Isotope Officially Debuts the Long Awaited OVNI Jumping Hour
If you’ve attended the Windup Watch Fair, British Watchmakers’ Day, or any other watch event in the last few years where Isotope and brand founder Jose Miranda have been in attendance, chances are you got an early look at the OVNI, their long in the works watch with a jumping hour complication. Like the Moonshot before it, the OVNI Jumping Hour represents Isotope at their most ambitious, creating a watch with a design that seems to be dropped from another world entirely, and with a unique interpretation of a classic complication. Lots of enthusiasts have been waiting for the OVNI to land, and its general release is a big milestone for the brand, which happens to coincide with Isotope’s tenth anniversary. Like other watches in Isotope’s collection, the OVNI borrows heavily from science fiction in its design language, most notably with the saucer shaped case, which the brand proudly admits was inspired by UFOs (the name of the watch, OVNI, comes from the Iberian/French abbreviation for “UFO”). It’s crafted from 904L steel and measures 40mm across and 13.6mm tall. Virtually every surface is either brushed (the body of the case) or sandblasted (the crown) for a look that is unmistakably industrial. The crown at 12:00 is mirrored by an Isotope badge on the 6:00 side of the case (wisely, there’s no branding on the dial). The sci-fi vibes are perhaps even stronger on the dial, which is where Isotope reinterprets the jumping hour concept in their own way. It’...