Review of the Oceanus OCW-S1000 “Manta”

Up for review today is the Oceanus OCW-S1000 “Manta,” an analog powerhouse of a dress watch with a formidable inner geek. Like all new Oceanus models, it’s solar-powered, radio-set and very well made indeed. This one is the thinnest and lightest in the lineup at 10.2mm thick and 85g, made from titanium with a sapphire crystal. It’s a very dressy watch with some interesting tradeoffs. Here are some specs to get us started:

• 5-band radio receiver (2 in Japan, USA, UK, and Germany)
• Automatic reception six times per day
• Solar powered, with 2-year power reserve
• Accurate within 20 seconds per month without radio
• 40.2mm wide, 10.2 thick, 85g
• Water resistant to 50m (150ft)
• Stopwatch
• World time in 27 cities and 29 time zones
• 24-hour dial
• Powered by the Casio 4766 module, you can read the manual here (PDF, 993KB)
• Titanium case and bracelet
• Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
• Unobtrusive tachymeter on the bezel, etched into the metal.

Interestingly, it doesn’t have an alarm or countdown timer. This really seems to be a “just what you need” sort of watch for business and travel, and personally I find watch alarms are rarely loud enough to wake me when worn, especially if you’re jetlagged. I usually use the alarm on my cell phone, so the lack of one here doesn’t bother me at all.

We’ve reviewed several Oceanus models on WatchReport, and they’re great watches. This one continues the trend by getting more elegant, thinner and easier to read with bold sword-shaped hands and plenty of lume to see in the dark. The light weight and thin profile go well with dress shirts, and as you can see its very understated on the wrist.

The nicely-shaped lugs hug the wrist, and the bracelet has nice visual detail and finish without being too flashy. As you can see in the pictures, there’s a dodecagon of darker metal around the bezel, with a flat side at each hour position. It doesn’t serve a function, but is a nice bit of subtle visual detail and shows the effort that went into the design.

The side buttons are protected by a central ridge of faceted metal and blend well wth the lines of the watch. The upper-right button has an etched Oceanus logo that’s quite attractive.

The case is finished such that it resembles stainless steel more than titanium. The topsides are mostly brushed, with bevels and sides mirror-finished. The combinatons is quite attractive.

On the dial, you can see the 24 hour dial on the left. This shows 24-hour time in timekeeping mode, and likewise if you’re displaying the time in another city. The 6 o’clock subdial normally displays seconds, and in stopwatch mode counts fractions of a second. The 2:30 dial indicates the day of the week, daylight savings setting, and elapsed minutes in stopwatch mode. Around the minute ring are printed the names of the cities for world time, as well as indicators used in various modes – radio signal strength and whether or not a signal has been received in the last 24 hours. The date hides at 4:30 on the dial, unnoticed until needed.

The hour and minute hand have generous amounts of luminiscent material, and glow for several hours. Each hour marker has a rectangular dollop was well, making for good nighttime readability. Oceanus broadened the hands compared to the OCWM700TDA-1AV, and they’re more readable now.

I found this to be a very enjoyable watch to wear, it has lots of visual detail to enjoy, is quite readable if you’re in a hurry, and the weight & size make it extremely comfortable. It pairs well with a leather strap as well, reducing the weight even further for warm weather. The scratch-resistant sapphire crystal is very slightly domed and anti-reflective-coated; very readable.

List price for the OCW-S1000 is $1095, expect to pay a bit less. That’s a lot for a quartz watch, but with typical discounts I consider it a good deal. This is a dressy watch with zero maintenance, excellent durability and unmatched low profile.

Our thanks to Oceanus PR for the loan of this review model.