Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the popular Nickelodeon network animated show that debuted in 1999, Spinnaker has been rather prolific as a licensing partner of Spongebob Squarepants, having already launched a number of themed products based on a variety of product models, including a few collections this year. In this article, I will go over three of the Spinnaker x Spongebob Squarepants automatic sports watches and will generally share my thoughts on this collaboration. Overall, these are mostly very cheerful and spirited lower-priced enthusiast-style products that tie into a beloved set of characters and programs. Fans of Spongebob Squarepants and timepiece lovers will find something to enjoy. However, Spinnaker could refine and design improvements in the future to better capture the essence of Spongebob and his friends in these amusing products.
Spinnaker makes diving and marine-themed automatic watches at mainstream prices. The company is inspired by more expensive and historic watches but often adds a playful touch. I often think of these as “toy watches” for adults. I last covered Spinnaker when it released its latest “50 Phantoms” collaboration with Seconde/Seconde/. This collaboration with Spongebob Squarepants validates that sentiment. These “souvenir” watches (with characters on the dial) combine traditional watch design and an entertainment theme in a cohesive “instrument-style” manner. A good example of this concept is the Cahill Automatic wristwatch with a dial inspired by Spongebob Squarepants’ alarm clock.
It is perhaps wise to provide some larger context about this type of collaborative trend where novelty watches and traditional timepieces intersect. Back in 2015, Romain Jerome debuted a high-end Super Mario watch. Even though the watch wasn’t very practical and was extremely expensive, I was fascinated by the intersection of my youth and the watch hobby. It wasn’t that wristwatches never explored themes from the past, it was simply that the timepiece industry hadn’t yet caught up to covering themes from the 1980s and 1990s. And very few of them focused on cartoons and other more childlike forms of entertainment. I first thought the Super Mario Bros. watch was destined to be a singular oddity; I was wrong. From comic book heroes to children’s cartoon characters, over the last few years, the timepiece industry has been utterly infatuated with colorful kid-style watches for adults.
It is one challenge to consider an entertainment property that matches your watch products well, and it is another to come up with creatively rewarding and utilitarian watch designs. Spinnaker certainly tries to do that in many ways. But some of these designs may have been rushed a bit (which is common for brands like Spinnaker that focus on lower prices and higher production volumes). Ultimately horological refinements come with a cost. All of these watches have a retail price of under $400.
Two of the watches are from Spinnaker’s Cahill Automatic product collection, and the other is from Spinnaker’s Hull Automatic collection. These are all diver-style watches with cases that are water-resistant to 200 meters. Clearly, it makes sense for Spongebob Squarepants watches to be able to go underwater; that goes without saying given that they should be able to exist in the fictitious town of Bikini Bottom. The Cahill Automatic case is steel, 43mm wide, 15mm thick, and has a 50mm lug-to-lug distance. Inside is a Japanese-made automatic movement operating at 3Hz with about two days of power reserve. All of the watches feature the same movement, which is visible through the caseback window. Here is where you can see the Spinnaker designers trying to be playful and integrating the words of timepieces and Spongebob Squarepants together by including the statement (on the applied Spongebob label over the automatic rotor): “Twenty-Four Krabby Patties.” This is supposed to take the statement about jewels in a mechanical movement and replace them with the signature sandwich prepared by Spongebob Squarepants in the show.
Combining entertainment universes that are not inherently watch-related with traditional timepieces is fun and very challenging. There are probably more failures than hits, but the commercial allure of cross-pollinating two audiences is an ongoing trophy brands seek to win. Spinnaker’s team certainly studied collaboration watches, and between the various Spinnaker sister brands (AVI-8 is among them) they have a great deal of experience. Many of the Spinnaker x Spongebob Squarepants watches are truly fun to look at. I can’t review them all, but these three models help demonstrate the successes and challenges of the timepiece collection. These watches also represent entirely different ways to incorporate an entertainment property into a watch, so I think it is interesting to see what Spinnaker did here.
In trying to capture an actual piece of the Spongebob Squarepants universe, Spinnaker tried to make a wristwatch version of Spongebob Squarepants’ alarm clock. Note that the actual clock dial from the show doesn’t even have enough hour markers in it, and it uses a sort of fog horn device to wake people up. The device from the show is clearly a cartoon appliance, and with the Spinnaker Cahill Automatic Spongebob Squarepants Timekeeper Limited Edition reference SP-5142-01, Spinnaker attempts to merge this device with a wristwatch (note that the name of the product doesn’t reference the style at all). While not perfect, this is an example of bringing a piece of the show to your wrist. The lume-painted green dial’s color is not very attractive, but it does try to replicate the look of the alarm clock from the show. And I like the thicker application of the markers on the dial so that it does not appear flat. The rest of the watch emphasizes the steel tones of the case (along with the uni-directionally rotating diver’s style bezel), and the orange strap tries to incorporate an accent color from the alarm clock. In my opinion, this is among the more successful integrations of something from the actual Spongebob Squarepants universe into a watch, but the resulting colors and style are not traditionally attractive unless your wardrobe frequently features a mixture of neon green and bright orange.
