It’s been two years since NMI launched, and in celebration of their second anniversary, the brand has released a unique dial color for the Østersøen: the Østersøen Midnat!
Limited to just 50 pieces, the Østersøen Midnat adds a fifth colorway to the original four. Translated into English as “Midnight,” the Midnat seeks to capture the tranquility of the ocean with the black dial. Like its other four brethren, the result is nothing short of breathtaking.
Much can be said about the laser-engraved wave design of the Østersøen’s dial, how the realistic wave design allows the watch to pop without fail when all they have done is make it black. Check out the zoomed-in shots of the black dial and tell me you cannot vividly visualize the ocean’s rolling waves at night. When NMI said, “Embrace the allure of the Nordic marine world on your wrist,” they weren’t kidding.
Who is Nordic Marine Instruments?
For those who may not know of the brand and their ridiculously amazing Østersøen: Nordic Marine Instruments, or NMI for short, is the brainchild of Mick Jørgensen, founder of Watchbandit, and Travis Tan, founder of RZE. Watchbandit is an online store that heavily focuses on watches not commonly accessible in retail stores, with a heavy majority on microbrands, essentially making them one of the most prominent champions for microbrands within the watch industry. RZE is a Singaporean brand synonymous with titanium for using only that particular material in all their watches. It is also growing fast, with two more recent hit launches: the Resolute Pro and the Fortitude GMT.
The NMI Østersøen
Østersøen, translated into English as the Baltic Sea, is the brand’s primary offering on their website. It launched as a Kickstarter project in August 2023, and delivery has just started recently between January and February 2024. Now, you can easily purchase their watches from their website.
The brand is based in Denmark, and like all brands of Scandinavian design, you can see their absolute focus on clean form and sensible function. The Østersøen’s design is so simple, yet the sheer amount of detail and effort put into every element of the watch elevates the watch entirely.
Spec-wise, the watch has a 40mm diameter with a 48mm lug-to-lug and 12mm thickness. With most cases of 40mm watches, the lug width is an accessible 20mm for plenty of strap options and carries a 200-meter water resistance.
The case of the watch is brushed and polished 316L marine-grade stainless steel. One thing to note is the uniquely brushed chamfers, with a method called “MØRK Finishing,” which employs diamond paste to polish metal to bring out a mirror-like finish with minimal distortion. The crown sits at the “3” position, signed with the NMI logo.
The bezel is also brushed stainless steel and a 120-click unidirectional bezel. In line with the design language of the watch, the bezel is kept simple and clean, too, with a black inverted triangle with a pip in it at the “12” position, simple black lines for each of the hours, and shorter lines for each minute for the between 12, 1, 2 and 3.
And then the dial. Designed to capture the essence of the Nordic sea with the wave design, you can see that it perfectly captures the ever-changing nature of the sea. Like the surface of the sea, the dial is clean and uncluttered. There’s no date window to disrupt the dial. Even the diamond-cut stainless hand and markers are kept minimally designed yet intricately designed. The multi-faceted hour markers look like ports or harbors on the sea-like dial. The counterbalance on the second hand, which is a cute little anchor, furthers the connection to the marine theme.
The different colorways of the watch refer to the various facets of the Nordic Sea:
Arctic Hvid – “Arctic White”: representing the serene purity of the region
Havgrøn – “Sea Green”: representing the green hues of the ocean
Himmelblå – “Sky blue”: representing the tranquility of the ocean
Havblå – “Sea blue”: representing the beauty of the Nordic sea at dawn
The only other color on the dial is the font of the watch model, and the tip of the second hand is orange. It works well with any of the five colors, standing out clearly.
A flat sapphire crystal with inner Super-AR coating protects all this on the front, while a signed case back does the job on the back.
The lume used on the watch is the Super-Luminova BGW9 that gives it the blue glow in the dark, applied to the bezel pip, indices and hands.
Bracelet-wise, the Østersøen has a three-link bracelet with on-the-fly micro-adjustments.
The Miyota 90S5 Ultra-thin movement powers the Østersøen, which is impressively thinner than the Sellita SW200 at 3.9mm and provides a 42-hour power reserve. It is a 3-hand automatic movement with a handwinding function. The Miyota 90S5’s accuracy is at -10/+30 seconds per day.
Find out more at: https://nordicmarineinstruments.com/products/ostersoen-midnat
Nordic Marine Instruments does not sponsor this post in any way.
All images used are taken from the Nordic Marine Instruments website.