Windup NYC is a wrap, and the festivities saw the debut of many new watches from a huge variety of brands. Oak & Oscar is a Windup mainstay and a core part of the microbrand space (a term which admittedly seems less and less adequate as the years go by and these shows get bigger and bigger, but that’s a topic for another day), and they took the opportunity to debut a new flavor of an old favorite over the weekend, the Humboldt GMT in titanium. It’s immediately recognizable as an Oak & Oscar and will slot nicely into their existing catalog, but offers a handful of new details and innovations that show the Chicago based brand is still interested in moving forward and expanding the idea of what an Oak & Oscar watch should be.
The big news here is the titanium case. The Humboldt GMT in titanium is made from the grade 5 variety, and comes in at a weight of just 74 grams when mounted on a leather strap. It comes in at 39.5mm (with a bezel overhang of 0.5mm) and is 46.8mm from lug to lug. According to the brand, it’s 20% lighter than the original Humboldt GMT in stainless steel, which equates to a difference you’ll really notice on the wrist. It immediately makes the watch sportier based on ease of wear alone.
For the dial, we get a dark green shade, which is the same tone used on the green Olmsted. Like many other Oak & Oscar watches, this one has a sandwich dial construction, which allows for tons of contrast via lume that is present under the main dial layer. There are plenty of other little touches of character that link this watch to the rest of the collection and the larger Oak & Oscar aesthetic. For example, the GMT hand and lumed bezel pip are in an arrowhead shape, inspired by a childhood interest of Chase Fancher, the brand’s founder. This shape has now found its way into several Oak & Oscar references, making it almost a secret signature for the brand.
This watch also marks the debut of Oak & Oscar’s new rubber strap, seen here in a light green that compliments the dial nicely. A lot of thought went into the strap, and in my limited time with it at Windup, I found it to be very comfortable indeed, thanks in large part to the ventilation channels and subtle taper from the lugs to the clasp. It’s soft, pliable, and just plain comfortable to wear, and it’s a natural mate for titanium, which in this execution is really all about wearability and long term comfort.
The watch is powered by the Sellita SW330, which features an independently set 24 hour hand, making this an ideal watch for tracking multiple time zones from a static position. With the Humboldt it’s actually possible to track three times at once by using the rotating 24 hour bezel.
The retail price of the Humboldt GMT Ti is $2,250, and they are expected to ship in 2-6 weeks. Oak & Oscar
