With the new Mese 2.22, boasting an unusual, minimalist analog date display, independent Swiss watchmaker Ochs und Junior launches its first watch with a PVD dial.
On the watch’s unusual blue PVD dial (and module) you’ll see white indexes, white hands and a white date indicator dot, which cleverly replaces the traditional date display window style.
Each dot is actually a hole exposing a white SuperLuminova disc below. The viewer determines the date simply by noting which dot around the dial perimeter is white. Using the ten-minute markers as easy reference points, the full 30-day month is indicated via the 31 dots.
Designer Ludwig Oechslin created the indicator by arranging the holes in a gentle spiral, with the 31st hole overlapping the first. A curved dash on the disk below the dial ensures that only one of the two holes will indicate the date at the start of the month (either the 1st or the 31st), but not both at the same time.
The time is read in the traditional manner. The exact minute and seconds can be read by the ring of holes spaced at two-minute intervals. These perforations mark even-numbered minutes while the adjoining spaces denote odd-numbered minutes. (Check out this video of Oechslin explaining the date spiral for his perpetual calendar, which is also relevant for this Mese model.)
La Chaux-de-Fonds-based Ochs und Junior was founded in 2006 by renowned scholar and watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin, alongside Kurt König, managing director of Swiss watch retailer Embassy, and Beat Weinmann.
This newest Ochs und Junior Ochs Line Mese 2.22, a 39mm titanium watch, follows the earlier Mese 1.22 debut in April. It highlights a new ‘Yves-Klein blue’ in PVD made by Positive Coating, La Chaux-de-Fonds. Ochs und Junior pairs the bright new color with blue-black Ecopell Enzian Nappa leather strap, handmade by Berne-based designer Sabina Brägger.
Inside, Oechslin’s module is paired with an automatic ETA 2824-2, and both are fit within the two-part titanium case designed by Ludwig Oechslin with visible machining marks. Price: CHF 3,500.
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