Mido Updates Their Cool Ocean Star Decompression Timer; Ochs Und Junior Gives Luna Sole Watch Blue Patina Colorway; Bulova Revives The 1930s President; Atelier Wen And Revolution Team Up Again

Hey friends, welcome back to It’s About Time. Releases are sparse, so I didn’t have an edition yesterday (will have one tomorrow), which left me with some free time to walk the dog and catch up on missed podcasts. Imagine my surprise, then, as I was listening to the latest episode of the 40&20 Podcast, one of the watch podcasts in my regular rotation, when I hear a huge shoutout for this newsletter! Thank you guys so much, it was an incredible mention. It also brought a lot of 40&20 listeners to the newsletter. Welcome to all of you, and feel free to respond to these email if you have any questions.

And a quick side-note: I love you all and this newsletter wouldn’t be possible without the help of all of you. To pay you back just a tiny bit, and since there's not that much going on in terms of releases, I unlocked my last look into the history of watchmaking on Patreon so you have something to read. It’s the pretty incredible and mostly true story of the ruthless and revered Pasha of Marrakech and how the modern Pasha de Cartier was inspired by his life. Or maybe it wasn’t. Oh, and give the red box a read:

In this issue:

• Mido Updates One Of Their Most Extravagant Watches, The Ocean Star Decompression Timer

• Ochs Und Junior Gives Their Spectacular Luna Sole Watch A Blue Patina Colorway

• Bulova Revives The 1930s President Model With New Chairman of the Board Model

• Third Atelier Wen And Revolution Collaboration, The Perception ‘粹 Cùi’, Sells Out Instantly

Today’s reading time: 10 minutes and 15 seconds

👂What’s new

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Mido Updates One Of Their Most Extravagant Watches, The Ocean Star Decompression Timer

Every single time I mention Mido, one of the unjustly lesser known Swatch Group brands, I will point out they make some pretty decent looking watches, especially in the dive watch segment. And then I’ll point out that they also make one of the best modern reinterpretations of a vintage diver — the Ocean Star Decompression Timer, based on the supremely cool Ocean Star Skin Diver “Powerwind 1000”. The watch takes on an incredible vintage-inspired decompression scale on the dial that makes it look insanely busy, but unapologetically attractive at the same time. They introduced this line some four years ago and have since updated it a couple of times. Now, Mido is giving the model a new glossy black PVD case that, curiously, plays well with the colorful dials.

The modern version of the watch is a large watch, but that’s only because the vintage one was large as well. The old watch measured in at 38mm, which was fairly chunky in the early 60s. The newly released watch comes in a stainless steel case that measures 40.5mm wide and 13.4mm thick, with a glossy polished black PVD treatment. You get a surprising amount of angles on this watch — the lugs are super sharp, as are the crown guards. On top is a box-style sapphire crystal surrounded by an unidirectional bezel which has the same PVD treatment, with a black anodised aluminium insert with a 60-minute scale. Water resistance is 200 meters.

Despite very few people still diving relying only on their wristwatch instead of a dive computer, the 60 minute scale on the bezel is critical for this watch, as it works with the colorful decompression scale printed on the dial. It’s crowded and looks difficult to use, but is actually quite simple. Place the minutes hand at 12 o’clock before a dive and just look up the color of the ring for the depth you dove to, which will easily show you the decompression period and the duration of each stage. The rings are super attractive — yellow, green, pink and blue — set on a matte black base dial. The rings cover depths from 20 meters to 44 meters, measured in both meters and feet.

There are no hour or minute numerals on the dial. Instead you get luminous rectangles with silver outlines to indicate the hours and you get lumed faceted hour and minute hands. Mido puts a date window at 3 o’clock and keeps it discreet with a black disc, but a watch that has a decompression table on it really shouldn’t have anything interrupting something that could save your life, regardless of how much people like date complications.

Inside is the Mido calibre 80, and that name should tell you what it is. It is Mido’s variation of the Powermatic 80, the Swatch Group powerhouse that’s an evolution of the ETA 2824. It beats at 3Hz and has a power reserve of 80 hours. This watch comes with three strap options — a black PVD steel Milanese mesh bracelet, a light blue textured rubber strap and a black calfskin strap with stitching matching the colours of the decompression scales.

The Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961 is a limited edition that will be made in only 1,961 pieces and with the three included strap options and considering the competition, it’s rather fairly priced at CHF 1,350. See more on the Mido website.

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Ochs Und Junior Gives Their Spectacular Luna Sole Watch A Blue Patina Colorway

There is a very special reason why I love ochs und junior watches. And that’s their designer, Ludwig Oechslin. He has this incredible capability of turning hyper-complicated watches into something supremely simple. It’s as if Oechslin said “hold my beer” to the entire industry and started coming up with simple modules bolted onto regular movements to do what others need hundreds of parts to accomplish. For example, their recent moon phase watch adds just 5 parts to a regular movement to create a perfectly accurate moon phase display. And Oechslin has had this love affair with the moon for quite a while. His moon phase watches are legendary, and recently he introduced his luna sole model, a watch with a super simple dial that shows you the sun, moon phase, and the moon’s position in relation to the earth and sun. That watch featured sand-blasted anthracite or white rhodium with subtle rose gold accents colorways. Now, the luna sole gets a new colorway, one that the brand calls blue patina.

