Ocean 39 Tropic Plexi - Gnomon Exclusive

Nothing beats the old school warm charm of an acrylic crystal

Tropical Gems

Revamping a classic is a delicate undertaking process, and to further nail the vintage palette found on the classic is another level. After several trials and errors, both teams from Gnomon and Steinhart came to the perfect blend for this particular. The result of a faded black bezel, and a matte-patinated "chocolate" dial, is a modern watch truly embracing all the correct vintage elements. The Ocean 39 Tropic Plexi is precisely the sort of dive watch we envisioned to collectively create.

Undoubtedly, the combination of an evenly burnt "chocolate" dial is in the grip of nostalgia, evoking those beguiling vintage watches that are highly prized and sought by the watch community. It is as if you'd see only in these old-school pieces - through a length of life where the utilitarian matte black dial has aged meticulously, yet in a natural state, developing a warm patina, towards a dark brown chocolate tone or dark orange hues.

Once we'd nailed the ideal composition of the tropical shade, we instilled the gold accents of the texts, diving handset, and hour markers. The hour and minute hands have gold trims, while the full gold-tone seconds clad an outsized luminous plot near its tip. Steinhart applied its signature "Old Radium" Super-LumiNova painted onto the markers and handset to fully encapsulate the gracefully aged look. While they glow green in the dark, the golden tones befit the theme here, capturing the enduring and dashing character of a vintage dive watch.

When comes to vintage elements, we hobbyist knew it's all about the tiny little details. And as the watch reflects an era where less-is-more, we'd knew we need to get the details right. Therefore, we opted for the old-school "two-liner" texts at the bottom of the dial, balancing off with a matching yellow gold "Steinhart" logo at the top. We even went further to tweak things perfectly by having the "meters first" approach, whereby the bottom first line states "100m" first before it's "330 ft". Also, the "L Swiss L" insignia right below those texts denotes the use of SuperLuminova and being made in Switzerland - a subtle nod to the past.

Not slowing down here, the Ocean 39, for the first time, blips a distinctive light grey bezel. The bezel insert draws inspiration from a faded one, from its original black shade that has faded out to be what collectors refer to and coin to be a "ghost bezel." It further befits the whole tropical package here with its dial, but getting all suitable blends was not an easy feat. For instance, here, the grey tone of the bezel insert took us a significant amount of time to get the shade correctly, which reflects how a true vintage one would have turned out perfectly. We also made sure that the markings on the insert are still readable when it's put in use if we ever needed it to be - and we'd accomplished just that.

To top this poetic re-interpretation of those sixties classics, we adhered to the period-correct plexiglass crystal. Fabricated into the old-school domed shape, the use of acrylic enhanced the depth of the dial, alongside the mesmerizing slight distortion when viewed from its curved sides. There are no other materials that could replicate the vintage warmth of plexiglass while being reliable and easy to maintain. It's a cinch to remove off those swirls and light scratches by polishing it with the Polywatch - although I'd prefer to leave some on just to ameliorate the nostalgic charm. While usually, we kept the acrylic crystal options only to our limited editions, we'd felt that we need to do this right for the Ocean 39 Tropic Plexi, as a modern sapphire crystal would not do justice here.

With all of these aspects coming together, the Ocean 39 Tropic Plexi comprises so much character and offers a combination of classic and vintage elements that culminate in a cool, valued packed watch. And while the patina and aging aesthetics may seem undesirable from a watchmaker's perspective, the wabi-sabi effect on timeworn pieces have on the emotional psyche is undeniably desirable.