Mido Revives the Ocean Star Decompression and Adds a Local Jumping Hour GMT and a Whole Lot of Color

Mido had a bonafide hit on their hands in 2020 with Ocean Star Decompression Timer, a colorful skin diver based on the original Ocean Star divers from the 1960s. The brightly colored sectors allow divers to time decompression stops by sight, but for those of us who tend to spend most of our time topside, it was just a fun way to incorporate some color into a style of watch that sometimes veers toward the sober. The viral success of that release (it sold out quickly and seemed to dominate Instagram for a brief period of time) makes it somewhat surprising that Mido hasn’t returned to the format more frequently in the years since, but here we are with what I think many would argue feels like a natural follow up. 

The Ocean Star Decompression Worldtimer takes the colorful sector layout of the Decompression Timer and applies it to another complication altogether. The execution is actually rather simple, even if the dial appears to be extremely complicated. In the dial’s interior, we have the same decompression table as seen in the prior version of the watch. But at the perimeter, Mido has added a 24 hour scale, and instead of a traditional dive bezel, we get a rotating city ring for time indication. Importantly, the bezel maintains a minute scale, with 10 minute intervals marked off in the midst of international cities, which means you could still use this watch as a dive tool if you needed to. 

The dial is a lot of fun, and if you were drawn to the original, there’s a good chance you’ll like what you see here as well. But there’s a real upgrade here that’s somewhat buried by all that color. To make the most of the watch’s world timing capability, Mido is using a GMT movement, the same Caliber 80 we’ve seen in other recent Ocean Stars, including this recent Hodinkee limited edition. And yes, that movement is equipped with “flier” GMT functionality, meaning the local hour hand jumps and can be independently set without hacking the movement. That makes this not only a fun and capable diver that allows the wearer to read international time at a glance, but it’s also a true travel watch. 

There will be two variants of the Decompression Worldtimer available when the watch is launched next week, one with a blue bezel that largely keeps to the color palette of the 2020 LE, and another with a black bezel that has more prominent tones of orange and yellow in the decompression table. Both variants have applied hour markers and the same handset, which features a sharp dauphine style hour hand and a narrow fencepost minute hand. The GMT hand is a contrasting red in both cases, and the date window at 3:00 is cut in a retro inspired trapezoidal shape. 

Many enthusiasts will also be pleased that this watch’s case is not of the supersized variety that plagued the early Ocean Stars with the Caliber 80 movement. These come in at a manageable 40.5mm in diameter, with a case height of 13.4mm. Other specs are fairly typical for a modern dive watch, including 200 meters of water resistance, a screw down crown, and a sapphire crystal. It’s also worth mentioning that the Caliber 80 movement uses a Nivachron balance spring that has become just about standard for the Swatch Group, making the watch highly resistant to magnetism. 

Mido refers to this release as a “Special Edition,” and has not provided information on how limited it might be, or if it will be produced serially. The Ocean Star Decompression Worldtimer will be available for purchase on March 15, and the retail price is $1,310. Mido