2014-03-23

Pita Oceana 5000 REVIEW

BACKGROUND From inception to realization, Barcelona based Pita's creations include the Carousel, where its entire movement rotates on its own axis to read the time, to the Oceana, an über dive watch with two patented systems that allow for up to 5000 meters of water-resistance.

The Oceana was developed in-house by a fastidious father and son team with Aniceto Jiménez Pita, a self-taught watchmaker and AHCI member at the helm. The Oceana took several years to develop - not only is it one of the deepest diving mechanical watches that there is, but it is also one of the most advanced and evolved that there is . . .



PRESENTATION The Oceana came presented in a specially developed Stainless steel cylindrical box with a domed glass window at the top for viewing the watch. Inside was the Oceana, safely nestled into the center of a piece of high-density foam, flanked by two compartments for housing additional straps.

The outer box is in high quality cardboard, it contained the Oceana's warranty card and a booklet with the Oceana’s instructions and some history including photos and technical drawings relating to the watch's development.



DIAL The Oceana has matte (almost anthracite) black dial with white combination baton hour markers and Arabic numerals at 2, 4, 8 and 10 o'clock. The placement of the Arabic numerals balances out well with the 'Pita Barcelona' logo at 12 and the 'oceana' text at 6. However I am not convinced of the necessity to have both types of markers.



My personal preference is for wider baton and or circular markers which can accommodate a generous application of lume. Despite this the dial does have a certain amount of elegance. It is fitted with a simple set of white swords hands and a somewhat quirky star-shaped seconds indicator, which doubles as a chromatic depth gauge; itself made up of three interlocking colored triangular arms in blue, red and yellow.



A little known fact is how color / light behaves as you descend into the depths - basically the deeper you venture into ocean, the less color there is. Red disappears first, then orange, followed by yellow then green and finally blue.

CASE The Oceana features a 43mm in diameter x 21mm thick, drum-shaped modular case made up of 121 components. If 21mm sounds a little too thick, there is an 18mm version that has a WR of 2000m. The Grade5 Titanium (TiAl6V4) case has been finished with brushed finish, but if you prefer something a little stealthier, an optional black DLC coating is also available. One of the benefits of Titanium is that it is 45% lighter than Stainless steel.



BEZEL The Oceana is fitted with what Pita call an ‘Inverted rotary bezel’ (also in G5 Ti). Basically the bezel rotates in a clockwise fashion rather than anticlockwise as is traditional. The bezel's features included: a black dive-time scale in 5min increments and a row of tooth-shaped bezel notches. Perhaps they aren’t quite as pronounced as I would have like them, but they still offer a more than adequate amount of grip. The bezel is nice and tight (if not a little ratchet-like).



Directly below the notches, at the base of the bezel are these tiny black indications; I didn't count them all (sorry) but I would imagine that there are precisely 120 ;) The Oceana's lugs are separate to the mid-case. From the sides they fall down in a tear-drop with arms that lock into the side of the case. At the top of the each of the lugs there’s a small channel in which the bezel runs. It's a pretty cool piece of engineering and one that gives the Oceana a sleeker profile by hiding much of the bezel's height.



BACK Something that becomes immediately apparent when looking upon the Oceana’s back is that it is relatively thin for a 5000 meter water-resistant diver. Not only that, but the back is almost completely flat except for the very slightest rise in height at its center. Like the main case and the rest of its components, it is constructed from G5 Ti.

It is characterized by 32 black teeth that protrude out from its side. These form the grip for manipulation of the Pita-TSM (Time Setting Mechanism) and Pita-RT (Remote Transmission), which allows the time to be set without a traditional crown system.



CRYSTAL The Oceana is fitted with an 8.2mm thick rounded Acrylic polycarbonate crystal; a high-performance thermoplastic that is lightweight, impact-resistant, shatterproof and virtually unbreakable. It is much lighter than Sapphire crystal, but unfortunately is not scratch-resistant!

However if the crystal does become scratched, it can be quickly and easily restored with a dab of white toothpaste and a few minutes of rubbing with the tip of your finger. If that doesn’t sound like fun – Pita offer an optional Japanese made Sapphire crystal.



