The OGA Watch Project was conceived and created by Mikel Coffee, a Tulsa-based custom watch designer known in the scene for making unique one-off watches from either his own ideas or commissions over at Coffee Wrist Studio. His portfolio there is notable for his signature hand-painted dials, most of which are absolutely stunning.
The studio is known for its layered, translucent dials that go hard on the colour, creating really dramatic finishes that make his watches stand out. But while so much of watch collecting is about being drawn to the aesthetics of a piece, there’s something about connecting with the story of a watch too, and this is why Mikel (pronounced Michael, not rhyming with pickle) introduced the OGA range. “There are lots of brands out there doing cool things, but not many of them tell a story.”
OGA stands for ‘one go around’, a philosophy that Mikel is looking to infuse into his watches. Regardless of who your personal choice of deity is (God, Allah, Buddha, Hendrix), it’s fairly evident that you only get one shot at getting through this thing called life. And that’s pretty harsh. No trial run, no tutorial level, no re-does, no save states. Just you and your choices. And at some point it’ll be all over. You’ll have had your one go. What will your legacy be?
And at this point you might doubt that. It’s easy for Omega and Bulova to say ‘hey, we went to space. Buy this watch sixty years later for some reason’ or for Rolex and Patek to say ‘hey, we started making watches a long go. Now piss off, you can’t have one until we say you’re allowed.’ That’s built-in heritage. Easy to reference and they make great laurels to rest on. I mean, look at Tudor. Started in 1926, and how are they marking that, literally a hundred years later? By making a watch that’s a bit yellow.
As Arnie once said, “it’s bullshit, all of it.” And he’s right. What brands actually can create a story, a real narrative? Is anyone ready to tell a story that isn’t just marketing? Can they bake that story into the features and specs of a watch?
Well, that’s what OGA is trying to do. It starts with an idea. Watches tell the time, but time is the one thing you can’t buy. I’m 51, and I’ve only got a limited amount left. Although if this world keeps going the way it is, I might try to sell some, let alone buy it.
Time marks every part of your life. From youth, where you were a bright young thing, excited at the world but lacking in experience. Through adolescence, adulthood, elder life and then ultimately into the legacy you leave behind. Five distinct stages, almost five different people. It’s a journey, and even if all our journeys are different, we still go through one. That’s where the story is. Where were you, and what were you doing, at that point in your life?
OGA is both a brand and, at this point, a series. Four watches (with a fifth already planned) that take you through those stages of life. It started with the Emergent, a watch I reviewed back in April. A big and bold dive-style watch that kept things relatively simple but wowed thanks to its blue dial. The black PVD case, simple NH38 movement and lack of complications all reflecting an idea: this was a watch that was happy to show its influences and keep it simple while also having a real boldness to it. The confidence of youth.
It was followed by the Evolution. A watch showing its own growth. Not necessarily a better version of the Emergent, that’s not the point, just one that is starting to show its own identity. New textures, a date complication, baton indices, more evolved hands. It’s OGA finding its identity, moving on from the original Coffee Wrist Studio portfolio and into something more defined, something with its own DNA.
And this is where the Epoch comes in. The centre-point of the series, the middle watch. The one that represents adulthood. You as a person with some wear on the tyres, some mileage, experiences (remember those? They were big in the ‘90s). Wise but not washed up. Maybe the best version of yourself. But how does that translate into a watch design? Well, as it turns out, kind of brilliantly.
The Epoch, as with the other watches in the series, is a dive-style watch. Kind of. I mean, it is. But it isn’t. This is something else. Something new. Let me explain. You might as well; you’ve read this far.
It starts with the brass dial. The blue basalt colour initially just looks like a nice duck egg blue, but stick your varifocals on because there is an almost mottled texture painted into it. It looks smooth from a distance but has a character to it that you can only see from close up.
You won’t need to be eyeballing it from an inch away to see its real standout feature though. The left-hand side of the dial is skeletonised. An open heart, symbolic of you having your own character at this stage of your life. You’re not just wearing a Nirvana shirt trying to fit in with the cool kids. Now you’re you. Wearing whatever the hell you want, mostly for comfort because, let’s face it, you’re getting old. Not chasing trends anymore but, also, wondering why you ever thought they mattered.
In terms of text and information, the dial keeps it pretty clean. You get the MC (Mikel Coffee) logo printed with a shiny metallic finish with a matching ‘EPOCH’ written in a vertical alignment between the two and five o’clock indices. There’s nothing else written on there, and that’s great. Say less. Always say less.
