Cadola Overdrive

by Tyler Frederick

Racing in Black & Gold

Black and gold is such a powerful colour scheme. The contrast of light meeting dark, stealth meeting elegance, and glint—or, in my case, a reminder of vintage motorsport and anything that had a John Player Special livery. I’ll plug it again: my favorite car of all time, the Lotus 97T driven by Ayrton Senna. Over the last couple of months, I’ve developed a relationship with the team at Cadola, and one that continues to grow and flourish, watch by watch. My initial impressions of it being too big were quickly remedied with my previous review of the Buxton, and now Cadola brings a new challenger and watch to their catalog: the Overdrive. In its all gold and black colour scheme, it’s reminiscent of vintage motorsport, and it’s a watch I’ve really looked forward to checking out.

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Motorsport aesthetics

There’s something about unboxing a new watch that brings such a level of satisfaction, especially if it’s a watch not yet released. It creates a special and deeper connection with the watch, but that won’t leave room for a biased review. The Overdrive piqued my interest right from the get-go when the team so kindly showed me the renders—a square-cased watch, aggressive bezel, domed crystal, and while other colours were available, something about the black and gold caught my eye and brought a massive smile to my face. It had a similar vibe to the Buxton, but the Overdrive gave more motorsport-esque aesthetics, and I’ve been on a big gold kick over the last few months, so the black and gold was a no-brainer.

The initial unboxing was your standard Cadola packaging with shades of pale yellow, blue, and orange, featuring some “mud” pattern on the box. This was surprising because the Overdrive seems like it would be more of a special or limited edition, but I digress. I was greeted with the black and gold beauty, and my first thought was, “This is better than I was expecting.” The finish on the case is consistent and has a nice warm tone of gold; the black is a perfect contrast, and the choice of orange to accent the hands was a great call.

^{Better than I expected @horologyobsessed}

Key Features of the Cadola Overdrive

A hint of NASCAR

The Overdrive stays on track with Cadola’s design inspiration from motorsport, specifically the 70s and 80s, and the watch fits the bill entirely. Yes, I’m reminded of the Lotus 97T, but there’s something more to it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. As I’m writing this, it hit me. While the brand typically stays within sports cars and Formula series for inspiration, I can’t help but think of NASCAR and Bobby Allison’s 1988 “Miller High Life” Buick, which was also driven by Bobby Hillin Jr. The tone of gold between the car and the watch is quite similar, and the subtle black from the tires creates a contrast like the black bezel on the Overdrive. Come on, you see it, right? Many don’t have the most positive outlook on NASCAR, but I mean this in the best way possible. I grew up a NASCAR kid and still love it.

^{Miller High Life Buick driven by Bobby Allison}

Noticeable heft

On the wrist, the Overdrive feels noticeable, in a slightly big way. The case measures 41mm in diameter, with a 47mm lug-to-lug and 15.5mm thickness. It’s a sizable watch that’s quite wide and tall, but the lug-to-lug measurement enhances the wearing experience, allowing it to be comfortable on my 6.5-inch wrist. There is quite a bit of heft to the watch, which is especially surprising considering it’s not on a bracelet, but on a canvas and silicon hybrid strap—supple, soft, and comfortable to wear. However, I feel the strap might make the watch stand a little taller than it actually is. If it were a standard FKM rubber strap, that might tighten up the wearing experience and allow the watch to sit more snugly on the wrist. That being said, if you have wrists on the larger side of 7+ inches, this will be perfect for you. I still enjoy wearing it with smaller wrists, but I feel this, along with many other watches from Cadola, is meant for those with thicker wrists. I enjoy wearing the Overdrive, I just need to be prepared to wear a larger watch in general.

^{Overdrive side profile @horologyobsessed}

Numerals on numerals

The front of the watch is where the party is, and there’s quite a bit to unpack. The Overdrive features a 120-click unidirectional bezel with gold 12-hour numerals, followed by an internal chapter ring with gold 24-hour numerals, allowing for tracking different time zones when you’re traveling. But wait, there’s more! There’s another ring around the dial for your minutes and seconds, followed by the gold indices leading to the black dial and orange hand set. There are a lot of numbers going on with this watch, but somehow it isn’t cluttered.

Yes, there’s plenty going on, but it’s not overwhelming; it just works. I think due to the lack of dial text and allowing some breathing space for the logo and your standard “automatic” and water resistance text, it seems much cleaner than others I’ve seen that try to jam-pack the dial with features and text. It’s a very well-balanced and sporty look that maintains its vintage aesthetic while not being too over the top. All in all, it’s a stunning dial. Now, the crystal is sapphire and AR coated, but it seems to still reflect pretty heavily, so possibly a thin layer of anti-reflective coating? Nonetheless, the upgrade from mineral to sapphire has been made, and it’s a welcome upgrade.

^{Plenty of detail around the dial @horologyobsessed}

SPECS

Case	316L Stainless Steel 41mm Diameter 47mm Lug to Lug 15.5mm Thick 22mm Lug Width 100m Water Resistance
Dial & Crystal	AR-Coated Sapphire Black Dial w/ Gilt Accents Sword Handset “C3-Like” Green Lume
Movement	Miyota 8215 Automatic 21 Jewels 21 600 vph 42+ Hour Power Reserve
Strap	Hybrid Canvas/Silicon Strap

Cadola Overdrive

^{Black & Gold Goodness @horologyobsessed}

Quibbles

While it’s a beautiful watch, it’s on the larger side and the strap doesn’t necessarily help with that; in fact it could be blowing the sizing out of proportion slightly, and a different strap could change the entire wearing experience. For many the dial will be busy, but for me it’s a good kind of busy. There’s a lot of detail going on, plenty to look at and thanks to the contrasting orange hands, telling the time is easy. The only thing I would ask is to delete the date window. I’m not a fan of a date, and having the dial balanced with a marker instead of the date would be fantastic.

Final Thoughts & Pricing

All in all, my experience with the Cadola Overdrive has been a good one. Despite its size and presence on the wrist, it’s comfortable to wear, and the overall look hits the nail on the head of cross-pollinating vintage motorsport in a modern package. The Overdrive impressed me and is a great watch to follow the return of the popular Buxton; both are probably the most “complete” watches Cadola has sent over. However, if we could just trim the thickness down by about 2-3mm, I would appreciate that so much. If there could be an Overdrive in 39mm with a 12mm case and, say, 44mm lug-to-lug, my goodness. This version is good, but I live in the land of 36-39mm, so, yeah, I thought I’d speak my mind.

The Cadola Overdrive is now available through Cadola, and this variant (1063-06) retails for $320 ($440 CAD). As always, thank you so much for taking the time to read my review! Until next time, have a fantastic morning, afternoon, or evening depending on where you’re from, and I’ll see you soon!

About the author

Born into a family obsessed with motorsport, Tyler Frederick became enamoured with speed and beautiful cars at a young age. His love of Formula 1–and all things mechanical–eventually lead him to horology. You can follow him on Instagram.

Off The Cuff articles are full-length, hands-on reviews of the watch in question and represent the opinion of the author only. All photos are original, unless specified otherwise. If you would like to have your watch reviewed on this site, contact us here.