Italy is a fascinating country when it comes to watch design given how diverse and decentralised it is. Panerai has its headquarters in Milan, Bulgari is famously in Rome but when it comes to microbrands and independents, the city of choice appears to be Venice. Out of Order calls the canal-filled city home and today Out of Order pay tribute to the city with an expanded range of Casanova skindivers with upgraded automatic movements.
The Casanova itself isn’t a new collection, having existed for several years in quartz form. But seeing it take the step up with the introduction of mechanical models really brings the model into a fresh spotlight for all the collectors who prefer the romance and feel of mechanical watchmaking. Naturally this change necessitates some alterations to the overall design, most notably the thickness which has increased from 10.9mm to 12.2mm in order to accommodate the new movement.
That movement is the Seiko NH35 automatic, providing a 41-hour power reserve. Importantly, Out of Order have regulated the movement in-house to improve its accuracy to +/-8 seconds per day as opposed to the standard -20/+40 of the base movement, a significant increase in reliability.
Zooming out from the movement, the Casanova is a 38mm watch inspired by 1960s dive watch design. It only has 100m water resistance, which is what makes it a skindiver because it’s only designed for unassisted swimming, i.e. without a wet suit or dive gear. Skindivers were popular in the 50s and 60s when what we now consider professional specs, such as 300m water resistance, weren’t possible to produce yet.
A lot of the ‘60s inspired details like the large hour markers and oversize hour hand are less obvious than on other modern divers inspired by this period because the mother-of-pearl dials on the Casanova takes a lot of the focus away from them. The mother-of-pearl adds a personalised quality to the watches because no two dials are the same. I also like that the hour markers have luminous borders around mother-of-pearl, which gives them a very distinct look I haven’t seen before.
There are three colours available across the Casanova automatic series, each dedicated to a different sight you can find in Venice. The Giudecca Blue is inspired by the city’s lagoons, the Rialto Ember is orange like the blaze of water at sunset and the San Marco Ivory, which is the most naturalistic of the mother-of-pearl displays, reflects the white stone of the Piazza San Marco. They each have colour matched dive-timer bezels with aluminium inserts.
The San Marco is further distinguished from the other two editions thanks to the finishing of its steel case. It uses Out of Order’s “Damaged in Italy” concept to artificially age the metal with a burnished patina and scratched appearance. Designed to give the watch a neo-vintage appeal, like an artefact that has already been worn for many years. The blue and orange editions instead have alternating brushed and polished surfaces.
All three watches are priced at $715 (approx. £535), making them nice and accessible despite the upgraded mechanical movement and larger proportions. Stylistically I think they punch above that price range with the use of mother-of-pearl and distinctive design elements like the hour markers. So the value proposition is well and truly there.
Price and Specs:
More details at OOO.
