LINDE WERDELIN Oktopus II Titanium Blue & Yellow

LINDE WERDELIN is ten-year-young this year. The company by both founders, Morten Linde and Jorn Werdelin, have come a long way with the intention of making functional highly-crafted good looking watches which will accompany them for their favourite activites - diving and skiing, which indirectly, has enable the brand to cover the three worlds - sea, land and mid-air. The pragmatic duo understands, for performance time-keeping in both these activities/sports, digital measurement is preferred, thus they adopted "Analogue for time-reading, and Digital for measurement". With this ethos, the three pillars of the brand are Oktopus (for sea or diving series), Spido (for land or mid-air i.e. mountaineering and skiing series) and the Instruments.

The new slightly evolved design of the Oktopus II (Double Date) was based on a air-tight pressure chamber used to test the watches in their laboraotry. The single-block case designed is now fabricated in modules ( as illustrated in the diagram below), combined together and securely screwed to the centre movement-chamber.

Case is of titanium while the bezel is of ceramic, their first inroad to use new materials. However, LW is adventurous to fabricate a non-flat top-profile and non-gloss surface ceramic bezel with eight cut-out slots. Tedious processes are added to machine the tapered bezel top and complete it with a brush-finish to blend with the brushed microbillé titanium caseband. To fasten the bezel to the caseband also needs extra thoughts. The alley-key screws will place tremendous pressure onto the hard and yet brittle ceramic surface when tightened and over time, screws may loosen by itself as there is less grip between the alley-key and smooth ceramic surface. To ensure both side-effects do not crop up, tension rings were introduced. Not just plain steel rings were used but matching colours laminated tension-rings were specially ordered to provide both the functional and aesthetic aspects. Indeed the Danish industrial design philosophy of design must be useful and functional besides pleasing to the eyes.

Currently, three variations for this Oktopus II - Rose Gold, Titanium Yellow & Titanium Blue, limited to 88 pieces per each variation. Gold, Titanium and ceramic were chosen as they are able to withstand corrosion effect of sea-water besides their hypoallergenic properties.

Below are some photographs of the Titanium Blue and Titanium Yellow ...

Titanium Blue

Case is brushed or satin finish with microbillé for the industrial and rugged look. Dimension 44mm (w) by 46mm (l) by 15.25mm (h).

2.5mm thick sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on second-surface to reduce glare.

Water-resistance is rated to 300m.

8 pieces of blue laminated screws securing the ceramic bezel to the caseband ...

Seamless rubber strap securely bolted to the case with two screws ...

The side latch-attachment units is for mounting of their Instrument - The Reef ( a dive computer) on top of the Oktopus....

The crown is laser-engraved with an Octopus logo, away from typical signed "LW" ...

See the attention to design details ... satin finish on the crown top, cut grooves with chamfered edges for better gripping of the crown and yet not hurt the fingers of the owner.

Octopus has always fascinated co-founder and designer, Morten Linde. Octopus, a mysterious creature with no bones and yet could jet down great depth in a fast time. Able to defend itself with expulsion of ink or use of startling deimatic displays to frighten off predators. Perhaps that one of the reasons the brand name one of their models and now placing the motif on the crown.

The crown guard (also double as latch attachment for the instrument) has improved too, with tapered edges, which previously may pinch some skins of the owners while adjusting the time/date...

Crown unscrewed ... for time & date adjustment ...

Solid caseback with Octopus motif newly designed by Morten.

Serial number engraved onto caseback ...

Notice the tight joining seams of the new case-modular blocks... evident of precision engineering.

Housing within is automatic Dubois Dépraz caliber 14580 with 44 hour power reserve beating at 28,800bph (4Hz) .

The dial is made up of two layers .... could observe clearer with pictures below ...

The main concern about this Oktopus II is the legibility of the date (located just below hour index '12') ...

From my observation, under indoor-lighting, reading the date is a challenger, with brighter ambience , it is alright ...

(Above date is '23') ...

While the above date is '18'.

Back to the two-layer dial ... the lower layer is of circular Côtes de Genève, and immediately above is a skeletonised with the hour-markers and a motif of a small octopus

The luminiscent coated hands are also brush-finished.

Next is the Titanium Yellow ...

Same specification as the Titanium Blue, but exudes different personality for the wearer.

Bright and cheerful, while the blue is more understated.

The two side attachment-units were DLC treated for the Titanium Yellow model ...

The legibility of the date is better with the Yellow version ...

Black DLC treated attachment unit (and watch guard) ...

Matching yellow rubber straps ...

Two lume shots to illustrate which other parts would glow besides the hands ....

A pic of Jorn Werdelin with a Titanium Blue posing in Aston Martin

This Oktopus II was initially named as Double Date, somehow naming does not really coherent with the watch (as most of our friends here have feedback). Even on LW's website, the naming seems to be just Oktopus II Rose Gold, Titanium Yellow or Titanium Blue.
Another gripe is the legibility of the date. The Titanium Yellow is easier to read than the Blue. Some how to one owner of the Blue, the legibility is not his main concern, but the design and colour which match his personality

As for the modular case-design, I think it is intelligent. My guess it may help in after-sale service response time, especially in polishing of such difficult multi-faceted case. Probably just swap the module/s which is/are scratched.

