The Mido (pronounced ‘Mee doe’) Ocean Star reference 5907, part of the Ocean Star Series, was apparently released in 1961 (though other information dated the introduction 1959/1960, possibly due to the initial Ocean Star series release in 1959) through 1965. The most common dial variant Mido ref 5907, known also as the “Rainbow Diver” and “Powerwind 1000”, features a colorful “exotic” dial, with bright concentric rings highlighting decompression times for depths down to 149 feet.
The “deep dive timer”, as it was called in Mido marketing materials, was produced with different color backgrounds against the “rainbow” dials, in feet and metres versions, date and no-date, and in enough combinations of tension ring color and lume plots that many of the remaining reference 5907s are seemingly unique in configuration.
Please note that this research of the Mido 5907 focuses exclusively on the colorful “rainbow” dial examples. Beyond this dial design we also see an all black dial ref 5907 on occasion. Although I do not follow these, the only examples I know of feature ‘Mido’ printed on the dial, with ‘OCEAN STAR’ text below the center post, ‘SWISS T’ and ‘< 25 mc' at the bottom at 6 o'clock, and black date. These I see in the 305xxxx serial range.
Special shout-out to Justin Vrakas at watchsteez for the assistance. Thanks!
Below is my attempt to aggregate all of the Mido ref 5907s I have seen. Though I expected to find more, after exhaustive research I was surprised to find less than 30 examples.
For watches where I do not know the serial number, I have identified it by any portion of the serial number known, plus a post date. The watch represented on each row is intended to be unique within the table, though as watches are bought and sold, there may be some in the table with unknown serial numbers that are the same watch (if you know of any, please let me know).
If you see any errors, or know of other Mido 5907s to add, please drop me a note with links or information.
Production dates were provided by Mido.
I have heard there are a number of Mido 5907 that are owned that are being held by one individual. I am not sure the plans for those, but I would not be surprised to see more trickle out over time. As always, I’ll continue to add to the table below as I see them.
Caveats:
Description of case, hands, dial, applied emblem, tension ring, and crown are based on images found on the internet, and often are guesses for images where the part is not clearly shown. The price shown may be the asking price (converted to USD as of the date posted/seen), though the “true” prices in this table will be shown for closed auctions.
A few different elements are seen on the dial, all worth highlighting.
Colorful circles
What makes the Mido ref 5907 stand out in a crowd is the colorful dial, design to prevent confusion during dives, with each concentric circle representing the decompression period necessary.
Each of the four different depth circles begin with “0” and increase as you read clockwise within the circle. The amount of time from 12 o’clock to the “0” is the “clean time”, which is the time not requiring decompression. The numerals following the “0” on the circle indicate the decompression period required in relation to the time spent under water and the depth reached.
Okay, so I’m diving, how do I read this #$@!& dial?!
As an example, on a METRES/METERS dial, the outer blue ring reads “40” at 12 o’clock, which indicates that circle should be used for depths from 40 to 45 metres (depths beyond 45 metres are not shown due to the danger of divers’ narcosis). The “0” appears opposite the 10 minute mark, indicating you can stay at 40-45 metres for 10 minutes without requiring decompression. If you stay for 25 minutes, you would look opposite the 25 minute mark and read 30 within the blue circle, indicating you require 30 minutes of decompression.
How to Read The Mido 5907
Interesting, we can see the change in decompression tables from early white dials to later black dials (see below), specifically a change to the most shallow and deepest depth shown on the dial.
Let’s use the metres dial for an example. With the early white dial (top left, below), if you were at a depth of 40 metres for 55 minutes (outer blue ring), you would require 80 minutes of decompression. Using the later black dial (top right, below), at the same depth and time we see a new dive table is used, advising a more conservative 90 minutes.
Similarly we can see the dive tables change for diving at 25 metres (center yellow ring), again comparing top row images below. At 25 metres the earlier dial shows diving for approximately 34 minutes without requiring decompression, whereas the later dial indicates you can dive to 30 minutes without decompression.
For dive times in the middle of the range shown on the dial (30-35 metres), we also see decompression recommended starting slightly earlier in the dive.
