Since the 1930s, Mido has been renowned for the ultra-high performance of its timepices‘ water-resistance system. Dedicated to the undersea landscape, its Ocean Star collection is the most dazzling symbol of this technology. Launched in 1944, this family epitomises the brand’s watchmaking know-how and is not celebrating the 75th anniversary with the launch of the Ocean Star Tribute.
The Europa Point lighthouse, built to withstand all storms and guide sailors with its powerful beam of light, watches over the Street of Gibraltar. Mido’s Ocean Star collection is designed to embody the safety and reliability of this rugged yet slender structure and to help mankind in its conquest of the seas.
75 years after its first Ocean Star, Mido is launching a special edition series in homage to this iconic collection known since the 1940s for its unfailing water-resistance. These two new Ocean Star Tribute models are a contemporary reinterpretation of the diver’s watches created in the 1960s and provide numerous allusions to these historic novels.
The robust round case in polished stel is enhanced by a unidirectional rotating bezel with an aluminium ring in blue or black depending on the model. Several touches of Super-LumiNova on the bezel, hour-markers and hands ensure perfect readability whatever the diving conditions.
The hour and minute hands are flat diamond-cut, while the seconds hand is varnished in orange, the Mido colour. An aperture at 3 o’clock indicates the day and date. The dials are elegantly protected by a sapphire crystal in Mediterranean blue or deep black.
While this retro design is an emphatic tribute to the brand’s glorious past, the automatic movement that powers both of these Ocean Star Tributes makes these timepieces resolutely contemporary. With the calibre 80, the watches house a movement of the latest generation, a state-of-the-art automatic calibre with a power reserve of 80 hours. It is based on the ETA C07.621 and operates at 21,6000 vibrations per hour.
And the case back has a nice surprise in store: it is decorated with a polished starfish in relief, the historical symbol of Ocean Star. And have we mentioned that the case is water-resistant up to 20 atm?
The flexible, comfortable stainless steel multi-link bracelets gives them the great retro look that made the models successful at the time – even before the look was retro, of course.