Kong

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I love the sporty shape of the Oktopus II case

By: AnthonyTsai : October 19th, 2012-07:52

Did you get a chance to try it on the wrist? How was the comfort? Cheers, Anthony

It is still alright...

By: Kong : October 19th, 2012-09:47

as you can see the caseback is higher than previously... previous Oktopus sit onto smaller wrists better. Kong ...

How do you think these pieces compare to Rolex?

By: Epilogue : October 19th, 2012-13:09

I am very attracted to LW but would it fit within a Rolex collection? Thanks for the post and I look forward to your answer!

Depends what you are comparing about ...

By: Kong : October 22nd, 2012-04:14

Hi Epilogue Thanks for viewing. It is a question which is easier to discuss over coffee/tea than writing :-), as will need to know more about your various purchase decisions (for the Rolex pieces) before my input/s is relevant. If looking from the perspec...

Definitively a coffee type conversation...

By: Epilogue : October 22nd, 2012-09:18

...but just to give you the big picture I'll quickly talk you through my rolex pieces. I own: - gmtiic - 5513 - explorer ii (white dial- colour is important in a collection!) but am shifting the 5513 and explorer to get a daytona (zenith movement). In the...

Hmmm...

By: Kong : October 24th, 2012-20:06

Just a quick thought after reading your post ... There's a reason for coffee instead of writing for this conversation, nevertheless, I will relate a similar incident a while ago which affected my relationship with a friend ... He asked for some inputs of ...

Kong, thanks for you comments...

By: Epilogue : October 26th, 2012-09:53

I have never tried a LW so I appreciate your comments. After some thought I think LW is a perfect watch to buy after you have covered the basics...and in term of basics I have a couple of pieces to add so the LW will have to wait a little! I have my sight...

It all depends...

By: meislergeisler : October 25th, 2012-05:14

Well E, it's - as always - a matter of perception. My 5 cents if I may: - is the movement reputable? Absolutely, as it's based on movements with proven performance and robustness. Remember, these are sports activity watches made for real life, not for a s...

meislergeisler, that makes sense...

By: Epilogue : October 26th, 2012-10:01

...I definitively like the idea of owning something that only few people recognise. I guess that's what creates such a tight knit watch enthusiast commmunity...a little like the "Fight Club" hehe. Good comment about the movement but nothing stops them fro...

Such a nice piece of precision engineering and design

By: meislergeisler : October 20th, 2012-01:20

Thanks Kong for sharing these great pictures. Having had the opportunity to handle both watches 'live' I can honestly say I'm impressed by the level of detail to be explored on these watches. Personally I'm attracted by the straight lines and sharp edges ...

Thanks for the wristshot!

By: Kong : October 22nd, 2012-04:22

Hi Martin In term of case-design, LW is progressive. Now with ceramic bezel, wonder where would they go next in material technology. Hopefully the thickness could be reduced or stay at this level. Are you're thinking of adding one to your 'stealth arsenal...

I wish I could afford one more...

By: meislergeisler : October 23rd, 2012-01:05

...but momentarily that's out of the question. Which is OK because I'd rather spend what's there on our family's next ski holiday in Austria ;-) There's nothing like quality time with your loved ones! Cheers, Martin

Wise, Martin ...

By: Kong : October 24th, 2012-19:17

Can't agree more with quality time with family. Kong

I liked this piece so much - I bought one!

By: Evosam : October 20th, 2012-08:58

I've actually had the piece for about a month now and I'm very impressed with it. I went to my LW AD intending to look at this new Okto II unsure of what to expect since I had been let down once before when I was all excited by the Spidolite Chrono and th...

Sam, I really love your expression...

By: meislergeisler : October 22nd, 2012-02:56

...that the "case is the complication". So true. I'm not a movement fanatic myself, but am rather drawn to brands and individual pieces based on the "story" (concept, idea, history - whatever you want to call it) and the look. In my case, Linde Werdelin h...

Congrats on your Oktopus II Blue! And thanks for sharing ...

By: Kong : October 22nd, 2012-04:45

both your Hard Black II and Oktopus II Blue. I feel LW has made a mark in watch industry with their case-design (which is very difficult to do) and most brands are still searching for an iconic shape to differentiate in the crowded watch-market. Your phra...

Date can be challenging to read at time..

By: Evosam : October 27th, 2012-11:35

So yes - the double date can be challenging to read at times, especially in the blue version vs the yellow. However, both versions suffer from the fact that the hands are not skeletonized and fairly fat so certain times, you can't even read the date even ...

Thanks Sam for the inputs. [nt]

By: Kong : November 5th, 2012-19:04