-size Matic, but Squale has not achieved that by quietly reducing the capability along with the case. These two new green models make that idea a little more colourful.

The Matic Before the Matic S

To understand the Matic S, it helps to start with the watch it came from.

Squale's history is closely tied to dive watches. The company began producing watch cases in the late 1950s and went on to supply cases to other manufacturers as well as producing watches under its own name. Diving is therefore not simply one category within a much wider catalogue; it is the part of watchmaking around which much of Squale's identity has been built.

The Matic reflects that experience in a fairly unapologetic way.

The full-size Matic is a substantial dive watch, with current versions measuring around 44mm across and 16mm thick. It pairs those dimensions with a screw-down crown, unidirectional bezel, sapphire crystal and the same headline 600-metre water-resistance rating found on the Matic S. It has presence because, frankly, it has quite a lot of watch to contain.

Squale has always been comfortable using colour, polished surfaces and more decorative bezel treatments alongside the serious dive specification. That places it slightly apart from the 1521, which remains perhaps the more immediately recognisable example of a straightforward Squale tool watch.

So What Is the Matic S?

The easiest answer would be to call it the smaller Matic. That is true, but it does not really explain what Squale has done. The Matic S measures 39.5mm in diameter, 12.6mm thick and 47mm from lug to lug. Compare that with the dimensions of the full-size Matic and the difference is substantial, particularly in thickness.

Yet the water resistance remains 60 ATM, or 600 metres. The watch still uses a screw-down crown and screw-in caseback. The domed sapphire crystal remains, as does the unidirectional diving bezel.

Squale could have made a smaller watch that looked like a Matic, given it 200 metres of water resistance and called the job finished. For most owners, that would still have been far more capability than they would ever realistically need. Instead, the specification stayed.

600m is excessive for almost everyone who will wear one, but it tells you something useful about how the watch has been approached. This is not a lifestyle version of a dive watch. It is still very much a dive watch; it simply happens to occupy much less wrist than the model it evolved from.

Then There Is the Green

The new dial is a sunray green, and it changes considerably depending on the light.

Under brighter conditions, it can take on a much more vivid, almost emerald quality. Move into softer light and the green becomes noticeably deeper and more restrained. That variation suits the Matic particularly well because there is already plenty happening around the dial.

Applied gold-tone hour markers sit above the green surface, filled with Super-LumiNova C1, while the gold detailing continues through the handset and crown. The unidirectional bezel uses an enamelled steel insert rather than the more familiar ceramic or aluminium treatment seen on many contemporary dive watches. Green and gold is an obvious combination, of course. What stops this from feeling too obvious is the amount of steel left around it.

The brushed case and polished bevels give the warmer details something cooler to work against, and that becomes particularly important on the bracelet version.

Two-Tone, But Not Quite How You Might Expect

At first glance, calling it two-tone might suggest the familiar arrangement: steel outer links with a continuous strip of gold running through the centre The bracelet is predominantly brushed steel, with PVD gold treatment appearing through parts of the link construction rather than turning the entire centre section gold. Depending on how the bracelet sits on the wrist, the warmer colour can almost seem to appear between the steel links as they move.

It is a small detail, but quite an effective one.

Two-tone watches can easily become defined by the fact that they are two-tone. Here, the green dial remains the first thing you notice, while the gold is used to draw out smaller details around it. That seems particularly appropriate for the Matic S. This is still a 600-metre dive watch, after all. Making the bracelet feel slightly more considered is one thing; making the watch suddenly look delicate would be something else entirely.

The bracelet also gives the new green dial a surprisingly versatile character. There is enough colour to make the watch distinctive, but the amount of exposed steel keeps it grounded. Of the two new versions, this is probably the one that shows just how far the Matic S can move away from being seen purely as a tool watch.