The four dial variations on the Mido ref 5907
Outer dial color
The outer edge of the dial, beyond the blue ring, will be either black or white in color.
Other than that space, dial colors be the same for all watches – the colored decompression timing rings, the white center circle, and black background color where depths are shown at 12 o’clock. I should say that is the case for…most all watches. I have seen images of one watch with depths on a white background, shown below. This dial has much lighter rings, which appear faded, though so consistent in fade that I would be interested in seeing in person, and utilizes a different dive table than those used on pieces noted above. This watch can be most easily identified by the 75 minute decompression time on the outer blue ring at 55 minutes. This interesting watch is an early serial (2210569), which presumably accounts for the use of a different dive table. We see a more conservative dive table used for watches with lower serial numbers, as well as later serials, before the shift again to a still more conservative table.
Mido 5907 with different dive table
Units of measurement
At the top of each dial on either side of the index mark at 12 o’clock is text for the unit of measurement, reading either METRES – METERS or FEET – FEET.
Overall we see more dials with metres/meters as the unit of measurement versus feet.
Numerals within inner circle
Inside the center concentric circle are numerals 3, 6, 9 and 12, with the applied ‘Mido’ emblem just below the 12. The applied Mido emblem appears to be silver on black dials and gold on white dials, though on a number of the images found it is quite difficult to be certain of the color.
Depending on the watch, the hour numerals may or may not be luminous, and there may or may not be plots indicating hours other than 3, 6, 9 and 12. There are no hard and fast rules on when numerals are luminous (though it is uncommon on white dials) and when there are plots (uncommon on black dials).
Text at 6 o’clock
Mido 5907s in the 221x and 310x ranges will have SWISS MADE text at 6 o’clock, with SWISS to the left of the 6 marker, and MADE to the right. In the 252x range we expect to see T SWISS MADE T. We see this text consistently on both black and white dials.
We see three different production batches, with all Mido’s one-piece case to eliminate water leakage at the back of the watch, and was tested to a depth of 300m/1000 feet (I have not found any reference to testing of these depths with the cork seal). The watch is a patented Bernard Taubert (15 June 1960 (Patent No. CH346175)) front-loading (with the movement placed in the case before the crown and winding stem is inserted) design, requiring a special Mido Ocean Star tool to remove and fit the crystal, a system known as “Permalift”.[1] For those looking, these Mido Ocean Star tools may still be found reasonably easily on eBay, and were designed and patented by Taubert as well. [3]
Paired with this case is the “Aquadura” cork sealing system, which was Mido’s successor after the Taubert & Fils corked-sealed winding stem patent (Brevet No. 130942, 1928) expired. [2] It appears that Mido claims to have the patent on the cork seal in 1934, though this follows Taubert & Fils, and curiously Mido shows an image from the Taubert patent on their Mido history web page.
The case measures 38mm across all patches, 45mm lug to lug. Each production period has some standard configurations of case plus other features (dial color, unit of measurement (metres or feet), tension ring color, lume plots on the tension ring, etc.) though there are so many different variations in the Mido ref 5907, it is reasonable to assume that this list may change as more are found.
Mk 1 (1959-62):
First production batch
Serial number located between the lugs
No reference number or serial number stamped on caseback
White dial
No date window
Gold hour and seconds hand (always with white dials)
Non-luminous hour index marks, numerals in center circle, and center plots
Black or white tension ring, with or without lume plots
Mk 1 Transitional (1962):
Second production batch
Reference number is stamped on caseback
Black dials first appeared in this batch
Date window first appeared in this batch
Silver hour and seconds hand
White tension ring
Inside caseback:
[no image available]
Mk 2 (1962-65):
Last batch
Serial number and reference number are stamped on caseback
Predominantly white dials
Date window
There are two types of bezels found on the Mido 5907.
The first bezel, which we see appear up through early 22106xxx case numbers, features the number “0”. The second bezel type, later in number (which is most pieces, starting at 221063xx), feature a solid dot instead. All bezels are bi-directional, with black paint for the numbers, marks, and dot as applicable.
The Mido 5907 Bi-Directional Bezels (L: early, R: later)
