Spinnaker Watch - Croft Mid-Size Automatic Dolphin Project Limited Edition - SP-5177-11 - Aqua Play

Spinnaker Croft Mid-Size SP-5177-11 Aqua Play – Dolphin Project Automatic Watch, 500 Pieces, Blue Wave Dial, Swiss Super-LumiNova Dolphins

Most watches tell you what time it is. The Spinnaker Croft Mid-Size Automatic SP-5177-11 Aqua Play also tells you what it stands for. Produced in partnership with the Dolphin Project — the non-profit organisation founded in 1970 that has spent five decades campaigning against dolphin captivity and for the protection of dolphins in the wild — it commits 10% of net sales directly to the organisation's global campaigns. Not a percentage of profit, not a capped donation, not a nominal contribution: ten percent of net sales, distributed to the fieldwork and advocacy that has made the Dolphin Project one of the most credible marine conservation voices in the world.

Limited to 500 pieces in this colourway and timed to launch ahead of World Whale and Dolphin Day on July 23rd, the Aqua Play is a watch that has earned its marine identity through action rather than aesthetics — though the aesthetics, centred on a textured wave-pattern dial where dolphins swim by day and glow by night, are as considered as everything else about it.

The Dolphin Project – Five Decades of Field-Level Conservation

The Dolphin Project was founded by Ric O'Barry, the former dolphin trainer who worked on the television series Flipper and subsequently dedicated his life to undoing what he had helped create — a global industry of dolphin entertainment that he came to understand as fundamentally incompatible with the animals' welfare and dignity. Since 1970, the organisation has operated in Japan, Mexico, Guatemala, South Korea and other countries where dolphin hunting or captivity practices continue, using education, legal advocacy, and direct presence to change outcomes for individual animals and to shift the broader cultural and commercial context in which those outcomes are determined.

Spinnaker's collaboration with the Dolphin Project is not a licensing arrangement — it is a financial commitment. Every Aqua Play sold contributes directly to this work, making the watch one of the most concrete mechanisms available to a watch buyer who wants their purchase to do something beyond tell the time.

The Wave-Pattern Dial – Two Experiences in One

The dial of the SP-5177-11 is the most conceptually layered in the Spinnaker Croft Mid-Size range, and one of the most ambitious the brand has produced. The textured wave-pattern surface replicates the visual rhythm of ocean water — not a printed representation but a physical texture, relief-worked into the dial to create the light-catching, shifting quality of a surface in motion. A group of dolphins navigates this underwater landscape, positioned within the dial composition to feel like a natural sighting rather than an illustration.

At night, the concept reveals its second dimension. The dolphins are treated with Swiss Super-LumiNova — the premium photoluminescent material used across professional watchmaking — that charges through exposure to light and releases that stored energy as a blue-green glow in darkness. By day, the Aqua Play reflects the rhythm of the ocean. After dark, the dolphins continue to swim, now luminescent against the unlit blue dial. The watch lives differently at different hours, which is the most accurate description of how the ocean itself behaves.

Miyota 8215 Automatic Movement – A Calibre With a Track Record

The Miyota 8215 is one of the most widely deployed and thoroughly validated automatic calibres in accessible watchmaking. Produced by Miyota, a subsidiary of the Citizen Group, it runs at 21 600 vibrations per hour with 21 jewels and a 42-hour power reserve — specifications that place it at the reliable, serviceable centre of its category. The bidirectional automatic winding rotor maintains the power reserve through wrist motion, the date display advances at midnight without interruption, and the calibre's dimensional stability makes it compatible with the case geometry required for the SP-5177-11's 150-metre water resistance rating.

For a watch intended to be worn in marine environments — to the beach, on a boat, into the water — the Miyota 8215's combination of robustness, serviceability and proven performance over millions of deployed units is the appropriate technical foundation. The movement has no desire to be noticed; it simply keeps the watch running accurately while the dial and the cause it supports do the talking.

