The analysis
Thomas Oschwald’s idea was certainly ambitious, paddling a SUP board from Lake Walen to the France’s Atlantic coast, then on up past Britanny, along the English Channel to Holland and back down the Rhine to Switzerland. A journey not without risks. Or unexpected situations. As it happens, he had to shorten his venture. Having aborted his first attempt, Thomas restarted in Lake Geneva and followed the Rhone and various canals to reach the Atlantic. Here’s some footage! We still saw his trip as an adventure! We had given Thomas the third, untested, selene tinta to take on his journey, and he wore it every day. Polluted canal water, salt water, waves, surf, knocks, movement, sweat, etc. – we were keen to see how the watch would perform in the face of this onslaught.
Once Lukas got it back off Thomas, he put it through a battery of tests:
The main challenge was the watch’s waterproofness.
It passed the 50 m test.
The test classic: a Witschi timing machine.
Dial up – 2 seconds, 275 degrees of amplitude
Crown down – 1 second, 265 degrees of amplitude
Crown left – 7 seconds, 250 degrees of amplitude
Crown right – 2 seconds, 273 degrees of amplitude
Crown up – 5 seconds, 280 degrees of amplitude
Dial down – 5 seconds, 278 degrees of amplitude
Summary: excellent amplitude, slight adjustment required.
Removing the strap…
Unscrewing the caseback…
First look at the insides…
Tension…
Right next to the crown, by the winding stem, a little patination that could be due to possible water ingress. At the end of his trip, Thomas spent a few days surfing in the Atlantic surf… saltwater, waves, sun… The special lubrication saved the day. No problem!
A straight winding stem…
Removing the movement…
The titanium crystal is in perfect condition – though you can see it’s been on the wrist…
3478.27 years of lunar accuracy…
… about to be disassembled into the constituent parts…
Removing the hands…
And here’s a little puzzle. The light-fast orange-colored luminescent hands were lighter than they used to be. Could it be the sun shining through water on the crystal – a magnifying glass effect? Get in touch if you have any bright ideas!
Screwing out the dial…
… and lifting out the movement…
Crazy old Oechslin! Just five parts for his moon phase function! 🙂
That’s the titanium moon phase disk with the luminescent full moon and dark grey new moon. One rotation per lunation!
Checking the function of the epicyclic gearing …
…and very light milling marks on the titanium moon disk…
The watch pulled through! Thinking radically and forging new paths is always risky. Concepts are only as good as the intellect behind them and the experience you gain. You never see everything to start with. Ludwig Oechslin’s designs push the possibilities to their limits. ochs und junior make the case out of two parts with no movement-retaining ring, and make functions using as few parts as possible. ochs und junior is Ludwig Oechslin’s concept atelier.
Every ochs und junior model breaks new ground. These watches are for people who like novel and intelligent ways of approaching solutions – and who perhaps themselves push the envelope in their private or working lives. That’s why it was so good that Thomas Oschwald was able to put his selene tinta through the mill, and that we could afterwards check it out and apply our findings to other watches.
The selene kept its promise. Even if it hadn’t, we would have told you about it and described it in detail. ochs und junior is founded on transparent communication.
Bonne voyage! No, that should of course be bon voyage… 🙂
Thanks for the test, Thomas!