Today we are gonna look at a watch from a company on which we already took look at some time ago. The company is called Orlo and they are based in Denmark and are making minimal look watches, but I have to say, these aren’t Daniel Wellington type of watches, these have pretty unique design. Orlo has a ton of designs and previously we looked at model called Bowen, but they also have Copenhagen, Hitch, Ossel and for womens watches they have even more Copenhagen and Ossel models and the best part of it all, they offer almost each watch in 3 different sizes (36mm,39mm,41mm) and that is quite interesting to see as usually a company releases each model in just one size, changing only the dial colour or something.
The model I chose was the Ossel in steel with white dial. I think it looks stunning and kind of reminds me the early Art Deco watches. I also have another watch sent by them, but let’s keep that a secret till the next review a bit later! So the watch arrived in a simple rectangular box. Looks like the box is made from recycled cardboard. Inside the box you have a watch and that’s it. As this is review sample it didn’t come with any papers or anything. The first impressions of the watch were good. I quite like the design of the case and how the lugs are shaped. Reminds me the Vacheron Constantin Historiques Cornes de Vache chronograph with similar lugs.
The case is made of 316L stainless steel. The case seems to be very well manufactured for the price. The watch has a polished finishing which is also done quite good without any defects. The case is round with these art deco style lugs. The diameter of the case is 39mm, the thickness is 10mm, from lug tip to lug tip it measures at 46mm and the lug width is 20mm. The proportions in my opinion are perfect and it sits perfect on my 18cm wrist. And the best part is that this exact watch is available not only in 39mm size, but also in 36mm and 41mm size. At 3 o’clock we have a small, signed, push-pull crown. The crown despite beeing small is pretty easy to grasp and manipulate. The case back is snap in which is a bit of a bummer. The screw in caseback would be much better as then the water tightness would be better and it wouldn’t be very hard to put the case back on, or off. On the the case back we have etched Orlo logo and some specifications. On top of the watch sits a domed mineral crystal with blue-ish AR coating. Of course it would be better if it had a sapphire crystal, but at this price point it is acceptable!
The dial has a curved edges of the dial and it is in matte white colour. The dial marking are printed on the dial in black colour. The arabic hour numerals have Art Deco styling and I really like the gold colouring and the thin black line it has. The whole watch actually looks very vintage inspired and I quite like that as there aren’t many microbrands mimicking 1920-1940s watches. The hour and minute hands are also Art Deco inspired and look like skyscraper by the way. The seconds hand is just a regular stick shaped and the edge is bent so that it kind of wraps the domed dial. All the hands are in yellow gold colour. At 12 o’clock we the Orlo logo that looks like a sand clock. At 6 o’clock we have the Orlo name and under that just at the edge of the dial “Copenhagen”. The dial is really well made in my opinion and pretty legitimate too. These are my main two things I think every watch dial needs to follow “looks” and “legitimatimacy” and this watch definitely fits the bill!
The movement inside is some kind of Japanese quartz from what I can read on their website. I think it is one of Miyota quartz movements. Very commonly used movements in this price range. The strap is just a generic black crocodile print one. The stitching is really nice and the strap is very soft and curves the wrist nicely, despite its thickness. The strap has a 20mm width and has quick release spring bars, which are very useful when changing straps. Hope all watch companies put quick release spring bars in their watch straps, that would be a much faster process. The buckle is this vintage looking one, I think it doesn’t suit this watch, I think they should’ve used the commonly used buckle or maybe something that looks similar to those stunning lugs of the case, because this looks like it is made for some military watch and not a dressier piece.
Overall I like the Ossel watch from Orlo. I like the case, finishing, the dial. I like that you can choose from three different case sizes, that is very useful and thoughtful, as there are different people with different wrist sizes. Yes, there are some things I would change, but at this price range it is worth buying! You get a lot of watch for the price plus it is pretty unique.
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