The Mido Commander Big Date Turns Blue

Since its creation in 1918, Mido (a brand owned by the Swatch Group) has made a name for itself with its very coherent offering, combining reliability and accessibility. In recent years, the brand has also demonstrated its capacity to create cool, nicely designed watches – the latest Ocean Star GMT being a perfect example of that strategy. If you want something a bit less on the tool/sporty side, Mido has just released a new edition of the Commander Big Date, a great all-rounder with many arguments at a fair price. And it does look good too!

While Tissot offers such all-rounded style with the Gentleman collection – let’s be honest, the Gentleman Powermatic 80 Silicium is one of the best watches in this price range, featuring everything you’ll ever need and more – Mido’s answer to a watch that looks good everywhere and every day of the week is named the Commander. Modern, sharp, elegant with a slight casual touch, it is packed with cool features. And the newest edition, with its large double-digit date display and a new colour combination, is yet another great option.

The base, the Mido Commander Big Date, is a fairly familiar watch. The Commander itself is one of the star collections of Mido. We’ve reviewed the watch in its 60th Anniversary Limited Edition here. With its black dial and red accents, it was slightly polarizing. Now, with the new edition here, it feels more appropriate, more modern, a bit younger. The base is the same as usual; a 42mm stainless steel case, with a thin bezel, short lugs and brushed surfaces all around, save the contrasting polished bezel. Yes, it’s a bit on the large side, but it’s still very much acceptable. The case, with a WR of 50m, is topped by a nicely designed domed and faceted sapphire crystal.

What’s new is the sunray-brushed blue dial, framed by a circular brushed inner flange. There are some surprising details in this Mido Commander Big Date, for instance, this inner flange has cutouts surrounding the polished applied numerals… fancy and animating the dial. The main attraction is, of course, the Big Date complication, proudly positioned at 6 o’clock in a polished and sandblasted framed window. It features instantaneous jumps and display the date thanks to two discs with large numerals. Matching the dial, the watch is worn on a casual and modern blue textile with ecru stitching, closed by a stainless steel folding clasp.

Powering the watch is the automatic Mido Caliber 80, using the Group’s Powermatic 80 base. A powerful engine, it boasts 80 hours of power reserve and uses a Nivachron hairspring, known for its anti-magnetic properties. Running at a frequency of 3Hz, it is here presented in an élaboré grade, adjusted in 3 positions and decorated with Geneva stripes.

The new steel-and-blue edition of the Mido Commander Big Date is now available from retailers and is part of the permanent collection. It is priced at EUR 970, a very decent price considering all you’ll get in return. For more details, please visit www.midowatches.com.