View the Ocean7 LM-2 Photo Gallery.

Ocean7 Watch Company is the brainchild of owner Mitchell Feig who knows that to make it in the watch business, you need to produce a unique and endearing product, carve out a niche, and stick to your core competencies. As the name suggests, Ocean7 makes watches designed to function in aquatic environments; their current lineup consists entirely of dive watches.

Ocean7 Watch Company is what we call a transparent operation which means they keep close, even personal, connections with the people who have bought, and will eventually buy, their watches. From the beginning, Ocean7 started building not only watches, but watch collectors. Daily, one can find Mitch conversing with owners, collectors, and soon-to-be both on the Ocean7 forum and the Watchuseek Ocean7 forum. This is how Mitch gets input and advice from the most important watch connoisseurs in the world: his customers. The idea of a watch company listening to its customers about case size, dial style, hands etc. seems simultaneously amazing and painfully obvious, and has lead to increasingly impressive timepieces.

Just a few days ago, I received the Ocean7 LM-2, a titanium clad beast of a watch that is best described as striking. Let's start with some specifications:

One of my favorite watch complications is the GMT hand: a separate (typically fourth) independently settable hand marking 24-hour time. It's extremely useful for people like pilots, travelers, and businesspeople who not only need to be able to switch between different time zones easily, but who also need to be able to keep track of two time zones simultaneously.

The addition of the GMT hand came in the mid-1950s when Pan Am worked with Rolex to create a watch for pilots flying transatlantic flights. You can read more about the history of GMT watches in Christian's review of the Rolex GMT Master II. But for now, back to Citizen.

I recently learned that Citizen has added several new GMT models to their Attesa line of high-end quartz watches. I was particularly struck by the unique, stark, and tough look of the Attesa ATD53-2903. Of course, as is typical of most of the coolest Japanese watches, it's only available in Asia, but since watches know no borders, I was still able to find plenty of information:

• List price is ¥68,250 (about $600 USD as of 12/21/07).
• 39mm in diameter, 10.9mm thick, and 47g heavy.
• 24-hour indices on the chapter ring.
• DLC coated titanium case (read more about Diamond Like Carbon).
• Eco-drive (solar-powered quartz).
• 100m water resistant (about 330 feet).
• Atomic Radio-set (but only receives the Japanese time signal — bummer).
• ±15 seconds per month (with no radio reception).
• Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.
• Calf skin band (would really love to see a matching DLC titanium bracelet option).

I really like the look of the Citizen Attesa ATD53-2903. I like the clean and readable face since I find that jet lag reduces my comprehension, and I get very grumpy about unreadable watches while traveling internationally. This Attesa has the sort of clutter-free face and clean, distinct hands (plus nice little touches like anti-glare sapphire crystal) that make for a great travel companion.

There aren't a lot of affordable (i.e. quartz) GMT watches out there, so I'm pleased so see such an attractive new entry from Citizen. If only if were 5-band atomic like the new Oceanus 5 Motors, I think Citizen would have one of the best looking affordable travel watches out there.

By Paul Hubbard

View the Phosphor E Ink Watch Photo Gallery.

Less then a month ago, I had never even seen electronic ink before. Now I'm reading books and newspapers daily on my Amazon Kindle, and telling time on the new Phosphor E Ink watch. And I hope in another month, I have even more toys powered by E Ink technology.

Electronic ink is a high-contrast, low-power display technology. It is to ink what email is to mail: fast, dynamic, practical, yet still comfortably familiar. However unlike email — which aside from the general concept, is almost nothing like traditional mail — electronic ink is actually a form of ink. Rather than a liquid dye which soaks into paper, E Ink is composed of microcapsules which are about the diameter of a human hair. Each microcapsule contains both light colored positively charged particles and dark colored negatively charged particles suspended in fluid. Electric fields are applied to the microcapsules to cause the particles inside them to polarize: some move to the top where they can be seen, and some move to the bottom where they are hidden. The result is a high contrast monochrome display that can be viewed in most lighting conditions (including direct sunlight), from any angle, and which can retain its image without having to consume power.

eBooks are an obvious use for E Ink technology since you can store hundreds of books, magazines, and newspapers on a single device. But once I saw the Phosphor E Ink watch, it was clear that electronic ink has just as bright of a future in watches.

