I. SOME INTRO
Mido Ocean Start Tribute: Purchase context
Hello everyone,
It had been months since I last received a new watch due to the Covid pandemic – as I live in Congo, having my watches shipped takes a few steps and complications-, so it’s great to be back with something quite special today: the Mido Ocean Star Tribute (which I’ll nickname « MOST » in this review) in blue! Let’s start with some brief purchase history to put things into context.
I have recently sold my Seiko Blumo and was left without a blue dialed diver in my collection. This is a big gap, as a blue diver is my go-to watch during sunny weekend days, which tend to happen a lot in Kinshasa! After some research, I decided to go with the Mido. My expectations from this purchase were:
– Adding a diver to the collection
– One that has a funky vibe about it, as it’s to be used as week-end watch
– Compatible with my chicken wrist.
Mido: some brand history
Mido was founded in 1918 by George G. Schaeren in Bienne, Switzerland. The name comes from the Spanish verb “yo mido”, which means “I measure”. In 1934, it launched the Multifort line, which was the first from Mido to use an automatic movement, was shock resistant, anti-magnetic and water resistant. In 1945, it launched the world’s first central-read chronograph, and the world’s most efficient winding mechanism in 1954. Mido released its Commander series in 1959, and created the world’s thinnest ladies watch in 1967.
Today, Mido is one of the wordl’s top 10 producers of certified chronometers. With more than 61,000 such movement units produced in 2013, It ranked 4th in the industry that year. This can sound surprising for a brand that has a relatively low audience in Europe, but it seems to be much better known and present in Asian markets such as China and India.
I. SOME LIKES
A nice and efficient case design
The design of the Ocean Star Tribute is everything I am looking for: well thought, well proportioned, and comfortable on the wrist.
Let’s start with the dimensions. At 40,5 mm wide, 47 mm lug to lug, and 13,5 mm high including the box sapphire, the Ocean Star is a reasonably sized diver watch under modern standards. I think this is great, not only because it accommodates my small wrist better, but also with respect to the fact that this model pays tribute to an older model released when mainstream dimensions were smaller. All in one, it’s a great compromise that should feel at home on most wrists, with only the very largest ones that will find it too small.
Beyond its dimensions, I really like the overall design of the case. It stands slightly curved on its side and is more sculpted than it initially appears when looked at from the top. The end of its short lugs are relatively sharp and straight, while the very thick integrated crown guards completely wrap the large crown, providing additional dimension to the case. The case-back is solid and screw-down, with a nice sea-star and some specifications printed on it. It does look pretty, but there is nothing particular to brag about as the printing isn’t particularly refined nor deep. Standard stuff, but who needs more at this price point, really?
Good finishing on the case
I’m partial when it comes to judge on the finishing of this watch case, as I’m far from being a fan of all polished case. I have flipped my Glycine Airman for that precise reason: it was all polished, and the way it was polished made it look cheap to my eyes, particularly when looked at closely. Thankfully, things are different with the Mido.
First, I actually think that an all polished case was the right choice for this model. Not only is it reminiscent of the 70s era this watch pays tribute to, it also admirably complements the striking blue dial it houses, something a brushed case would fail to do this well.
Also and most importantly, the polishing is very well made here, much better than it was on my Glycine, and it doesn’t look cheap at all! On the contrary, it makes the watch look classy as it should be, as one to be worn while drinking cocktails on a beach in Miami rather than during shark-hunting safari in the middle of the ocean.
Striking dial & hands
The next positive point of this watch has to be its striking and unique looking dial. The tone of blue Mido used is very specific, tending to drift towards turquoise under vibrant light conditions, and dark blue in darker ones. The box sapphire crystal, all polished case and bezel insert of the same color do an excellent job at complementing it.
The hour and minute indexes are all printed on the dial. This is usually a turn-off for me, particularly with diver watches, as I love to see some thick inserts as indexes, or at least some very thick application of lume at those places. The Ocean Star Tribute has none, opting for some simple painting instead. I should hate it for that, but again this goes well with its vintage design cues, and the box sapphire artificially creates some texture to this otherwise very flat looking dial. It all combines well, for a visually pleasing and very legible (during daytime at least) end-result.
Paddle style hands are an appropriate choice when compared to the rest of the watch design. They look nice, are well sized and are very legible. Cherry on the cake, their finishing is sharp and great, with very well executed polishing. Last but not least, the orange lollipop shaped seconds hand adds a further touch of vintage and some funkiness to this dial, and looks fantastic with its blue.
