It was 11 pm and I was sitting alone in the Melbourne International Airport departure lounge.
A half-eaten bowl of Phad Thai was steaming in front of me as I stared off into the distance. My stomach was turning. Great when you’re about to sit on a plane for the next 13 hours.
I had just hugged my kids goodbye and told them I wouldn’t be seeing them for the next three weeks. Maybe the pit in my stomach came from the look on their faces, not the airport Thai food. Who knows.
The first trip away from them would be the longest I had been away from home, maybe ever. My emotions were all over the place. Sadness, mixed with excitement and anticipation. It felt like I was leaving for good.. Bit dramatic, I know.
After forcing myself to finish eating, I made my way to the gate, two hours early as usual. When I got there, I looked down at my wrist and smiled, remembering I had a new watch to keep me company on my journey.
This may be a little too esoteric and nerdy for some people, but I truly believe that a watch can give you so much more than time. During my flight, I nervously clicked and un-clicked the clasp to calm my nerves, just like my son would do. When the lights went down, the gentle glow of blue super-luminova reminded me that I was still alive as I orbited the earth like some drowsy, slightly nauseous satellite.
My watch kept me company. It gave my trip meaning and reminded me of home.
Before I continue, I need to tell you that the watch I’m writing about today was gifted to me, with only the promise of me taking some wrist shots in return. I’m still able to be honest with how I represent it here but If this article sounds overly positive, like most of my stories do, it’s because I only write about what I’m interested in. I will never promote anything I dislike.
Who Is Ocean To Orbit
The best leap of faith is one where you build your parachute on the way down, and hope it sucks in enough air before you land with a bang.
Ocean To Orbit is a story of two colleagues, now friends, building their metaphorical parachute as they start a brand from scratch. The founders, David Dewitt and Siddhartha Kazami are car designers who have worked on some pretty impressive stuff together. The Ford Ranger Raptor is in their portfolio and if you’ve seen that car in the wild you will know that they did a bloody good job.
After sharing their passion for watches at work, they started to pass ideas back and forth on how they would design their own. Just a couple of designers designing. As with many new companies, ideas turned to sketches which turned to 3d models.
I met David and Sid two years ago while I was working at a multi-brand boutique in Melbourne. They came in on the recommendation of a mutual friend of ours, also named Sid, and having recently started the very site you’re on right now, they wanted my thoughts on their first prototype watch, the Lhotse.
While pretending to show them a Rolex, heaven forbid you put anything else on a green tray, David took the Lhotse off his wrist and placed it gently in front of me. It was at once familiar and novel, not an easy thing to pull off. It quickly became clear that these guys knew what they were doing.
David ended up leaving his main job to work on Ocean To Orbit and now works as a freelancer designing resto-mod Porsches. Living the dream or what? Sid has just had his first child and is still working full-time, he’s an absolute machine. I run this website alongside a full-time job and kids, and I barely manage to write an article a month. How they have managed to make Ocean To Orbit happen is beyond me.
The Ocean To Orbit Lhotse
Sometimes things just feel right deep down in your soul. Like when you put on a pair of old boots for the 100th time, or you sink into your favourite chair, or perhaps you sign up for The Subdial Monthly Newsletter, it just feels good....
Sorry, had to.
The proportions, the surfaces and the finishing on the Lhotse, to my eyes, are bang-on. As I was singing its praises, David and Sid proceeded to tell me everything they weren’t happy with. The crystal wasn’t quite right they said, and the clasp was far from finished.
It looked good to me, but it was exciting to hear and see the uncompromising attitude they had.
“We bring the process that we have learnt as designers in the automotive industry to watch design. We first consider the functional purpose of the design, then we look at designs that fit inside this space and consider where these designs have succeeded and where they have failed. Understanding this gives us the opportunity to first empathise and then define. Whereby we can approach the design process from a point of improvement and innovation.”
Lhotse or "South Peak" in Tibetan, is the name of the fourth tallest mountain on earth. At 8,516m it sits just south of its more famous brother, Everest. The first attempted accent was in 1955 and although they didn’t make it to the summit, I like to imagine they were wearing some pretty cool watches at the time. After all, didn’t something come out two years earlier that would have been perfect for an Explorer?
David and Sid were inspired by mountaineers and the watches that accompanied them in the late 50’s and 60’s And although the Lhotse has historic nods, it feels very modern in its execution. Like Sir Edmond Hillary using an iPhone. Something old that has embraced the new.
There’s no date window to speak of on any of their models, which was the right choice, and the three-link bracelet is thin and tapered. I’m probably sounding like a broken record here but it’s so refreshing to see a brand owned by designers. The product has been thought through from so many different angles. It’s one of the most well-rounded watches I’ve seen in a long time.
To this point, and unlike so many other new brands out there, David and Sid haven’t used any off-the-shelf external parts when building the Lhotse. This is usually done in an effort to save money, but to me leads to a less genuine product. It’s like putting Ford turn signals on a Lamborghini, they actually did that...
David and Sid, being passionate designers, have agonised over every last detail. All external parts on the Lhotse are custom, right down to the links, clasp and even the crystal. The only thing that isn’t their own is the movement, a Swiss-made STP 1-21.
This obsession with design and details is what contributes to making the Lhotse feel so good when you first pick it up. It’s like nothing you’ve felt before because it hasn't existed before. With this in mind, I told David they should charge more for it but he was hesitant. I get it, they’ve only just built the parachute and they don’t want to risk ripping a hole in it before they hit the ground.
There’s another side to Ocean To Orbit that I would love to touch on here but to be honest, it deserves its own article. Purnima Shrethsa, a Nepalese mountaineer, photojournalist, women's activist and Ocean To Orbit’s first brand ambassador wore a prototype watch when she climbed Lhotse in 2022. On the mountain, the watch (and Purnima) encountered -60c weather and prolonged exposure in the ‘death zone’ (8000m and above). There’s nothing cooler than a tool that has been used for its intended purpose. I’m excited to tell Purnima’s story in a future article. Stay tuned.
I remember boarding my flight at Heathrow Airport on the last day of my trip and being relieved and more than excited to come home. It had been a massive three weeks and I was feeling it. The cracks (in me) were starting to show. Looking down at my watch I thought about the deep connection I had made with it. The clasp was showing the wear of being constantly bashed against my Macbook Air and battle scars were starting to appear.
This is what the Lhotse is all about. It’s a watch to be lived in, imprinted on and used. Like Purnima wearing it in the death zone or me checking the time to see if my kids are awake, it’s a tool that is there for you and it feels like it always will be.
I slept for most of the flight on the way home, only opening my eyes to check the time once in a while. When I did, the Lhotse was there, glowing blue in the dim cabin light. This one isn’t going anywhere.
You can check them out HERE
Cya in the next one. xx
