The Crystal Ball
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The trend of 2018 and 2019 was bronze watches. They’re still being made but the novelty seems to have worn off slightly. I was fascinated by this material on a watch, there are different grades of bronze and there are many different varieties of patina. I think the reddish CuSn8 is particularly interesting since it creates a deep red patina with many different shades of colours.
A company called Heitis out of Buffalo New York launched a kickstarter campaign of their new model, as it happens, made out of this very material. I read up on the company and it’s a small business run by a guy called DJ Heider. He responded personally to my questions and I do love that about small brands, you’re often speaking to the person that created & runs the business and perhaps even packed your order. |
Heitis have a distinct brand language across all their watches with large digits & dials. I have to say, I have not been particularly drawn to any of their other designs but I liked the look of this one with its compressor style dial and of course, the bronze.
All the watches are well priced with very good specifications and there are many positive reviews to be seen across the web. So, the price was right, good people behind the brand and this seemed like a good way to check out a watch made from the material. Would the Okeanos live up to its name, the Greek Titan God of the Ocean-Stream? Man, you’d want to make sure it does, wouldn’t want to anger such a deity! |
My impressions, owning & wearing the watch.
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After a long wait (thanks for nothing once again, Covid-19), the package finally arrived at my house in southern Australia. Tearing up the box, you’re met by a nice looking watch box with space for two watches. I like a bit of effort with the packaging and this was more than I expected.
The watch comes on a branded canvas strap and the option of a leather strap also. I had the watch come on a brown leather strap and another brown leather strap in the box. So that was a little odd, I was keen to see it on the canvas strap (blue like its dial) but there are certainly no shortages of straps in my drawers so all good. That said, I think the brown leather is not a good fit for the bronze case, the shade is too close in colour. Perhaps it’ll look better as more patina develops on both strap and case. Either way, if you order the blue one, push for the blue canvas strap. |
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Next, the watch. As with any watch that uses the Seiko NH35, it’s rather thick. I measure it at around 15mm thick, including the crystal. The curved lugs do help bring the heft down and it wears well, particularly since there is a bit of trickery underneath the watch with the bronze edging in towards the steel back plate.
I’m definitely gravitating towards thinner watches overall so this is right on the limit for me. I also really like the MN straps which are harder to wear with a watch that’s already a bit on the thicker side. I’d say your best strap bet here is black or dark blue with no added thickness. There are some very sharp edges on the underside of these curved lugs. At no point have they hurt me or dug in to my skin, but they are sharp enough to cause some serious scratching if you’re not careful when swapping straps over. |
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So this crystal. This is not here to help you protect the dial against the world. No, this is here to help you tell the fortunes of your fellow man.
Prepare to don a red velvet cape, suitable intimidating makeup, an amusing hat, canvas tent and you may now go travelling with carnies. In addition to your new fetching wardrobe & decked out caravan, you are all set for your new career in the field of Scrying. |
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We’ve got a domed sapphire crystal here and it’s quite something. To say there are some distortions here is not doing it justice. The elements on the dial grow and shrink in the corner of your eye all day long. It’s truly beautiful and some serious fun photographing. It never gets old to have your dog's nose grow longer at the right angle.
Despite all the glass distortion, it’s actually never a challenge to tell the time (re-assuring, this being a watch and all) perhaps thanks to the bronze coloured hands and red seconds hand. The specs mention an anti reflective coating on the underside of the crystal. I suspect the wrong jar was used and perhaps the reflective coating was used since there is literally no time ever where there are no reflections, and I really like that! So, remove the straps, make yourself a little stand from animal bones and smooth rocks collected in the moonlight and you’re all set for fortune telling. |
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The dial is another interesting element here. It’s a sandwich dial, so in other words, the numbers and indices have been carved out from the blue dial and the whole thing has been mounted on top of a another surface which has been coated with lume.
There’s a bit of a fumé effect here where the shade of blue darkens the closer it gets to the edges. The dark blue edge meets the inner rotating bezel that have the usual markers of 1-60 with the first 15 minutes being marked dots to correlate to the minute markers on the dial. I would like to call out here that the Heitis logo, Okeanos Bronze, Bronze Automatic are all printed in an off white colour and do not distract from the dial. I really like this. None of these things are so important to me, the wearer, that I must have them shoved in my face all day long. Take note other brands. Your logo is not the most important part of a watch. |
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Lume love? Well, when fully charged, the lume is unbelievable, practically comes alive in front of your eyes. And then, it dies as quickly.
The hands do last pretty well into the night or throughout your movie at the cinema, but it would be amazing if those number and indices kept glowing like that for just a little longer than a few minutes. It seems like a lost opportunity with the sandwich dial design, we could've had a bit more applied to the underlying section. |
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The two crowns are both signed with the Heitis ‘H’. The bottom one is screw in and as per the usual NH35 tricks, allows hacking and hand winding.
I ordered a model with no dates so there is a ghost position here but who cares. I appreciated the option of ordering without a date since in my opinion, there is enough going on with this dial already. What is interesting is that the top crown, that controls the free-flowing internal bezel, is not screw in. This is apparently the reason for the 10ATM (or 5ATM, more later) only. Why have the bottom one screw in at all then? Odd. I will call out that the internal bezel does flow smoothly in both directions with no way of locking it down. It does occasionally feel like it ‘sticks’ ever so slightly on some cogs in there, it’s slight and not a big deal, but it’s there. |
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So, what’s on the back then? Wisely, not another crystal but rather some nice engravings. This is the way to go in my opinion. It’s an un-exciting movement to look at and the lovely engraved anchor of the Heitis logo is a much better choice.
In addition to the fancy engraving, we have the usual specifications with one notable exception from the official specifications noted on the website. It’s marked with ‘5ATM water resistance’, the website quotes 10ATM. I’ve dumped this watch in the river and pots filled with water so I don’t think you need to be particularly upset about this discrepancy but I’m not sure I’d go swimming with the watch. I think the Greek Titan God of the ocean-stream would do well to just command his troops from dry land. A word on the bronze then. I’ve found it to be particularly photogenic in the lush winter forests we’re currently experiencing at wintertime in southern Australian. It’s already developing a really beautiful shade of patina and it’s hard to stop looking at it. I can see this being left behind in your log cabin to only be worn this time of year since it truly suits the overall look of the watch. It just is a beautiful autumn leaf that should be draped over green moss with some mushrooms about. It would also be totally believable as a trinket left behind by the 19th century miners of Blackwood, where I took a lot of these photos. |
Movement
Strap & Bracelet
Case
miscellaneous
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Final Words
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I feel that this watch is more than the sum of it parts. It’s on the thicker side, it has a very distinct crystal that will catch your eye and reflect literally everything, whether real world or spiritual, and it has a blue dial that to me complements the bronze..
Much like any other watch, the real question is when you would wear it.
Either way, you’re supporting a small micro business here run by a lovely person. In this price range you can afford to own a "special occasion watch" that’ll make you smile as it reflects the tree crowns on your hike, or the flames of the fire in the evening as you settle in for the night. Cheers, Esbjorn |
19 cm wrist
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