Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

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missF
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Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by missF »

... and way more original than anything we’ve seen at Watches and Wonders.
Ocean Crawler are an American micro-brand that produce - among a broad range of true divers - watches with dials made of Fordite. This is a substance accrued over three decades from layers of fallen paint that was hand-sprayed onto cars on Detroit production lines in the 60s 70s and 80s. With time the layers hardened enough that they can now be cut and polished. Apparently cars aren’t hand-sprayed any more so Fordite is a limited substance.

That, to me, is a great story to tell someone about the watch you’re wearing :thumbup:

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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by rkovars »

I remember seeing something similar a while ago (during the pandemic I think) but for the life of me I can't remember where I saw it. I remember thinking it was a cool idea and should be a no brainer choice for a motorsports watch. I am also very much a fan that basically makes a 1 of 1 because no 2 dials will be the same. :thumbup:
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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by timor54 »

rkovars wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:08 pm I remember seeing something similar a while ago (during the pandemic I think) but for the life of me I can't remember where I saw it. I remember thinking it was a cool idea and should be a no brainer choice for a motorsports watch. I am also very much a fan that basically makes a 1 of 1 because no 2 dials will be the same. :thumbup:
James Thompson aka. Black Badger, has been working with fordite for some time. I think mostly for his bespoke rings, but has also done some customised Tags with Bamfords.

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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by biggus_richus »

This one you linked to @missF looks great, almost psychedelic!
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rkovars wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:08 pm I am also very much a fan that basically makes a 1 of 1 because no 2 dials will be the same. :thumbup:
I'm also a fan, but what I've learnt through owning them (C60 Ombre, Formex Space Rock) is that there will be good and... less good examples. It's entirely subjective of course, but with such variance I need to be happy with the example I receive. Sometimes it's enough that I see another example here or on social media, and because it's a more pleasing example (to me), I lose interest in the one I own.
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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by tikkathree »

Well I think I like the dials but (a) I'd hope to buy a specific dial rather than take pot luck on how my pre-order turned out, rather like a meteorite dial and (b) I'm not sure about the "now you see it, now you don't" hands.

So I think it becomes a watch which you buy and I get some (is it vicarious pleasure?) from watching your ownership enjoyment.
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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by rkovars »

biggus_richus wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:31 pm I'm also a fan, but what I've learnt through owning them (C60 Ombre, Formex Space Rock) is that there will be good and... less good examples. It's entirely subjective of course, but with such variance I need to be happy with the example I receive. Sometimes it's enough that I see another example here or on social media, and because it's a more pleasing example (to me), I lose interest in the one I own.
I get this for sure. My Ombré has very few if any curved lines in the treatment. Some online that I have seen seem to be all curves. It makes these difficult to buy sight unseen for sure. I had the same thought about the Oris Clean Oceans. It didn't make much difference when it was the case back but when the moved it to the dial the color pattern matters much more.
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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by missF »

biggus_richus wrote: Thu Mar 30, 2023 5:31 pm I'm also a fan, but what I've learnt through owning them (C60 Ombre, Formex Space Rock) is that there will be good and... less good examples. It's entirely subjective of course,
Totally agree with this, but I think that Ocean Crawler accommodate that pretty well. They offer three types of dials
A. Bright and metallic, multiple colours
B. Drippy and/or striped with multiple layers
C. Monochrome opaques and metallics

This gives you a general idea of what the dial will look like when you buy, while still ensuring your watch is unique. I like the type C. Not quite as psychedelic as the others:

6ABE189D-42D5-4CF9-B75E-60AC5C318A36.jpeg
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Re: Ocean Crawler - my favourite use of colour...

Post by rkovars »

That is a decent way to do it. I remember back when I first heard about it they were explaining that the way you cut makes a difference in how the dial looks which makes sense.
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