Over the past year or so, and especially in the recent process of moving and going through all my belongings like a Marie Kondo acolyte, I reevaluated my watch collection and decided to get rid of everything that didn’t really sing to me. I work in an office but rarely have to wear a suit, and like to be active on evenings and weekends, so I prefer to wear sportier watches that still look nice enough for the office, and save a dress watch for when I really need one. So I’ve sold or given away a bunch of things that were either too dressy for my taste or too casual for work, replaced a few with new attempts, and then sold or given away several of those second attempts. I’m finally feeling pretty good about the balance of the collection now. But this post is about one type of watch in particular: the oft-attempted but rarely-perfected murdered-out look.
In theory, I like blackout watches but have struggled to find one I really like—at various times I’ve owned an Orient Esteem (too dressy for my taste), a Glycine Combat Sub “Stealth” (great watch but too casual for work—buy it here), an Orient Ray Raven II (also nice, just didn’t quite click), and an Orient Masquerade (only looks good with a tux). Enter the Steinhart Ocean One, in black DLC with an unusual three-dimensional ceramic bezel and a mother-of-pearl face. It’s a German-designed, Swiss-made desk diver that seems very well made and superficially resembles the classic Rolex Submariner but has a style of its own. I think I found the one.
Below: a slideshow of pretty promotional shots of the aforementioned candidates.