March LA.B’s new Dive Watches, the Cool Belza Twin Models

Named after the month March, followed by an acronym for Los Angeles and Biarritz, indie French brand March LA.B has a portfolio of surfer-friendly products with retro-inspired watches, sunglasses, wetsuits, small leather goods and customised vintage Schwinn bikes. Congregated in the brand’s Surf watch collection are the stylish 1970s-inspired Belza divers and its Bonzer surfer watches. Today, March LA.B hits the waves with the Belza Twin editions in bronze cases.

The Belza collection is named after Villa Belza in Biarritz, France, a 19th-century mansion perched on a rocky cliff. Towering above the Côte des Basques beach where surfing took off in the 1950s, Villa Belza is a landmark in European surfing history.

Pushing the brand’s surfer ties further, the Belza Twin also references a specific kind of surfboard. Like the Bonzer line that takes its name from the 1970s “Bonzer” tri-fin surfboards, the Belza Twin pays homage to twin-fin surfboards. Also known as twinnies, these boards have two fins positioned on either side of the tail with no stabilising central fin. Incredibly fast, easy to manoeuvre and skittish, Bob Simmons’ experimentation with parallel twin keels in 1948 evolved over the decades, reaching prominence in the 1970s with Australian surfer Mark Richards.

The latest Belza Twin editions retain the rugged 40mm maritime-friendly bronze case that will develop a unique patina over time. However, the new editions have a slightly reduced thickness of 14.35mm and an increased depth rating of 300 meters. The deeply machined, crisscrossing geometric patterns on the crown at 4 o’clock are inspired by the brand’s stylised M-shaped logo. The wide bronze unidirectional 120-click bezel, with its notched and raised grip echoing the engraved motif of the crown, has a green or black ceramic insert with deep incisions filled with bronze-coloured paint. The screw-down steel caseback is decorated with a relief engraving of Villa Belza in the medallion.

Available with a black or green dial, the Belza Twin features a series of horizontal waves etched into the dial. The rectangular indices match the colour of the bronze case and have a wide Super-LumiNova-filled centre matching the blunt-tipped hour and minute hands. Indicated by the lumed-filled lollipop seconds hand, the precision track on the flange also features spherical luminescent plots. The framed date window at 3 o’clock has a black background and a bright green “3”. The fun peripheral optical distortions are created by the box-shaped sapphire crystal protecting the dial.

Inside the case is a Swiss automatic movement by La Joux-Perret assembled in Besançon, France. An alternative to the ETA 2824, the powerful calibre G100 operates at 4Hz and delivers a solid 68-hour power reserve.

Proud of its French roots, the Belza Twin is paired with a green or black jacquard strap, woven in France by Manufacture Julien Faure, and a steel pin buckle. A complementary black silicone strap is included in the package. The watches retail for USD 2,150 (incl. tax). More information at march-lab.com.