The use of a day and date complication is another polarizing thing on a diver. Many will find this « overdone » as people don’t need to know the day of the week while under water, and such complications brake the symmetry of the dial; this particularly when, like is the case on the blue Ocean Star Tribute, the day and date windows are done in white. Yet again, this watch was never designed to be a core diver, but rather a tribute to the less utilitarian diver watches made in the 1970s. It’s natural surrounding isn’t the depth of some dark sea, but rather the side of a pool or a beach club. With this in mind, the day complication seems more context-appropriate, and is one I enjoy using on weekends and during holidays, when the day/date isn’t constantly on my mind. There is an evident loss of symmetry, which is less visible on the black dialed Ocean Star Tribute with its negative date, but it doesn’t annoy me, and gives some additional vintage character to the watch.
A glorious boxed sapphire crystal
This watch is the first one I have purchased that is fitted with a boxed sapphire crystal. The only thing I can say to resume my feelings about it is that I regret not buying some before. It makes the dial much more dynamic, and provides for some very specific looks that make the watch overall look somehow more « precious ». In other words, I love it, and want more of it! It’s worth noting that the crystal has no AR coating, but I don’t miss it too much on this watch, as all the fun comes from the way its case, bracelet, dial and yes, sapphire plays with the light. Still, Mido won’t fool anyone including myself: some corners were cut here!
A great combination of movement and crown action
The Ocean Star Tribute runs on a Mido Caliber 80 movement, the Mido version of an ETA CO7 621, itself an modified version of the workhorse 2824 with a reduced beat rate of 21600 vph and an increased power reserve of 80 hours. While I do prefer, like most people, higher beat rates on my seconds hand, I think the trade-off for an extra power reserve that well exceeds 3 days is a good one, particularly for a watch with such a specific role in a rotation. The fact that it’s based on an ETA 2824 makes it an easily serviceable movement, which is also a good thing.
The crown is large (I believe around 7mm but I haven’t measured it) and very easy to grip with its thick knurling. It sits very safely in between tall crown-guards that completely cover it. These were however well designed, as there height reduces once they reach the crown, leaving enough space at its top and bottom for a firm grip of even larger fingers. I love the way this was designed. The crown is signed with the Mido logo which is… Mido in capital letters. Here again, nothing particular to brag about, the signing was left to its minimal, meaning not very deep. It’s also not very large, as the font had to be kept small to enable the full « Mido » lettering to fit in less than 7mm of width.
I haven’t timed the Mido to check its accuracy yet, but have no doubt it performs well, as most reviews and forum posts I have read have nothing but praise for the accuracy of Mido movements generally speaking. I will update this blog post once I will have timed it for a week or so.
A superb bracelet, a fun and comfortable rubber strap option
Out of the box, the MOST comes with two strap options: an all polished metal bracelet, and a blue rubber strap. Let’s have a look at each.
I have no strong enough word for the metal bracelet provided with this watch, so I’ll limit myself to « fantastic »! Each link is made of 6 fully independent all polished short pieces attached together, making it a total pain to size, but bringing a ton of benefit once done. One of them being the looks: this bracelet would look like the deal as a standalone, but it’s also clear that it was born with the watch as a single body and soul! One issue I find with some current watch releases, particularly with some micro brands, is that their bracelet looks like it were a generic one purchased on eBay and adapted with fitted end-links, with either designs or finishings that don’t match the watch head. Expect none of these with the MOST, I believe to never have been as satisfied by a head and bracelet combo.
Another strong argument in favor of this bracelet is its wear comfort. With each piece fully articulated, it drapes well around the wrist, and doesn’t pull any hair. The gliding diver extension is very well executed and enables for on-the-go perfect adjustment. It also makes for a relatively thin, albeit long buckle, which add to the overall wear comfort.
The provided rubber strap is also a very good choice from Mido. It wears comfortably on the wrist, and its design reminiscent of the blue jean material is a good fit for this vintage looking watch-head. It complements the blue dial well, and is great to wear the MOST in less dressy environments, in example during daytime wearing shorts and blingy Versace slippers.
An overall very good feeling of quality
With a simple but well executed dial, well finished hands, a surprisingly good polishing, a sharp case design, a good and thick bracelet, zero sharp edges on any corner of the watch or bracelet, and an exquisite boxed sapphire crystal, the MOST transpires quality and proudly shows it. Something which can also be felt in its weight: while I don’t have a balance to provide with precise numbers, it feels quite a bit heavier in the hand than my NTH Barracuda of similar dimensions, at least when wearing its thick bracelet.
As you see, there is a lot to like about the Mido Ocean Star Tribute. But there is no perfect watch, and there are also some quirks one should be aware of before pulling the trigger on this one.
