The Mido Ocean Star Line Expands with Two New Watches

By: Kaz Mirza

Ever since we discussed the history and current status of Mido Watches in Episode 77 of the TBWS Podcast, I’ve been keeping my eye on the brand. In doing so I recently noticed two new additions to Mido’s line of Ocean Star dive watches: M026.430.36.091.00 (Green Dial) and M026.430.36.041.00 (Blue Dial).
Much like the other Mido Ocean Star pieces the case dimensions are solid and generally wearable at 42.5mm in diameter, 49mm lug to lug, and 11.75mm thick. But what’s off-the-bat noteworthy here is the “pink gold PVD treatment” of the cases. It’s funny because at first I thought they were bronze and I was stoked. Then I read that Mido applied their pink gold PVD treatment to the stainless steel case and I was then a bit unsure of my impressions.

Scrutinizing the press literature released alongside these two new Mido Ocean Star pieces can shed some light on the pink gold PVD treatment. If you can’t tell from the photos provided by Mido, the M026.430.36.091.00 (Green Dial) and M026.430.36.041.00 (Blue Dial) are really trying to position themselves into the whole beach life/maritime segment of horology. The copy provided by Mido features the following lines: The M026.430.36.091.00 (green dial) offers a “…resolutely vintage look and color scheme [to] evoke the seaside.” While the M026.430.36.041.00 (blue dial) “…has a deep blue dial and a fabric looking strap in the same shade, reminiscent of boat rigging.” This type of aesthetic promotion of the dial colors makes the choice of pink gold PVD pretty logical for the exact first impression I had when I first saw these new pieces – I thought they were bronze, which is usually pretty heavily associated with warm feelings of maritime nostalgia (sans scurvy and rickets). The advantage that this pink gold PVD treatment has though is that unlike bronze it won’t patina, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the type of watch collector you are.

However with this pink gold PVD treatment it’s worth noting that I believe this process has been used on a couple other Mido Ocean Star pieces and in person it really looks more like rose gold. In the provided press photos these new Ocean Star M026.430.36.091.00 and
M026.430.36.041.00 pieces can vary from looking like rose gold or bronze. It’s honestly hard to say for certain just where on the rose gold/bronze spectrum these pieces fall. But as with all things rooted in the internet, I’m curious to see what they look like in person.

Obviously the other big draws of the new M026.430.36.091.00 and M026.430.36.041.00 Mido Ocean Star pieces are the dials. Like some of the current offerings, they feature an interesting dial texture which adds another dimension of interest to the green and the blue. Personally, the green dial is the one that caught my eye. The green brings an interesting vibe to the Mido Ocean Star product line by evoking a sense of narrative that doesn’t really exist in the current Ocean Star product line. The green and pink gold PVD case really do make the watch feel like something from maritime history. The blue dial on the other hand certainly has that feeling as well, however it’s seems more strongly inclined to position itself as a “luxury” piece due to the specific richness of the blue’e hue (however, in person the impact of the colors could be very different).
Overall my first impressions based off the press material is positive. I find the pieces to be fun and I look forward to potentially doing a hands-on review with one of them in the near future.
What I do want to mention also is that Mido is clearly trying to position these new Mido Ocean Star pieces as lifestyle products. This is totally fine as I believe it is a sound business tactic (generally speaking). However, with Mido one of the issues we talked about in our Podcast episode was the fact that the forward marketing of the brand may not be entirely appropriate for the type of watch collector that would really respond to their product offerings. That is to say, do we want to try and sell watches because we want to offer folks “An essential sporty-chic look for all those with a yearning to set sail on the high seas” [that’s quoted from the provided Press Release documentation from Mido]? Or would it make more sense to engage the watch community by promoting the Mido Caliber 80, which is a Mido modified ETA movement that offers 80 hours of power research while also allowing the Mido Ocean Star to be a 200m dive watch that’s under 12mm thick?

Current projected MSRP for both pieces is $970 USD (Brand links for M026.430.36.091.00 (Green Dial) and M026.430.36.041.00 (Blue Dial)). Check out the photos and specs below – totally let me know your thoughts and opinions on these new Mido Ocean Star offerings in the comments.

Mido Ocean Star M026.430.36.091.00 and M026.430.36.041.00 Specs:

• Case Dimensions: 42.5mm, 49mm lug-to-lug, 11.75mm thick
• Crystal: Sapphire with AR treatment on both sides
• Bezel: 60-click unidirectional with aluminum insert
• Water Resistance: 200M
• Case back and Crown: Screw down
• Movement: Mido Caliber 80 (modified ETA 2836-2) – 80 Hour Power Reserve, 25 jewels, 21,600 vph, ETA Elaboré-grade

• Dial: M026.430.36.091.00 (green dial) M026.430.36.041.00 (blue dial)
• Markers: Applied pink gold PVD with Super-Luminova
• Hands: Skeleton hour/minute hands with spear tip seconds hand – Super-Luminova

• Strap for M026.430.36.091.00 (green dial): Leather with ecru stitching – pin buckle with polished and matte pink gold PVD
• Strap for M026.430.36.041.00 (blue dial): Synthetic blue fabric-style material with blue stitching – pin buckle with polished and matte pink gold PVD