The Cahill Automatic case is chunky but sturdy-feeling at 43mm wide, 15mm thick, with a 50mm lug-to-lug distance. This same case is used for the Cahill Automatic Spongebob Squarepants Timekeeper Limited Edition reference SP-5142-02, with the Patrick Star dial. This watch takes an entirely different design approach and seeks to replicate the classic “Mickey Mouse hands” dial with the character Patrick, Spongebob Squarepants’ friend. In theory, this is a great design, and the cheerfulness of Patrick Star’s personality comes through in the concept. Being a sea star, Patrick’s pointy limbs make for good watch hands.
The issue with the SP-5142-02 watch relates to refinement and colors. One of my favorite things about the Spinnaker x Spongebob Squarepants collaboration is that Spinnaker liberally uses the font from the show on the watches. This helps keep them on point, and I think it shows courage that instead of the standard Spinnaker logo, they simply write “Spinnaker” with Spongebob font. That said, the color matching and the color mixing on this SP-5142-02 watch are incongruous. The hour and minute hands don’t match the same pink color as the main body for Patrick. And there are simply too many different colors on the watch and strap. Most bright-colored watches can get away with a maximum of two or three different colors. Here, we see far too many colors, such as the yellow strap and bright rotating bezel insert, which don’t make sense or add to the composition. This would have been a better watch if it had focused on the colors used to draw the Patrick Star character, and if the colors used for all the elements matched. I think the overall direction and theme of this SP-5142-02 Cahill Automatic Spongebob Squarepants Timekeeper “Patrick dial” watch is great, but further refinement could make this a more attractive timepiece.
I recommend you check out the Spinnker website if you are curious about these since the company does apply a lot of luminant, often in novelty form (meaning painting areas with luminant that doesn’t necessarily need to glow in the dark to read the time). In fact, on this last watch, you might need to see the dial glowing in the dark after being charged by light if you want to see the Spongebob Squarepants elements in the design. The Hull Automatic is another diver’s-style watch from Spinnaker and is the basis of even more collaboration models. As of this writing, there are currently four different Spinnaker Hull Diver Automatic watches themed around Spongebob Squarepants with each version focusing on a different character. This black and yellow reference SP-5147-01 is the Spongebob Squarepants model, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing that. What makes this “tactical-style” sports watch work is that it doesn’t feel like a collaboration product. For people who like watches and Spongebob Squarepants equally, one of these watches might work best since they don’t immediately feel like “character watches.” In fact, you need to squint on the dial to see the mosaic of images in gray on black on the face, which are from the Spongebob Squarepants universe. (They show up better with a UV torch.) Most of the nods to Spongebob are subtle, including the font for the text and numerals on the dial and bezel, as well as little details such as the plaque on the automatic rotor or the Spongebob smile on the end of the yellow silicone strap. This is probably my favorite watch style from the bunch, given its look and comfort. However, the domed sapphire crystal used by Spinnaker has a bit of a lens distortion effect when viewed from extreme angles. This isn’t a huge deal, but it is often considered best practice to refine the shape of the crystal to remove any lens effect when looking through it. The Hull Diver Automatic case is black IP-coated steel, 42mm wide, 15mm thick, and has a 50mm lug-to-lug distance.
I want Spinnaker to continue making Spongebob Squarepants watches because I appreciate the accessible price point and openness to experimentation. In 2020, I reviewed a different Spongebob Squarepants watch, the UNIMATIC U1-SS2. Sadly, Spongebob Squarepants founder Stephen Hillenburg has passed away, and we can’t get his take on these timepieces, but after 25 years, the legacy of this creative and amusing cartoon for both children and adults continues to capture our imaginations. These limited-edition Spinnaker watches are produced as sets of 225 to 300 pieces, depending on the model. Price for the Spinnaker Cahill Automatic Spongebob Squarepants watches is $385 USD, and the Spinnaker Hull Diver Automatic Spongebob Squarepants watches have a retail price of $345 USD. Learn more at the Spinnaker website.
