After years of looking at and reviewing watches on a daily/weekly basis, I?m sometimes surprised by what I end up liking. Sometimes it?s a watch that I expected to be garish or too large, but is tame and fits well. Or a watch that is so simple that I expect it to be dull, but it ends up having a sophistication beyond the sum of its parts. Regardless, I enjoy these surprises as they keep me looking forward to new releases and trying out new watches. 
When I first saw the Mido Ocean Star, my reaction was, ?Well, okay. Nothing new here, but nothing offensive either, and certainly worth a closer look.? At a glance, the overall layout seemed well considered. There was nothing that gave me an immediate, ?Oh, no? reaction for sure, and the aesthetic felt pleasantly modern in a day when everything is trying to be vintage. 42mm is perhaps a touch large, but not over the top. Furthermore, 200 meters of water resistance, a sapphire crystal and one of Swatch Group’s handy 80-hour power reserve movements make it a nice package for around $1,000. Looking closer at the line, I was also intrigued by the different styles available in the Ocean Star series. There are a couple of standards?steel case with either a  blue or black dial?but there are also some more unique options, too. There is an all-titanium option, which is more toolish than the others, and then two that flirt with gold. One is all around rose gold accompanied by a black strap?which I get, but it’s not for me...