The Orange Rubber Version 

Then Squale puts exactly the same green watch on an orange Mosaic rubber strap and the character changes again. There is nothing especially restrained about green and orange together, but importantly, the orange does not appear from nowhere. Smaller orange details already feature around the dial, so the strap picks up something that was already part of the design rather than introducing an unrelated colour.

The Mosaic strap is made from rubber and measures 19mm at the lugs, matching the slightly unusual lug width of the Matic S. Squale also offers the same strap separately in several colours, so the watch is not necessarily locked into one configuration forever.

On rubber, the Matic S feels much more obviously like a sports watch. It also perhaps makes the 600-metre specification feel more at home. A highly water-resistant diver on a rubber strap needs very little explanation.

What is more interesting is how different the same green dial looks once the bracelet disappears. The gold details become more prominent, the orange becomes part of the main colour scheme and the whole watch feels considerably less formal. Quite a different result.

600 Metres in a 12.6mm Case

It is worth returning to that water-resistance figure because it would be easy to treat 600m as simply another impressive number.  Recreational diving takes place at a fraction of that depth, and normal swimming barely begins to test what this watch is designed to withstand. But extreme depth ratings tell us something about the engineering surrounding the movement.

The Matic S uses a screw-in crown, screw-in caseback and domed sapphire crystal, all housed within a 316L stainless-steel case. The unidirectional bezel remains functional rather than decorative, and the luminous hour markers are there for exactly the reason you would expect on a dive watch: visibility when light disappears. The achievement is therefore not simply that the watch can theoretically reach 600 metres. It is that Squale has retained that construction while reducing the Matic to 39.5mm and, perhaps more impressively, 12.6mm thick. The specification hasn't become the victim of the proportions.

The Bezel Does Things Slightly Differently Too

The bezel is another detail that helps distinguish the Matic family. Its insert is made from enamelled steel, giving it a smoother, glossier appearance than the matte aluminium bezels associated with older tool watches or the harder ceramic inserts found on many modern divers.

That gives the Matic a richer appearance around the dial. It also works particularly well with the new green version because the polished and enamelled surfaces respond to light in much the same way as the sunray dial beneath them. There is more variation here than you get from a purely flat, functional design. That tells you the smaller case was never intended to mean a simpler watch.

A Familiar Sellita Inside

Inside both new models is the Sellita SW200-1 Elaboré, an automatic Swiss movement running at 28,800 vibrations per hour with 26 jewels and approximately 38 hours of power reserve.

It is established, widely understood and straightforward to service. Squale has also opted for the higher Elaboré grade here rather than the most basic execution of the movement. In a watch like the Matic S, that choice makes sense. 

The Matic S Has Become Its Own Thing

That may be the most interesting part of the Matic S now that the collection has had a little time to develop. When a manufacturer introduces a smaller version of an existing watch, there is always the risk that it feels secondary. The larger model is the “real” one, while the smaller version exists simply for people who cannot or do not want to wear it.

The Matic S does not really feel like that. The change in crown position, revised dimensions, dedicated bracelet and distinctive colour combinations have given it enough separation from the original Matic to stand on its own.

And retaining 600 metres of water resistance removes perhaps the easiest argument for treating it as the lesser model. You are not choosing between the capable Matic and the compromised Matic S. You are choosing between two different interpretations of the same idea. One is unapologetically substantial. The other takes that specification and makes it considerably easier to wear.

And These Make That Difference Clearer

The new green models probably show the broader character of the Matic S better than some of the more straightforward versions.

On the two-tone bracelet, it moves surprisingly close to being an everyday Swiss sports watch. The green and gold combination gives it a little more polish, while the unusual treatment of the bracelet stops the two-tone effect becoming too dominant.

Put it on orange rubber and any suggestion of restraint disappears. It becomes brighter, sportier and much more obviously connected to the water. Neither changes what is underneath.Squale has made the Matic smaller without asking it to do less. The green just makes it rather easier to notice.

Discover the new Squale Matic S Green models at WatchNation.