The main advantage of having a watch with an E Ink dial is that you can easily change the look depending on what you're doing, where you're going, or what you're wearing. The Phosphor E Ink watch lets you choose from among three different hour index configurations, three different date and time modes, and either a "positive" mode (black on white), or a negative mode (white on black). Unfortunately, no mode removes the E-Ink branding at the top of the dial — space which could be better used to allow the simultaneous display of the date and the digital time.

Features of the Phosphor E Ink watch include:

View the Traser Classic Automatic Photo Gallery.

For way too long now, I've been lusting after a watch with H3 tritium vials. I've always been a sucker for things that glow in the dark (my first watch was the original Timex Indiglo, after all), and luminescence is a big part of why I collect dive watches. A friend of mine recently bought a Ball Fireman, and after being completely mesmerized by the little glowing glass tubes inside, I decided it was time to get serious about tritium.

I looked at everything from Ball to Luminox, however my curiosity was particularly piqued by Traser H3 Watches. Traser is owned by mb-microtec, the company that actually holds the patent for tritium H3 illumination technology. They have an entire lineup of watches that include divers, chronographs, and military watches. Buried deep in their web site I found the Traser Classic series: plain and simple stainless steel watches that house the fantastic ETA 2824 movement — the same movement found in my Bathys 100 Fathom and my Tissot Seastar 1000.

The Classic Automatic is the only automatic model in Traser's lineup, and it comes in four styles:

1. Stainless steel with a white dial.
2. Stainless steel with a black dial.
3. PVD with a black dial.
4. PVD with a black dial and blue tritium tubes.

Coincidentally, my collection needed a white dialed watch, so the decision was easy.

View the Casio Giez 1000BJ Photo Gallery.

We first mentioned the Casio Giez 1000BJ almost a year ago, but we didn't have much to say other than its very cool looking, it's only available in Japan, and its insides are almost identical to the Oceanus 5 Motor (OCW600TDA-1AV). Now that I actually own one, however, I can finally give you a proper review.

The biggest difference in functionality between the Oceanus and the Casio G-Shock Giez is the fact that the Giez is not a worldwide atomic watch. In other words, the Giez 1000BJ only receives atomic time signals in Japan and the US — not in the UK and Germany like the Oceanus.

There are a few more obvious differences, as well. The style of the Giez is pure G-Shock with ion-plated black metal clad in durable black rubber. It's a very functional looking watch, and with the white hands over the black face, it's quite legible, as well. Casio muted the usual G-Shock promotion with the bezel lettering simply inset rather than painted; the result is a much more restrained look than your average G-shock.

Personally, I'm a big fan of tough analog watches, and I was really looking forward to this one. Not only does it have the legendary toughness of the Casio G-Shock family, but it's solar, atomic, and it even manages to pack in five motors. Shock-proofing motors is a lot harder than it sounds, and this watch represents an impressive technical achievement for Casio.

There aren't a lot of women's outdoor watches on the market. Geeky multifunction tools like the Casio Pathfinder and the Suunto X9i are large even for men, and tend to be functionally styled. The size of the watch case required to accommodate the type of technology found in modern hiking watches, combined with the fact that marketing departments tend to link technology more with men, have kept these types of adventure watches off the wrists of women.

The problem is that plenty of women are obviously into hiking, rock climbing, kayaking, skiing, etc. and have just as much of a need for helpful instruments as men.The answer, therefore, is not to ignore women, but to design something both functional and feminine. The answer is something like the new Suunto Lumi.

The Suunto Lumi is the only ladies' ABC (Altimeter/Barometer/Compass) watch that we're aware of. While not as small and dainty as a formal ladies' watch, it still manages to look stylish while packing in a very impressive set of features: