Italian brand Out Of Order make watches damaged by hand, carefully aged so that each has its own unique appearance.
Out Of Order is an Italian brand founded in 2013, based in San Donà di Piave, near Venice, and their watches combine robust practicality with tongue-in-cheek humour. The name explains the concept: their watches are “damaged in Italy”, meaning that the 316L stainless steel case and bracelet are specially treated to give them an aged appearance.
Their latest product is a version of their Casanova diver, named Anguria (Italian for watermelon), superbly colourful with its green bezel and pinkish-red dial. It is a very practical watch, 44 mm in diameter, with 100 metres water resistance, stainless steel screw-in caseback, 120-click uni-directional bezel, Superluminova on the hands, hour indices and reference dot on the bezel, date window with magnifying lens, and a 316L stainless steel Oyster bracelet.
How do you age 316L stainless steel?
316L steel is an austenitic marine-grade stainless steel, an alloy containing about 3% molybdenum that enhances corrosion resistance and increases strength. So how do the guys at Out Of Order go about ageing their cases and bracelets? In fact, the steel remains exactly as it is. The company have developed their own patented zinc-plating process. So it is this extra layer that is subsequently aged by means of hand-worked treatments. This ensures that every watch is unique. They could label their watches “Made in Italy”, but they prefer “Damaged in Italy”.
Swiss quartz movement
Out Of Order have opted for a Swiss Ronda 515 quartz movement for this piece. The watch will undoubtedly appeal to a young and trendy audience who appreciate the attractive colour combination along with the practicality of a quartz calibre. In addition, the hand-crafted distressing ensures that each piece is subtly different from all the others in the series.
Capitano
The watch is also made in a more traditional version named Capitano, with blue bezel and white dial, cream indices and hands.
Local values – le barene and the Venice lagoon
The photos provided by Out Of Order include lovely scenes of a picnic featuring water melon (of course) accompanied by the classic Veneto sparkling wine Prosecco. The location is probably one of those secrets, familiar only to locals: a “baransa” (in the local dialect) or “barena”. The “barene” are low, flat islands in the Venice lagoon that are occasionally submerged during high tide, and that in some parts of the lagoon are favourite picnic locations for young people.
Availability of Anguria and Capitano by Out Of Order
The two watches will be available for sale from 6.45 p.m. (CEST) on 17 June 2022. Further information from the Out Of Order website, outoforderwatches.com