The Epoch borrows the same indices from the Evolution model. Actually the perfect arrangement. Eleven identical batons from two to eleven, with a double baton at twelve o’clock. Consistent batons are the truth. I’m never going to not like them. And this is the Epoch carrying through some of the design language established earlier, just enough to keep some consistency in the series while allowing for something new. And what’s really nice is how they sit over the skeletonised section of the dial. You’d think they were sat on glass, but they aren’t. The dial is supporting them with little struts that you can’t see. It’s stunning. A really nice effect.
The hands also are the same style as the previous model. It’s hard to classify them as they’re too broad to be dauphine, too faceted to be batons. They’re more custom than that, using broad brushed surfaces and crisp chamfered edges that end in flat tips. They’re also skeletonised at the base but filled with lume higher up. A stick-pointer seconds hand also has a lumed counterweight.
The Epoch is the first watch in the series to use the OGA branding on the front of the watch itself. The letters O, G and A are repeated along the sloped rehaut, and conceptually it works. You don’t really need numbers anymore. You know what they are. Instead, this is the message. One go around. Live on your own terms. That’s more of a story than ‘a guy went to the moon with a watch that was a little bit like this one.’ Also, the areas between the letters are lumed in green C3 lume. That’s just a cool touch given that the hand lume is a blue BGW9.
The lume performance is excellent too. I’m a confirmed lume whore (just look at the #lumetest hashtag on Instagram) and this more than meets expectations. Aside from being interesting due to the two-tone effect, it’s also very easy to read and long-lasting. No issues there at all. And it all sits under a flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating. What’s surprising is just how well it works. Of all the watches I’ve seen, the Epoch is among the best when it comes to handling reflections. You’re hardly ever aware of them. Which is great because it just lets you concentrate on all that design goodness.
This leads you to the bezel itself, and this is also a big part of the watch’s story when you consider it in the context of the case itself. As with the previous two models, the case sports a hexagonal pattern. It was my favourite detail on the Emergent and I thought it was super cool that it was still evident here despite the shift from a black-coated case finish to a regular stainless steel one. Well, the bezel picks up that detail by just having twelve hexagons on it. No numbers or other indicators, just twelve identical hexagons sat right there on the black-coated bezel.
And yet, the bezel still has a 120-click unidirectional spring movement to it. Sure, it makes it a little less functional as a dive watch, but as a statement of horological whimsy, and in the context of me never going diving, it’s such a cool touch. It’s just there if you want some clickiness in your life. Some might see the lack of numbers as a negative but, for me, it’s a feature, not a bug.
The side of the bezel has a tight hexagon pattern, smaller than the hexagon pattern on the side of the case, giving a nice two-level effect (shrubbery!). The hexagons are created from different polishing and textures, which gives some real visual interest to the case. And while the lugs are also brushed, there’s an area of full polish between the bezel and case that just adds a nice contrast. The case is really beautiful, and it speaks to the story of the watch because the dimensions, the pattern and the rotating bezel are all consistent across the whole of this range. The message being that you only get one body in this life. And while you can get in shape, pierce bits of yourself or slap on a few tattoos, it’s the only body you get. At least until the billionaires figure out a way to transplant their brains into young, fit people.
But isn’t that great? That’s the concept, that’s the story. Each watch, no matter how different they get, all have that in common. Although, this is where the watch can be divisive. At 43.5mm wide and 13.8mm thick, this is a little chunkier than what’s on trend at the moment. However, the lug-to-lug is a tidy 48mm, meaning that even me, with my wrists inherited from Lord Scrawny Pisswrist of Slendertown, can rock this watch just fine. Honestly, it’s never felt too large, and I was actually surprised to see it was 43.5mm. However, I did wear it at the WatchIt! Watch Fair and some people thought it was a bit large. That said, they said that about the BVOR Vision also. And they were wrong then too. Don’t let a number stop you picking up a great watch. For my wrist, at a mere 6.25 inches, this is just fine and is actually one of my favourite watches to wear.
The crown is unguarded, which I tend to favour, is signed with the MC logo and screws down. It’s a good size with a decent grip to it. There’s just a winding position and one for setting the time, as the date complication from the Evolution isn’t included here. I generally like a date complication (it’s the best one) but can live without it here as I don’t think it would have helped the look of the watch. Maybe the story there is that you’re living now, in the moment. Who cares what day it is? I’m a grown man, living to my own agenda. I can’t be pinned down. I’m the master of my own dest… oh shit, I forgot to put out the bins!