While ochs und junior has became quite famous for their incredible customisation options, this new watch comes with pre-determined style choices. The watch comes in a familiar case that ochs used before, made out of Sterling silver 925. It measures 40mm wide and has almost imposibly short lugs, along with a thickness of just 9mm (which truly is incredible once you know what the movement does). On top is a sapphire crystal and water resistance is rated at 100 meters.

As for the dial, it now comes in a deep blue colorway, interrupted by sandwich-style cutouts that house silver painted hour markers, brushes silver hands and a series of holes cut into the dial which show you the date. At the center of the dial is the sun-moon function and it’s just as crazy as you would expect from Oechslin. It’s made out of two overlapping discs. The lower disc, the sky or sun disc, shows the sun as a large round circle in white gold leaf on one side of the center with a blue patina heart-shaped area on the opposite side. The upper disc, the lunar ring in white gold powder, representing the moon, is perforated or consists of a hoop the size of the sun.

Then, the sun disc completes one rotation every 24 hours around the centre. At 12:00, it is at the top position, and at midnight, it is at the bottom. In the morning, it is at 9:00, and in the evening it is at 3:00. This allows you to determine its position in the sky. Above that disc is the moon which completes one spin every 29.5 days, and the same mechanism shows the phase of the moon. When the moon is opposite the sun, it is fully illuminated, indicating a full moon. When it is directly above the sun, it is outside the heart-shaped area and completely unlit, indicating a new moon. Its position also corresponds to its position in the sky.

Most high end brands will tell you how many hundred of parts they had to use to get a complication like this to work. Not Oechslin. The watch uses a quite basic ETA 2892A2 movement which beats at 4Hz and has a power reserve of 42 hours. To get the movement to display the circular date and moon/sun complication, Oechslin constructed a module that has only six additional parts. Six. Six parts to get this thing to work. The watch comes on a grey Ecopell leather strap.

The previous ochs und junior luna sole releases were priced at CHF 6,000 without tax, but those were made out of titanium. The use of Sterling silver bumped that price significantly. This blue patina version will run you CHF 8,500 without tax. Sure, a lot of money, but an ochs und junior will never be too expensive to me. I just love them. See more on the brand website, where you can see the six components that make this movement a possibility.

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Bulova Revives The 1930s President Model With New Chairman of the Board Model

I’ll make some hard assumptions in this writeup and I don’t want anybody to be offended by it. Stereotypes are not nice, but… Sometimes they’re just true. Bulova has a whole Frank Sinatra Collection, a line of watches that are perfectly nice — an elegant bunch of pieces that would really be perfect of Sinatra’s wrist — but ruined by the inclusion of his autograph on the dial. That cheapens the watches horribly. I can’t shake the feeling that this whole collection is aimed at boomer fans of Frank Sinatra, and less so at watch enthusiasts. It seems that I might be right, as Bulova has been slowly dropping the signature on the dial and their new limited-edition Chairman of the Board is just about perfect. If you can live with the one detail.

The new Chairman of the Board watch is modelled after Bulova’s 1939 President watch and it shows. The rectangular case features art-deco style ridges on the sides and it measures 25.5mm wide. While the watch might look gold, it’s not. It’s made out of steel and then plated in 18k gold. On top is a double-domed sapphire case and out back you’ll find a see-through caseback that has an engraving of a crowned lion reaching for the stars, the Sinatra family crest. Below that you’ll find the 000/500 individual number of the watch.

The dial keeps with the art-deco aesthetic. It’s fully black with gold indices and hands, along with a printed white railroad track on the perimeter of the dial. Above the 6 o’clock marker is a tiny date aperture with a white date wheel, which could have been better integrated. But the bigger problem might be the 12 o’clock marker. While Bulova did get rid of the slightly tacky signature on the dial, but it also replaced the 12 o’clock marker with a gold fedora hat that Sinatra was made famous for. That’s really walking the tacky line and will be an individual decision whether you can live with it or not.

Inside is an unnamed Swiss automatic movement that has a 42 hour power reserve. Bulova really needs to start giving us more information on what movements they use. The watch comes on a brown calf leather strap.

The Bulova Frank Sinatra Chairman of the Board watch is limited to 500 pieces, individually numbered, and priced at $1,950. See more on the Bulova website.

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Third Atelier Wen And Revolution Collaboration, The Perception ‘粹 Cùi’, Sells Out Instantly

It’s an unusual story, that of Atelier Wen. It is a passion project of two french men who saw that Chinese watchmaking is capable of more than just mass producing movements in a range of price points. Robin Tallendier and Wilfried Buiron looked deeper and saw craftsmanship that they wanted to show to the world. Their efforts were recognised by Wei Koh from Revolution magazine, who pushed the two to collaborate on a limited edition watch that turns out to be an interesting value proposition. The same was true of their second collaboration. And now the two are back with the Atelier Wen × Revolution Perception ‘粹 Cùi’. Similar to the earlier two releases, ‘粹 Cùi’ is based on the brand’s integrated bracelet sports watch, the Perception, made out of grade 5 titanium and with an incredible guillochéd dial.