316L Stainless Steel Case, 40 mm – Built for the Water

The 40 mm case in 316L stainless steel — the marine-grade alloy chosen specifically for its resistance to saltwater corrosion — measures 14.1 mm thick with a 47 mm lug-to-lug distance. The blue bezel frames the wave-pattern dial with a chromatic continuity that makes the transition between case and dial feel seamless: this is a watch built around a single colour and a single environment, and the blue that begins at the bezel and continues through the dial communicates that commitment without ambiguity.

The screw-down crown seals the case against water ingress at depth, working in conjunction with the case-back construction to maintain the 150-metre / 15 ATM water resistance rating across the watch's service life. The bracelet clasp uses a fold-over buckle with safety lock and push-button release — a secure fastening appropriate for a watch that may be worn during water sports, swimming and snorkeling.

150-Metre Water Resistance – Following the Dolphins Down

At 150 metres / 15 ATM, the SP-5177-11 exceeds the ISO 6425 minimum requirement for dive watch certification by 50%. This is not a specification chosen for marketing reasons — it reflects the construction standards required to make this watch genuinely useful in the marine environments it celebrates. Snorkeling, freediving, surface swimming, boat use in rough conditions: the Aqua Play handles all of these without requiring the wearer to think about whether the watch can handle them. A watch dedicated to the ocean should be able to go there, and the Aqua Play can.

Anti-Reflective Sapphire Crystal – Every Detail Visible

The textured wave-pattern dial of the SP-5177-11 contains more visual information than a flat dial — the surface relief, the dolphin figures, the luminous treatment all contribute to a composition that rewards close observation. The anti-reflective sapphire crystal ensures that none of this detail is obscured by surface reflections under outdoor or water-adjacent light conditions, where glare management matters most. Sapphire hardness means the crystal survives the minor impacts and surface contacts of active wear without developing the progressive cloudiness that limits the lifespan of mineral crystals.

Steel Bracelet and rPET Strap – Material Integrity

The 20 mm stainless steel bracelet provides the structured, secure fit appropriate for a sports watch, closing with the safety-lock clasp that keeps the watch on the wrist during physical activity. The included blue rPET strap — fabricated from recycled plastic, including material recovered from marine environments — extends the watch's conservation commitment into its own materials. Using recovered ocean plastic to make the strap of a watch that funds dolphin protection is not a symbolic gesture; it is material coherence, the decision to make every component of the watch consistent with what it stands for.

The eco-responsible packaging completes this consistency: the box, the presentation materials, the overall unboxing experience have been designed to minimise environmental impact at every stage, from production through to the customer's hands.

Why the SP-5177-11 Aqua Play is One of the Most Purposeful Watches in Spinnaker's Catalogue

10% of net sales to Dolphin Project — a real financial commitment

Most cause-related watch collaborations donate a fixed sum or a capped percentage. The Aqua Play's commitment of 10% of net sales scales with every unit sold, making the watch's contribution to dolphin protection proportional to its commercial success. For the buyer, this means that the watch they purchase is not just a souvenir of an intention — it is a direct participant in the Dolphin Project's ongoing fieldwork.

Dolphins that glow at night — the most sophisticated dial concept on the Croft platform

The Swiss Super-LumiNova dolphin treatment creates a dual-experience dial that most watches at any price point do not attempt. The daytime wave-pattern surface and the nocturnal luminescent dolphins are not the same watch in different light — they are two distinct visual experiences that make the SP-5177-11 worth looking at more than once, and at more than one time of day.

500 pieces, rPET strap, eco packaging — complete material coherence

The Aqua Play is rare among limited edition watches in that every element of its production is aligned with a single value: respect for the ocean and the life it contains. The 500-piece production limit, the recycled plastic strap, the eco-responsible packaging and the Dolphin Project donation mechanism are not four separate decisions — they are one decision, repeated across every dimension of the watch's existence.

The Spinnaker Croft Mid-Size Automatic Dolphin Project Limited Edition SP-5177-11 Aqua Play is available now at Minutimer. Discover the full Spinnaker collection, our range of limited edition watches, and all automatic watches in our catalogue.