The back of the case has some engraved information: Automatic (in reference to the movement), Sapphire (the crystal), 10 ATM (the 100m water resistance) and Limited Edition (in relation to there only being fifteen of each colour variant being made). And all of that sits around an exhibition caseback with a sapphire window that shows off the NH70 movement.
The previous models of the watch ran on NH38 movements, and the NH70 is essentially the same movement, functionally identical, but has skeletonised elements so that you can see more of what’s going on with it. Aside from that though, it’s pretty standard with a 21,600 vbh sweep and a 41-hour power reserve (55 winds should get it to full power). It is hackable (the second hand stops while setting the time) and it also sports the Seiko ‘Magic Lever ’, which is a mechanism that allows the movement of the rotor to transfer power to the watch regardless of which way the rotor moves. In layman’s terms, it gets the watch moving quicker than if it didn’t have it.
The movement isn’t decorated apart from the balance wheel being in a copper colour. Everything else is silver (colour, not material), which suits the overall look of the watch. Sure, you could have customised everything and thrown in coloured jewels, but this works better. It’s super clean but that balance wheel, arguably the thing you most want to see, just has that subtle pop to it.
The watch comes with a bracelet and a black FKM silicone strap. These are easily swapped thanks to both having quick-release spring bars. We shouldn’t need to applaud that as by now it should be mandatory and enforced at gunpoint if necessary, but it’s always nice to see. But what’s interesting is that the bracelet has straight ends. So while it doesn’t have that integrated fit, it does show off more of the case. I like it, it’s got an almost industrial look to it.
It’s a good bracelet though. It has a three-link design with brushed polishing throughout, screw links and a very strong folding deployant clasp which is also signed with the MC logo. The only minor niggle is that the microadjust isn’t on the fly and will require a tool to adjust. It does have six degrees of adjustment, which should guarantee a perfect fit, but we’d have liked the flexibility of easier adjustment (especially with the heatwave we’ve just had in the UK). That said, having an easy-to-attach FKM in the box does mitigate the issue a little.
So what’s the audience for a watch like this? For me, it’s anyone looking for a watch with unique looks, a great design language and a concept that actually makes sense. It doesn’t speak to current trends and so might have something of a niche appeal, but it’s super easy to get a brightly-coloured 39mm watch these days. What’s harder to find is a watch that doesn’t look like anything else but still functions excellently as a watch, and that’s what the Epoch does. The fundamentals are hard to criticise. It’s quirky but super-easy to operate and has good legibility. It’s interesting without being outlandish. The consistency of the vision from the Emergent means that it’s not so ‘out there’ that it feels gimmicky, and it still works as a serious watch.
The watch also comes in a very nice reddish-brown wooden box with a nice soft brown interior. It all feels quite luxurious for the price and makes for a lovely unboxing experience that really gets you anticipating the reveal of the watch.
The series has continued with the fourth model, the Senescent, continuing what the Epoch introduced by transitioning to a fully skeletonised dial. And with the fifth model yet to be revealed (although Mikel has confirmed it to us), there’s plenty to look forward to with OGA. However, with the Epoch sitting right there in the middle of the series, it feels like the definitive OGA watch and, for me at least, it’s the most attractive, which is pretty interesting as, in terms of the lifecycle of the story, I’m at the Epoch stage of my life. And while some might be sceptical of the story element, it does actually work. The narrative aspects of the story are mirrored by the design and features of each watch.
All the watches have hand-painted dials, custom cases and are all hand-assembled and regulated by Mikel himself, and so they all feel like a labour of love. They will speak to a specific audience, as all good art does, but if you get it and feel what OGA are trying to do, this will be a standout in any watch collection.
4.5 out of 5.0 stars
Pros:
+ Stunning looks
+ Works conceptually as a story
+ Excellent lume
+ Good bracelet and strap
+ Very unique
Cons:
– Might be too large for some
– The movement isn’t premium
Summary:
As the centrepiece of a series of five watches, the OGA Epoch is an excellent example of the story, design-language and technical know-how of the brand. With a look this unique, it might not be for everyone. But if it’s for you, you’re going to be all in.
JUST THE FACTS
Availability/Options: This is currently available from the OGA website but is in an undisclosed limited run (of 15 I believe). There are two variants: Blue Basalt and Cool Graphite (grey).
Brand: OGA
Model: Epoch – Basalt Blue
Style: Diver
Case Size: 43.5mm (48mm lug-to-lug)
Movement: Seiko NH70
Material: 316L Stainless Steel case
Lug Width: 22mm
Band Type: Bracelet (stainless steel), Strap (black FKM)
Price: £506 ($675)
This watch was sent to us on loan by OGA.