We do love a good tool watch here at The Time Bum, and today, we have two fine examples of the breed from Swiss watchmaker Ollech & Wajs of Zurich: the Ocean Graph S and the C-1000. I got these on load from the personal collection of a brand rep here in the States, so they bear a battle scar or two, but they typify the sort of handsome, utilitarian charm you will find across the Ollech & Wajs range.
These watches are part of a brand revival. For example, the Ollech & Wajs Ocean Graph was released in 2020, but its design dates back 1968 when the brand enjoyed its heyday. Those days got considerably less “hey” during the quartz crisis and it was about 40 years before the brand returned. I’d say the watch community is all the richer for it as the new Ollech & Wajs has a rich heritage upon which to draw, and from the looks of these two models, has a solid grasp on how to interpret older designs for modern watch enthusiasts.
Both the C-1000 and Ocean Graph use the same case, and it’s a damned good one. It’s 39.56mm wide and 49.5mm long with a 20mm lug box. A high-domed and AR-coated sapphire crystal raises the overall height to 15.8mm in a gloriously vintage way that enhances wrist presence while imparting a bit of trippy edge distortion for fun. Thanks to a reinforced case back and a quadruple-gasket, screw-down crown, it is rated for 1000m water resistance, which is handy if you are a giant squid.
On my own, non-tentacular 6.75″ wrist, the case cuts a dapper figure. Long lugs, an oversized crown, fine brushing, and that towering dome are appropriately sporty. Yet it still looks trim thanks to the narrow width and a delightfully arched profile that masks the case’s thickness.
I’ll also note the case has two sets of spring bar perches. One set is at the tips and is drilled, the other is closer to the head and not drilled as that would look pretty strange. I love it when watchmakers do this on cases with long lugs because it allows the user to mount their straps where they make the most sense, allowing a better fit and eliminating unsightly gaps or rubbing against the barrel, as the case may be.
As you will see from the markings on the dials, the watches are Swiss Made and, according to the brand, properly so. The stainless steel cases are constructed and finished in Switzerland, the Swiss ETA 2824-2 OW5 inside is modified (signed main plate and rotor) and adjusted in five positions. Watches are assembled in Haute-Sorne in the Swiss Jura.
Moving on to the dials and bezels, the two watches diverge and establish their own personalities, albeit with strong Ollech & Wajs DNA. There is fair bit of text on the dials, but I like the way the brand offsets the model name to the right, allowing ample room for the large logo and other text without crowding. The basic layout is the same on both; a highly legible combination of large, applied and brushed triangles at 12, 3, and 9; a small, applied block at 6 o’clock below the framed date window; printed bars for the remaining markers; and, finally, brushed rectangular hands with an arrowhead seconds. It is a distinctive, highly legible format. Superluminova ensures that the face functions just as well when the sun goes down, although not too much longer. The hands glow well enough, but the markers faded sooner than I would like.
The Ollech & Wajs Ocean Graph ($1,801) is an appealing combination of medium blue and white on the dial and bezel with orange on the hands, cardinal markers, and the innermost band on the bezel. Its most striking feature is a 120-click bezel with perfectly precise action, and an intricate crystal (but not sapphire) insert, the function of which is described thusly:
The decompression bezel of the new Ollech & Wajs Ocean Graph has three concentric zones. The most central zone indicates the elapsed dive time, from 0 to 60 minutes. It also contains indications for the maximum depth of the dive, carried out in meters. In the intermediate zone are marked the dive times for which decompression will be necessary, according to the depth indicated in the most central zone. The outermost zone of the bezel indicates the decompression times, in minutes, that the diver must respect at a depth of three meters, calculated according to the depth and total duration of the dive.
Got that? Sure you do. To be fair, the online description is lettered to match a corresponding diagram, and it actually makes sense when you have the watch in your hand; however, to pack all of that data into a tiny ring, the typeface had to be very fine, and very small. It looks amazing in its blue, white, and orange color scheme, but if I had to read this bezel underwater to calculate my ascent, I’d probably die. Lucky for me, I don’t dive, and lucky for everyone else that no modern diver relies solely on their watch.
The brand’s materials make no mention of the insert’s material; other sources show it as being mineral glass. I confess I am baffled by this decision, I mean, they already have the sapphire dome right there. I understand that mineral glass is more shatter resistant than sapphire, but that seems more an argument for the crystal, where water intrusion could be a factor, not the bezel, where scratching is the more likely issue. Finally, I’d say sapphire is expected on a watch that sells for well over $1000. It’s not a huge deal, but do not understand it.
Still, it looks amazing. I found that mellow blue and bright orange combination to be remarkably versatile. I’d generally consider that to be a summer combination, but it looked fabulous with the brown, tan, burgundy, and olive colors that dominate my autumn wardrobe.
The “S” in this Ocean Graph’s name denotes a brushed stainless steel, beads-of-rice bracelet inspired by those in Ollech & Wajs’s 1960s catalog. A signed, push-button clasp secures it. The bracelet is heavy, with thick, peaked beads flanked by rounded, “jubilee”-style links. I don’t believe any other bracelet can match the comfort of a well-designed beads-of-rice, and this one is no exception. It’s a gorgeous piece, but I do have a nit or two to pick. First, the brushing direction differs on the case (circular) and the bracelet (straight). It is not my preference, and I’ve seen this choice go very badly on other watches, but in this case, the contrast is subtle enough to work. Second, the endlinks are rounded to match the other links while the lug tips are squared-off. It’s not a jarring difference, but it does make it seem as if they were designed separately. Neither of these is a big issue, but they are not immediately apparent online and thus worth noting in a hands-on review. You can purchase an Ocean Graph with a Perlon pass-through strap as well, although I can’t imagine why you would pass up this bracelet.
The Ollech & Wajs C-1000 ($1560) shares many of the same attributes as the Ocean Graph but is an entirely different animal. Its white-on-black dial, green lume, conventional timing bezel, and rubber strap seemed more military in my eyes than the more festive Ocean Graph. Indeed, my overall impression was that of a field watch, even though there is nothing overtly “field” about it (e.g., a 24-hour index). I also thought the sloped bezel and skinny insert (again, not sapphire) made the watch look smaller on the wrist, even though its outward dimensions are identical to that of the Ocean Graph.
You can get the C-1000 with the excellent beads-of-rice too, but this one arrived on a unique Italian rubber strap with a signed buckle and two floating steel keepers. It is a wildly multi-functional piece, complete with rulers, conversion tables, and Morse code, more than anyone could ask, really. It’s a clever idea and one that reinforces my idea of the C-1000 as a field watch. After all, who is sending Morse code while scuba diving?
On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed both models. Ollech & Wajs has done a fine job of reimagining their vintage pieces while establishing a sound brand identity. The C-1000 and Ocean Graph deliver vintage charm in modern packages with a level of durability about which their ancestors could only dream.
For more information or to purchase your own, visit ow-watch.ch.
