The style of the Marine Original is visually distinctive, but actually takes its inspiration from a very classic and traditional pocket watch. The contemporary Marine is inspired by naval deck watches produced by Stowa for the German Navy. Stowa only made 288 of these watches between 1938 and 1940. The use on ships required a very accurate and very legible watch. These were the portable evolution of the marine chronometer, and because of this they are the by-product of hundreds of years of naval timekeeping tradition and design.

Deck watches were not intended to replace the marine chronometer, rather to act as a more portable auxiliary timepiece. The distinctive large, clear dials with clear numerals and a well-demarcated minute chapter were all carried over from the chronometers though. The Stowa above even has a wholly luminous (and non-radioactive) dial that has been painted with an ingenious mixture of zinc sulfide and copper. The legible dial was coupled with big movements reliable over long periods of time. Regularity was valued more highly than accuracy, given the role of this watch and that it would be corrected and standardized against the ship's larger marine chronometer.