Bezel

An important component to any dive watch is its bezel, and Ocean Crawler definitely put some thought into the bezel on the Ocean Navigator. Surrounding the edge of the bezel, providing the user grip are some cool scalloped pockets. These not only provide a good grip to turn the bezel easily through its 120 clicks, but also look pretty cool, in my opinion. The bezel here has a sapphire insert, which allows for the bezel to be fully lumed as well. This is an awesome detail, and one that I love to see on dive watches. While I’m not a diver, I love coming inside on a bright day and seeing the watch glow all over. The action on the bezel is satisfying, clicky, and loud. The bezel does have some slight play between positions, however.

Now, to look at the internal bezel, we have a compass scale printed in alternating orange and white. This bezel is operated by the crown at the 10 position. This bezel does not have any sort of clicking action, and rotates smoothly. I ultimately didn’t have a use for this internal bezel, so it remained mostly untouched.

Movement

The Ocean Navigator is powered by the STP1-11 automatic movement, which has a power reserve of 44 hours, and beats along at 28,800 bph. This is a perfectly fine movement, and it has performed well under my observation. I find it interesting to see how the movements used in microbrands have progressed over the last few years. After ETA began cutting off supply to non-Swatch group members, Miyota became king, and now Miyota has also started to change their pricing and policies, leading brands to go with options like the STP, or NH35 from Seiko. I have no problem with any of these movements, and I wouldn’t make any changes in the movement department of the Ocean Navigator.

Straps

The Ocean Navigator comes packaged with two straps – canvas and leather. In the case of my blue review model, both straps are a matching blue. I prefer the look of the canvas strap, and chose to wear it most of the time. The straps are well constructed with nice stitching, and in the case of the canvas model, it has a small leather strip over the holes to prevent them from fraying and wearing out, which is a nice touch. Both straps have buckles signed with the Ocean Crawler logo.

These straps were both quite stiff out of the box, and had a bit of a break-in period before they became comfortable. After that, however, I found them to be very comfortable. I would have liked to see a rubber strap or bracelet option here, seeing how the Ocean Navigator is marketed as a diver’s tool watch, but I’m happy with the options provided. One other thing to note here is that the Ocean Crawler uses screw-in bars, rather than traditional spring bars, which is great for security, but makes it a bit more of a process to change out straps on the fly.

Conclusion
The Ocean Crawler Ocean Navigator does bring a lot to the table, and I applaud them for trying to stand out from the pack with their design. From the lightweight titanium case, to the well-executed use of color on the dial design, I had a fun time wearing the Ocean Navigator. The colors and design language here always made me wish I was in a tropical environment, rather than in the landlocked south, and I dig the overall aesthetic that Ocean Crawler has achieved with their watches. There are some design choices that might not be to everyone’s taste, but Ocean Crawler did a good job at squaring away the fundamentals, and releasing a well machined/designed case with quality materials, movement, and even quality packaging.

At its price point of $1,249, the Ocean Crawler is competing with some pretty strong models. While I do find the quality a bit higher here, one could easily draw comparisons between the Ocean Navigator and the Halios Seaforth, which is a few hundred dollars cheaper, or even the Zelos Mako, also cheaper. You could debate about value all day, however, the design of the Ocean Navigator stands out, and if it has captured your heart, you won’t be disappointed with this watch. oceancrawler.com

Necessary Data
>Brand: Ocean Crawler
>Model: Ocean Navigator
>Price: $1,249
>Size: 42.9mm diameter, 14.67mm thick, lug to lug of 50.3mm
>Would reviewer personally wear it: Yes! After the strap break-in, this became a go-to watch for me.
>Friend we’d recommend it to first: The boat owner or frequent tropical traveller, due to its fun colors and lightweight case.
>Best characteristic of watch: The titanium case. It’s lightweight, comfortable, and looks great with its satin finish.
>Worst characteristic of watch: Excessive dial text. I’d prefer a cleaner dial in this respect.