The Mido Commander Shade Special Edition watches hands-on

In a time characterized by modern regular logos with large characters in capital letters, it is nice to see that there are still manufacturers who can come up with a classic logo in italics and bold fonts. It is a clear reference to nostalgia and the time of those Belle Époque signs, but also a tribute to that type of watchmaking that is no longer in fashion. The Mido Commander Shade Special Edition celebrates that spirit and it is an invite to all those people whose drawers still host a three-hands-timepiece with a “turned” dial, where a patina has formed on the tritium indexes and the colour of the dial has changed if compared to the original shade. A three-hands-timepiece crafted between the 50s and the 70s can be summarized just like that and the Commander collection celebrates that time, despite the flavour of the Shade 2018 collection being somehow different.

Mido’s 100th Anniversary

Anniversaries should be celebrated more often, even if hundred years anniversaries are celebrated only once in a lifetime and represent a date that is considered much more important than others. At the turn of the century brands release many novelties and also give us an idea of the direction that they plan to take in the near future. Mido reached this milestone with an impressive firepower and a myriad of new collections that raised the brand’s perception and celebrated its history. Some of these collections, like the Datometer, reiterate the historical pedigree of the brand, whereas other collections, like the Trilogy, show us the manufacturer’s ability to craft the same watch in multiple versions. Other collections, like the Mido Commander Shade Special Edition, celebrate that golden age between the 50s and 70s before the great quartz revolution.

The Mido Commander Icone that belongs to the Commander collection is a beautiful watch that, however, can nothing against the vintage charm of the Shade that perfectly summarizes the spirit of a brand born in the 20^th century, a time that marked the beginning of the industrial and architectural revolutions. Mido is, today, not only associated with the Multifort collection (as it used to be a few years ago), but other collections also are starting to gain popularity (the Ocean Star Captain Titanium, for instance, has reached quite an unprecedented success).

The Commander Shade is the quintessence of a vintage watch

In this case too, and perhaps even more than on previous occasions, Mido filled an almost non-existent nice because watches like the Mido Commander Shade Special Edition with its three hands and its radically vintage day and date are virtually unheard of. The watch features a 37mm case built in two parts and with a slightly cushion-type shape, it sports a Milanese mesh that hides inside the case and an acrylic glass with an embossed Mido logo.

As with the other classic Commander watches, the glass extends beyond the edge of the case, while the historic Mido logo and the Commander writing are applied on to a fumé color dial. This is actually the big novelty; the fumé color dial that Mido’s designers coupled, on the dove-gray version, to the PVD-treated stainless steel case in pink gold color – a trademark of the brand that debuted, as far as I remember, on the Mido Belluna.

The combined presence of the day and the date and also the edge of the large rectangular window placed at 3 o’clock combined with the two logos and the squared and diamond-cut indexes give us the perception that this timepiece is positioned at a higher level than the other classic Commander timepiece, and is where the vintage spirit achieves a perfect synthesis.

The calibre hosted within the Commander Shade

People don’t usually buy a Mido Commander Shade Special Edition because it boasts 80 hours of power reserve for example but, rather, because it features both the date and the day on the dial. For the Mido Commander Shade Special Edition, Mido chose therefore the ETA 2836–2 caliber that does its job very well and does so for at least 38 hours when fully charged. All the calibers belonging to the ETA family are now exclusively designated for the group’s brands and are subject to a continuous and almost invisible improvement process that only those in the know can fully appreciate and that are barely noticed by the readers.

What is most interesting to us is that this is a decorated movement, whose oscillating mass features a Côtes de Genève decoration and also that this refinement work aims at guaranteeing a greater degree of reliability and precision; the added value for those who are looking into buying this watch. If you want to put your hands on a Mido Commander Shade Special Edition you will need to fork out 700 euro; the proof that you can create something authentic and with all the necessary features to be considered a vintage, but still modern watch, without having to spend a fortune.

(Photo credit: Horbiter®’s proprietary photo-shooting)

Gaetano C @Horbiter®

Instagram – Gaetano Cimmino