Worn & Wound
VPC Introduces the Type 39VM, an Uncommonly Thin Dive Watch
Regular readers might remember our coverage of the debut watch from VPC almost two years ago. This was a special project as it comes from Thomas van Straaten, whose byline many of you may have seen over at his main gig, as a writer at Fratello. The Type 37HW, the debut release from VPC, was conceived as something as the ultimate enthusiast’s watch, with special attention paid to the small details that serious watch lovers are particularly attuned to. In practice, that means you end up with a watch that is very subtle, with lots of things that are special about it but perhaps don’t advertise themselves in big bold colors. VPC, after all, is an acronym for a Latin phrase that translates to “beauty through restraint,” and if that isn’t a mission statement of enthusiast focused watch culture, I don’t know what is. For the second VPC release, the brand is back with a watch that builds on the design language of the Type 37HW but shifts it specifically into the realm of the dive watch. The Type 39VM is, according to the brand, the thinnest 200 meter water resistant automatic dive watch on the market, which is a bold claim but seems to be backed up by a cursory review of the data. The case height is listed at 9.34mm, which is quite thin indeed for a watch like this. In keeping with VPC’s design principles, van Stratten set out to create a watch that was purely functional but also didn’t sacrifice ergonomics or aesthetics. Through an exploration of figuring out wh...