A poor bezel action
I’ll start with the main one to my eyes: the bezel action. The MOST has a 60 clicks bezel, and there is nothing wrong about that. Two aspects about it however annoy me.
The first one is its action. On one hand, it turns too easily to guarantee staying firmly locked on position once set. In fact, during this last week of wear, I have noticed it accidentally turned once while I was having dinner. I have no idea how it happened, but it just did. There is some slight resistance to it, but not enough to be used in a diving situation, where one’s life depends on it. On the other hand, the coin edged bezel, while very pretty to look at, isn’t grippy at all. This makes it a pain to action the bezel with dry or wet hands, even though it has so little resistance. To resume, it’s difficult to turn when needed in certain situations, but not firm enough to guarantee staying in place once set. While it gives a relatively pleasant feel when actioned, this is definitely not a functional diving bezel.
Its second turn-down is its lack of precision given its significant back-play. I can make it back-play 2/3rd of a minute marker once set in position, which is too much in my book. Last but not least, my unit came with a bezel insert that suffers from the Seiko-like misalignment, as it stands in between two markers. I could once again pull the « it’s a watch reminiscent of the 70s, when bezels were less precise » excuse, but feel Mido doesn’t deserve it here: they could have, and should have made a much better job with this bezel action to be able to call this watch a « diver ».
To lume, or in this case, not to lume…
The second biggest downside to this watch is its poor lume. I’m not sure I understand why. With an all painted dial and such padded style hands, Mido had an opportunity to make a generous use of lume, but it chose not to. I find this frustrating that affordable brands like Seiko, or even newly established micro brands manage to do a stellar job with their lume, but established brands like Mido continue to cut corners on this.
I’d have somehow understood had the MOST been a sports watch, or even a field watch. But how and when does a manufacturer think that lume is secondary on a diver? Not only is it a design let-down, but it ruins the whole purpose for which such timepieces were designed. This, added to the poor bezel action described above, convince me that this watch is not a real diver. It’s rather a dressy sport watch that takes from the diving watch design cues. And it’s fine, as that’s precisely the use I have purchased it for. I just find it frustrating that, with some small additional effort on these two points, Mido didn’t make my new watch a full scaled and specked diver. It was so close…
A watch that needs some babying, and that will still eventually brake my heart in the end of the day
As I have mentioned earlier, while I am usually allergic to all polished cases – the reason why I didn’t pull the trigger on a couple of models previously-, I actually like it here, as it objectively is the perfect fit for the rest of the watches design.
However, all polished watch cases are like girlfriends that are too pretty: they require lots of babying and attention, and even with this, will eventually brake ones heart by getting some scratches and dents. I am not expecting this watch to shine and bling the way it does for years to come, I’m actually thinking some patina would do a marvelous job in scaling things down a little, and making the Mido even more desirable. But there is a fine line between patina and full scaled scratches, one I’m afraid I don’t master well. I love my MOST, but know it will make me cry…
… which ends this part on the negatives of the Mido Ocean Star. On to the conclusion!
As you can see, there are much more things I like than dislike on this watch, which is a good indicator on the direction this conclusion is taking.
At a very personal level, I am sold to the Ocean Star Tribute, as it fully reaches the objectives it was purchased for. When pulling the trigger, I was conquered by its dial and bracelet shape, but worried about how I’d welcome all this polishing in the flesh, particularly since my negative experience with the Glycine. Thankfully, there are no worries to mention on this front. On the contrary, thanks to its confident lines, absence of sharp corners or edges all around, good finishing including in between the lugs – a place often disregarded by brands that look into some corners on costs-, weight, the MOST transpires quality on top of a great and original design. It’s a fantastic daily wearer for holidays, and since I’m having my honeymoon with it during the summer holidays, it made me forget all my other watches since a week… and obsessed with getting another watch with a box sapphire!
I whole heartedly recommend this watch to people like me, who own a collection of more than 5 watches, and are in the hunt for something blue, funky, and vintage looking to brighten up their summer days at the beach or at the pool. If you fall in that category, the Mido won’t disappoint.
I unfortunately however can’t recommend the Ocean Star Tribute to ones who are on the hunt for a hardcore diver watch, or who own a small collection and are looking to fill the « diver » spot in it. The bezel action and poor lume don’t make it strictly qualify in the « diver » category, at least in my opinion.
This is all I can write about this great timepiece, and must say I am eager to finish this blog post and return to my contemplation of each and every one of its details while there is still a little bit of daytime left. Saying I love it is an understatement. Thanks for taking the time to read me, and enjoy your collection in good health!
Small Toys for Grown Men 