This year Mido reissued a classic of the Mido cannon. The Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer 1961. So, let’s start with the obvious. That riot of colour! It immediately jumps right out at you. These days dive watches are more Marco Polo than Mariana trench and that colour packed playful dial looks like a fun summer watch, but that would belie the serious tool watch cred built into its very pattern.

The dial is based on U.S navy diver decompression tables. It’s important to remember that the original version of this watch was released in the very early days of recreational diving. In 1961 PADI had yet to be formed and Jacques Cousteau was still 5 years away from filming his seminal “The undersea world of Jacques Cousteau”. At the time, the bends was a very present danger, so decompression tables where invaluable. Here’s how the dial works. The bezel is a countdown timer and you set the minute hand to 12 just before your dive. The top of the dial indicates depth in feet or meters. If the dive is at 30 meters depth you are in the green band . So, you see, if you dive for 35 minutes you need to decompress for 15 minutes. With the minute hand ticking away you can calculate your decompression time as you go.

This reissue of the Mido Ocean Star Decompression Timer has been true to the colourway of the original dial but has blacked out the centre of the dial and the bezel, integrated the date window more discreetly than the original and has made the depth gauge at 12 bilingual, combining feet and meters. The hands are also true to the original. The hour hand seems at first glance to be somewhat abridged, but that choice becomes clear when you consider the actual telling of time is confined to the central portion of the dial. The makeover continues with a new case size at 40.50 mm with a height of 13.43 mm and with a lug width of 21 mm although Mido supply a bracelet.