WR The Oceana has a water-resistance of 5000 meters that has been independently tested in Germany. It is one of only a handful of mechanical dive watches that have such a high water-resistance.

It achieves this by use of two patented systems for a ‘water-entry free case’: the Pita-TSM (Time Setting Mechanism) and the Pita-RT (Remote Transmission). The watch has no crown, no case back cover, so no weak points! These ingenious systems eliminate what would be the watch’s most vulnerable points, where water could enter.



MOVEMENT The Oceana is powered by a Pita-003 movement, which features two patented systems (mentioned above) that allow the time to be set underwater! It is the only mechanical watch in the world that allows you (if need be) to set the time underwater.

However Pita have incorporated a special safety feature into the Oceana’s back that automatically locks the TSM with the ends of the strap as soon as the watch is secured to your wrist, so that there can be no accidental adjustment of time whilst wearing the watch.



Because the watch has no winding crown, the only way that you are able achieve a full reserve of power is by shaking it from side to side and because of the position of the rotor the watch must be held in a particular manner on each side of the case. If you have a hard tiled or stone floor at home, I highly recommend conducting this unusual and potentially hazardous (for the case if dropped) maneuver over a soft surface such as a bed or a large sofa.

LUME The Oceana’s hands, dial markers, numerals and dial text are all applied with C3 Swiss Superluminova, which emits a green light. Whilst the lume isn’t particularly bright, it is quite long lasting. I would rate the lume at good.



STRAP The Oceana comes with choice of 3 different colored custom rubber straps. I am not sure of the rubber‘s exact compositions, but it is very firm and lightweight. A lot a thought has gone into its design, so that it has this 3-dimensional quality to it with bold ‘oceana’ lettering on its sides and deep contours on its underside that allow water to drain away and let your wrist breath. Even the end of the strap has been specially shaped so that it can pass more easily under its two keepers.

BUCKLE The Oceana’s rubber divers strap is fitted with big ‘n’ chunky Titanium buckle. That actual buckle’s footprint isn’t that big, but it’s sides are quite high. The top of the buckle is signed ‘Pita’.



BUILD Every last component of the Oceana has been flawlessly executed; from its tightly fitting bezel to the crisp dial. From the highly accurate Pita-003 movement to its custom rubber strap. It is hard to fault with the Oceana.

on the WRIST The Oceana’s case is constructed from G5 Titanium which is extremely lightweight – coupled with its PC-crystal, which is also very lightweight, the Oceana weighs in at a mere 130grams – not bad for a 5000m diver. In addition to this the Oceana’s Ti back is very comfortable against the wrist owning Ti’s hypoallergenic properties.

It does sit up fairly high on the wrist, but this is to be expected with 21mm of thickness. Still because it is so light-weight and because it fits so nicely to your wrist, you hardly notice that you’re wearing a watch let alone a 5000 meter leviathan!



PRICE Reviewed here is the ‘Pita Oceana 2011 Titanium Edition’: numbered and limited to just 99 pieces. It is available directly from Pita Barcelona priced 4,975€(just of 6860USD).

CONSIDER There are a number of exciting deep mechanical divers on the market today, but none quite as unique or innovative in their design as the Oceana is. You might consider any of the following: the Aquadive BS300, the Ball DeepQUEST, the CX 20,000feet, the Hublot Oceanographic 4000, the Helberg CH1 or the UTS 4000M.


© OceanicTime
OVERALL rating / 5  
Created, designed and personalized in Barcelona, the Oceana strikes a balance between traditional artisan watch-making techniques and high-tech engineering. Each of its technical innovations has been intelligently thought out, so that they seamlessly integrate into the watch as whole. The Oceana isn’t just one these deep divers that is defined by its water-resistance alone (as many are); rather it is defined by those innovations that lead to it.

What it lacks in luxuriousness, it makes up for in good old-fashioned hand-craftsmanship. You can almost smell the blood, sweat and tears that must have been shed during its 5 long years of development. A customer once asked, Aniceto: “When will you create a dive watch? To which he replied: “The day I make one, it will be a one of a kind!”and that it is!

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