Like I mentioned, the collaboration is based on the well known Perception model. The case measures 40mm wide and 9.4mm thick, and it’s made out of Grade 5 titanium. The watch has a rounded octagonal shape. On top is a sapphire crystal while on the back is something truly special. The caseback has a stylized depiction of stone guardian lions, which have long stood sentinel at the entrances of significant Chinese landmarks such as palaces and temples. Historically, these lions, believed to ward off evil spirits, have been integral to Chinese architecture since the Han Dynasty. The bottom half, resembling the lions mouth, gives you a glimpse of the intricate côtes and chamfers of the movement’s bridges within and the winding rotor as it passes.

The name ‘粹 Cùi’, means purity or essence, a fitting name for this monochromatic release. The dial is made out of two layers that are 0.5mm and 0.4mm in thickness. The top level is made of the special copper compound and has the guilloché pattern engraved on it. The bottom features the indexes which fit through slots cut into the upper dial. The top layer then gets a silver colorway with Master Cheng Yucai and his team needing 36 hours to engrave a single guilloché à main dial. And even as such, more than 50% of dials have to be discarded because of tiny imperfections.

Inside the watch is the same movement that the regular Perception uses, the Dandong SL-1588. You won’t find much information about this movement online, but the brand does offer some specifications. This movement is based on Dandong’s ultra thin SL1 base. The SL-1588 is made exclusively for Atelier Wen and includes modifications such as a slightly slimmer profile, better accuracy (+/-10s/d upon leaving Dandong vs +25/-15s/d for regular Dandong movements), longer power reserve (41 hours vs 38 hours) and an overall better finish. The watch comes on a beautiful integrated steel bracelet that has push-clasp microadjustment.

The Atelier Wen × Revolution Perception ‘粹 Cùi’ is limited to 50 pieces, and the watch went on sale just two hours ago. And it’s already completely sold out. Which is not really a surprise, as Atelier Wen has a cult following and for a watch with a guilloché à main dial, $3,800 is a pretty great price. Despite it being sold out, you can see more details, including the spectacular caseback, on the Revolution website.

🫳On hand

Our selection of the best reviews we stumble upon

1/

A review of the DiRenzo DRZ 06 Wandering Star

2/

Hands-On with the salmon dial Patek Philippe 5236P-010

3/

A review of the Zenith Defy Extreme Diver

⚙️Watch Worthy

A look at an off beat, less known watch you might actually like

The Detrash Likemania combines old-school design cues with new-school eco-friendly materials

If the aesthetic of the Detrash Likemania seems familiar, that’s because it is – in the best way possible. As its name hints at, the Likemania was inspired by 1950s Lemania tool watches, like the Dive Supervisor and 5012. “I love these watches and their designs, but they are pretty expensive and vintage watches are not practical to wear daily,” Guy explains. “I see the Likemania as the lovechild of the Lemania watches and a G-Shock: you get the vintage vibes, with more bulk and ruggedness.”

Read the whole review on Time + Tide

⏲️Wait a minute

A bunch of links that might or might not have something to do with watches. One thing’s for sure - they’re interesting

• Vashi Domínguez left a trail of financial wreckage and enraged investors in his wake after his London jewellery firm crashed – and now no one can find him. This is the mystery of the vanishing diamond dealer.

• In a gold-trimmed command center on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, scientists are seeking to wring moisture from desert skies to make it rain. But will all their extravagant cloud-seeding tech—planes that sprinkle nanomaterials, lasers that scramble the atmosphere—really work at scale?

• Millionaire Forrest Fenn launched a thousand trips when he filled a chest with gold, rubies, and diamonds, and hid it somewhere north of Santa Fe. If one man is going to find it, by god, it’s an ex-cop from Seattle named Darrell Seyler. Outside magazine goes on the hunt for America’s last great treasure.

👀Watch this

One video you have to watch today

Rolex doesn’t put out a lot of watches or a lot of content. So it’s interesting to see what they decide to put out. Like this video on their participation in efforts to restore balance to our ecosystems as part of its Perpetual Planet Initiative.

💵Pre-loved precision

Buy and sell your watches. Think of this section like old school classifieds - i don’t guarantee anything except that a bunch of people will see your ad and I’ll put the buyer and seller in touch. Want to advertise your watch? Contact us

• LOOKING TO BUY: Here’s a crazy request. One of you is looking to buy the Lotēc No. 7.5. Sure, it’s a big ask, but if any of you have one and want to sell, reach out to and I’ll put you in touch

• SOLD: Well, not really new. It’s a great looking mid-90s Tudor Submariner 75090, offered for sale by a member of the It’s About Time reader crew. I love the way it looks and seems to be in great condition. Check it out over on Chrono24.

• LOOKING TO BUY: One of our readers is looking to purchase three very specific watches: an Islander ISL-133 Mother of Pearl, a Sinn 556 Mother of Pearl or a Zelos 300m GMT Mosaic Mother of Pearl. If you’re selling any of these, reach out to us and we’ll put you in touch

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-Vuk