Few watches in the Ollech & Wajs catalog generate the kind of anticipation that the Early Bird does. Scroll through the brand’s Instagram comments over the past few years and you’ll find a steady chorus of requests to bring it back. For OW’s 70th anniversary, the answer has arrived. The EB-24 is a modern reinterpretation of the 1965 24-hour military watch, and it might be the most community-demanded reissue the brand has ever produced.
I’ve been keeping an eye on this one. True 24-hour watches occupy a small, nerdy corner of the hobby (the Glycine Airman has always been a favorite of mine), and the original Early Bird carries a genuinely interesting backstory. Launched in 1965 and named after the Intelsat I geosynchronous communications satellite, the watch was purpose-built for US military personnel serving in Vietnam, particularly pilots and radio operators who needed a 24-hour dial for operational timekeeping.
Most were ordered directly from Zurich through black-and-white ads in publications like the Army Times and Stars and Stripes. The charming detail is that buyers only discovered the blue-and-red bezel upon delivery, since the newspaper ads couldn’t show color. Fewer than 500 were ever produced, and the Early Bird is reportedly Albert Wajs’s personal favorite from the entire OW catalog.
Design-wise, the EB-24 should feel familiar to anyone who’s handled a modern OW watch. The case measures 39.5mm with a 12.5mm thickness and 48mm lug-to-lug, brushed 316L stainless steel with a screw-down crown and caseback. Water resistance is rated to 300 meters, up from the original’s 200m. The anodized aluminum bezel retains the classic blue-and-red colorway in a bidirectional friction configuration, now marked for worldtime use. Hands and indices get white Super-LumiNova, and the watch ships on a black Italian leather strap with an M-Link stainless steel bracelet available as an optional extra.
The movement is where things get interesting for this category. OW is calling it a bespoke Soprod P125, configured as a true 24-hour automatic where the hour hand completes just one full rotation per day. The entire dial reads in 24-hour format, with the bezel handling the second timezone. The base architecture appears related to Soprod’s C125 GMT platform (25 jewels, 4Hz, 42-hour power reserve), but the 24-hour configuration and OW-specific customizations, including an engraved rotor, branded platine, and custom screws, earn it the bespoke label. Accuracy is rated at a candid -7/+7 seconds per day.
Pricing comes in at 1,956 CHF, a nod to OW’s founding year. The first 56 pieces get numbered crowns, allocated by order of purchase, continuing the approach the brand used with the C-1000 A anniversary edition. The launch is scheduled for 19:56 CET on June 30th. If there’s a theme here, it’s clear.
If I’m being honest, I was hoping OW would experiment with a smaller case for this one. The 39.5mm sizing appears to use the same platform found across several of their modern references, and something closer to the original’s ~38mm would’ve been a sharper callback. That said, the community has been waiting years for this, and I’d be surprised if these last long.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.