The New Delma Oceanmaster Oliver Heer Ocean Racing, with Full-Lume Dial

This year, Swiss watchmaking brand Delma celebrates 100 years since the company which led to its creation was founded in Lengnau with a few notable exemplars released to mark the occasion, like the Delma 1924 Tourbillon, made in collaboration with the renowned La Chaux-de-Fonds watchmaker Olivier Mory, or the Delma Heritage Chronograph 100 years. Also, the brand released Midland Automatic this year, entering the trendy sporty-chic watch with an integrated bracelet market.

However, with many styles to offer, including the pilot watches, public focus traditionally remains fixed on the collections comprising references with impressive water-resistance, as Delma gained recognition for its high-quality diving watches in the 1960s and continues to excel in the category, offering functional, solid and at the same time affordable selection. The Oceanmaster we are presenting today is part of the Racing series described by the brand as “robust, sporty timepieces that triumph on land and water, built to accelerate athletes with the need for precision and speed” and released to honour offshore sailor Oliver Heer, who will compete in a single-person, non-stop round the world Vendée Globe race which starts next month from Sables d’Olonne in France. Although Oceanmaster Oliver Heer Ocean Racing is not specifically a diving watch, it boasts impressive capabilities that make it a worthy contender in any seafaring adventure.

The Oliver Heer Ocean Racing edition is based upon the Delma Oceanmaster Automatic series and has a 500m water-resistant stainless steel cushion-shaped case with satin-brushed surfaces and polished bevels, measuring 44mm in diameter and 13.8mm thick, with a lug-to-lug distance of 51mm. The easy-to-grip nautical unidirectional bezel is marked with a 360-degree scale, the screw-down crown sits protected by the guards, there’s a helium escape valve on the case side at 9 o’clock, and the solid caseback is engraved with Oliver Heer Ocean Racing theme. 

The white full lume dial makes this Oceanmaster Oliver Heer Ocean Racing stand out; it is the only watch in the Oceanmaster line that offers this dial colour. The applied hour indices, the hour and minutes hands and the tip of the contrasting red seconds hand are treated with Super-LumiNova, only they emit a green glow in the dark, while the Super-LumiNova on the dial glows blue. The red and blue rectangular and triangular marks along the dial’s perimeter, positioned between some indices, are points of sail indicators used with the nautical bezel to guide a boat. The minutes/seconds track in black print runs the dial’s periphery, and the framed date window at 6 o’clock completes the functionality.

The Delma Oceanmaster Oliver Heer Ocean Racing is powered by the automatic Sellita SW200-1 movement; it has a 41-hour power reserve and operates at 28,800 vibrations/hour. This calibre offers a quick date set and hacking seconds feature and a bidirectional ball-bearing winding system with the customized Delma rotor.

The Oceanmaster Oliver Heer Ocean Racing has a stainless-steel three-link bracelet with a brushed and polished finish, closed with a deployment clasp. It is limited to 200 pieces and costs EUR 1,500. For more, visit delmawatches.com.