When I was under the legal driving age, Alfa Romeo introduced the 156. An important car for them, since they changed their box-designs into far more sensual curved shapes. It was quite a stunning and unexpected car. Perhaps the one that started the now so popular “we look like a coupe but still have four doors”-trend. Yet as beautiful the car was, it was absolutely stunning when painted in Azzurro Nuvola, a pearl white paint that could turn blue and green (and pretty dark too) depending on the light. Despite that some people actually where willing to wait an extended period of time to get their 156 in that color, it is still a very rare bird, yet one I have been fortunate enough to see a couple of times in the flesh. And the image of that car, more specifically of that color, popped into my head when I strapped on the Linde Werdelin Oktopus Moonlite.
The Oktopus is not an unfamiliar face in the scene of the high end sports watches. With it’s unique case design and the signature dial, it is a watch hard to miss, and hard not to love, especially when crafted out of ALW. Alloy Linde Werdelin, as ALW is named in full, is crafted especially for the brand. Of course its exact composure is a well kept secret, probably kept in the Tower of London, but to be frank, it doesn’t really matter either. What does matter is that it is twice as light as titanium, while being twice as strong as steel. Qualities you can take to the bank, especially when you are a diving watch.
With the Alfa Romeo in Azzurro Nuvola, came the question how cool it was for a man to drive it. Pearly white, in any product, seems to undermine your feelings of manhood, or at the very least place you in the company of certain celebrities you are not entirely sure you would like to be associated with. For the Linde Werdelin Oktopus Moonlite, that question can be answered affirmatively; your manhood is protected, perhaps even extended (no pun intended) by it.
The exact color of the Oktopus Moonlite is hard to describe. It is somewhat like a full moon, shining on a cold forest lake covered by a very thin sheet of ice. But no matter how you describe it, it is hard to keep your eyes off. Twice as hard as steel, twice as light as titanium is all very nice, but the true reason you should get this watch is the color. It really transforms the watch into something that isn’t out there, something almost like an celestial body, and for that reason it cannot be a coincidence that Linde Werdelin used this in a watch featuring a moon phase complication.
Diving watches showing the correct moon phase are still extremely rare, which is actually quite ironic when you think about the influence the moon has on large bodies of water. They also always form a very intriguing complication, and Linde Werdelin even kicked this up a notch by applying the moon’s with luminova. This means that at night, what you see high in the sky is also glowing on your wrist.
Of course it is also on the wrist where the ALW proofs its added value. I didn’t test it’s “twice as tough as steel”-claim, but the twice as light as titanium made it for sure a pleasure to wear. It is a large watch, but the clever strap connection as well as the extremely low weight of the watch make it a breeze to wear. Actually, at some points you even forget you are wearing it, until the color of the ALW is caught by your eye of course, then you find yourself staring at your wrist again. Some people might think then that you are high on moonshine, but little do they know that you are riding the rays of the Moonlite!
Martin Green
Eclectic taste in Haute Horlogerie, passion for diamond set watches, loves the classics
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