The Latest Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN

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Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN

The Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN with the Aventurine dial is one of the latest from the Denmark microbrand. It’s one of 4 new dials, the other 3 being Mother of Pearl, in brown, blue, and aqua green. The ØSTERSØEN was their first model, and the original ones had a patterned wave dial, but these new ones take dress diver to another level with these new dials. Keeping the same case, bracelet, and bezel, as well as movement, this 40mm stainless diver has a great look, and is just about 10.5 thick, so it can be worn for almost any occasion. While it is a dressier piece than a lot of dive watches, it still retains 200m of water resistance as well as a screw-down crown, all for $599.

Specifications

40mm case width

11.9mm case thickness

48mm case length / lug-to-lug

20mm lug width tapers to 16mm at clasp

The bracelet fits up to 8.5-inch wrists

Miyota 90S5 Movement 

316L marine-grade stainless steel case

Water resistant to 200 meters / 660 feet

120-click unidirectional bezel

Brushed stainless steel bezel insert

Screw-down crown

Flat sapphire crystal with inner Super-AR Coating

Superluminova BGW9 

stainless bracelet with quick adjustment clasp 

Price- $599 

https://nordicmarineinstruments.com/collections/ostersoen

Now I keep referring to this as a dress diver, and maybe that is the wrong classification, but even the original versions of the Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN had the same look as this version, with the stainless bezel insert, and the clean and uncluttered dial, and those faceted hands and indices, this is just not your standard looking dive watch. Other brands have done this look, such as Zelos, currently Belhamel watches, Marin Instruments, and even Glycine just dropped another new model with a stainless bezel insert for that monochromatic look, but this one just seems to be less casual or rugged than all of those, it has an elegance about it if you will.

And yes, the elegance factor is ramped up on these models with the MOP dials or this example I have in hand, the Aventurine. I believe this is the third model with an Aventurine dial I have reviewed, and I chose this over the MOP dials, just because I find it to be a little more subdued, and I also feel, based on the pics I have seen, that this dial allows those hands and applied indices to pop more. Now you may be looking at these pictures thinking, these dials are subdued but keep in mind, these photos were taken with studio lights and done so to highlight the sparkle of the Aventurine, but in regular wearing and a lot of standard lighting, it comes off as more of a black or dark blue dial.

The dial is as best as I can tell the same as the wave dial version, clean, uncluttered, small model name text, and the applied shield logo. While I guess I can nitpick on the small text above the 6 or maybe the much larger Nordic Marine text, I think it all works well together, and with no date, it keeps things very symmetrical and easy to read at a glance. Adding just a pop of color is the dark orange model name text and the tip of the arrow second hand, and the sapphire crystal is flat with an internal AR coating. As. I pointed out earlier, that I concentrated the lighting on the dial to show off that Aventurine, but it is less noticeable in regular lighting.

At first glance, at least from the top down, the Noridc Marine ØSTERSØEN seems to be all brushed steel, even the bezel insert is brushed steel,  which can give off a more tool vibe look, but turn it to the side and you will see the polished chamfered edges under the bezel area and the bottom of the case sides. Even though the case is very thin at 10.5mm, including the bezel and crystal, the way the bezel sits on top of the mid-case and is 1mm larger than the case itself, along with that sandwich of polished chamfers, gives this model just enough pop, just enough dimension, compared to a slab-sided dive watch case.

The lugs are rather straight though, and because of this, the end links do sit a little low, I mean, they fit properly to the case, but it’s just the visual of the straight lugs and the end links curving into the case. More about the bracelet and how it wears shortly, but unlike the Nordic Marine Sovaern, this model is a diver, so there are well-integrated crown guards and a screw-down crown. The crown is large enough at a little over 6mm and easy to use, and don’t worry about a phantom date position as the Miyota 90S5 is a no-date movement.

The bezel action is superbly crisp as well, so much so that it was surprising. The clicks are very precise and there is no back play at all, and maybe it was wrong I was surprised, I just wasn’t expecting such great bezel grip and movement on a $600 watch such as this.

The bracelet is the same as the Sovaern as well, but it’s a nice oyster-style link bracelet, with quick-release pins on the end links, one-piece screw links, and a beautiful clasp with chamfered edges and yes, it has the on-the-fly push-button extension.

The case back is the same as well, flat with the polished edge and that vertical brushed circle, and while it is rather plain, the unadorned and flat case back is very comfortable on the wrist.

Yes, on my 7 1/2 inch (19.05cm) wrist, this 40mm Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN is a nice size and wears comfortably. I have rather flat wrists, and the lug-to-lug is short, so it fits me well, but some might not like the rather straight lugs. I also prefer this model over the Sovaern, as with the extra 1mm of size, the crown guards, and the dive bezel, it just suits my wrist and I prefer this look as well, even though the Sovaern is a very well-made field style watch.

I do find this watch is missing something though, something so many brands microbrands, and mainstream alike, and that is hard coating. Many watches I review, especially many in this price range have a 1200 vickers hard coating, and while it doesn’t make the case and bracelet scratch-proof, it does prevent those desk diving and door jam scratches. Further, Nordic Marine watches are manufactured by RZE,  and every model they have produced to date has an UltraHex hard coating.

The lume on the Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN is BGW9 and when fully charged, very bright and has a beautiful hue, but the hands do seem to stay brighter longer than the indices, but you should still be able to see the time in the dark 3-4 hours after a full charge or just from it being exposed to sunlight or a lot of bright light through the day.

I think the Nordic Marine ØSTERSØEN with the Aventurine dial is a nice change from the toolish style dive watches that we are used to and while it’s far from the first brand to use these dials or use a brushed stainless bezel for a cleaner look, everything really works together with this model. The faceted hands and indices, the coin edge bezel, the crown guards, and a comfortable and very adjustable bracelet. it is a very nice watch, especially for $600. I don’t think the lack of a hard coating is a deal breaker, though I do hope they consider it going forward.  I also like it more than the field model, but a lot of that is just personal preference, I like what Nordic Marine has produced thus far and look forward to future models from this young brand.