by Rob Nudds
How an ocean storm taught us how to build a better watch
I’ve been working with Straum for the past five years. For the first four of those years, I worked exclusively as an external product development consultant. As such, I’ve seen the agonisingly long, emotionally draining, and intellectually challenging process the boys (Lasse and Øystein) put themselves through to create the very best watch possible.
It breeds respect, seeing the microns of material they wrestle with every day. They had successful careers as product developers before they started Straum together, and it shows.
They are exceptional at one part of the process to which I’ve never practically applied myself. For the most part, I either analyse, advise, or assemble. I can’t use CAD and am wowed by how quickly they can translate a spoken suggestion into machinable angles on screen. It’s humbling to see, and I’m glad I’m able to bring something to the table despite being surrounded by such wizardry.
Something, in this case, that we discovered by accident, in the middle of the Greenland Sea, more than four years ago in August 2022, while halfway through our journey to Jan Mayen.
A gale-force 8 storm battered our boat. At its apex, we lost our mainsail. We managed to get the boat under control before the worst could happen, and we powered up the generator and limped on to the foot of Beerenberg, the world’s northernmost active stratovolcano that comprises the majority of the remote, Norwegian-owned island of Jan Mayen.
I’d been in the pilot house for the most dramatic moments of the near-calamity and thus had a 360-degree view of the environment, our equipment, and the men busying themselves with keeping a ship’s movements in our hands and not those of the clawing squall.
Surrounding us on all sides (in turn) were seven meter high waves, coloured “slate blue” (as I remember calling it at the time). Behind me, draped over and clipped to the C-shaped seat that wrapped around the table at which we’d previously enjoyed a pleasant glass of wine, bathed in midnight sunshine, were ten fluorescent orange immersion suits, prepared for us to don, should the worst be about to happen (that would’ve been us going in the drink).
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Thankfully, that chilling possibility never manifested. What manifested instead, three years later in November 2025, was the Jan Mayen Stormy Seas special edition for The Real Time Show (my podcast), inspired by that precise moment and the contrast between the grey-blue ocean trying to kill us, and the blazing orange survival suits hoping to keep us alive.
But that’s just aesthetics, right?
Wrong.
Those suits are orange for a reason. Realising that started me on a thought exercise that has yet to conclude. In the process of that exercise, I was able to better understand how the “why” and the “where” affect the “what” directly. Yes, form should follow function, but better still, the two should be interwoven, not one behind the other, but both standing side-by-side, holding hands, and staring, steely-eyed, out toward a bright horizon of limitless opportunity…
I digress.
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What You See
In 1978, American vexillologist Whitney Smith even proposed an Antarctic flag featuring international orange, partly because of its visibility in polar environments.
It’s the same colour family used on San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, which has the considerable task of making itself visible through some fairly determined fog.
Of course, a fluorescent seconds hand isn’t a substitute for proper luminous time displays. But the principle behind the colour choice remains sound: strong contrast makes important visual information easier to distinguish.
In this case, it also happens to look fantastic.
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What you Feel
Cold weather has a wonderful way of making you reconsider your relationship with metal.
Steel is perfectly capable of surviving Arctic conditions, but its relatively high thermal conductivity means it can feel distinctly unpleasant against cold skin.
Grade 5 titanium conducts heat considerably more slowly. It’s also light, strong, highly resistant to corrosion, and relatively stable through temperature changes.
For the Stormy Seas Titanium, we chose a hardened grade 5 titanium case (which now has the option of a micro-adjustable grade 5 titanium bracelet), with a predominantly media-blasted finish.
The result feels entirely appropriate for the watch’s intended environment, while retaining the unmistakable character of Straum’s design.
The alternative FKM rubber strap offers another practical option. Fluoroelastomers resist saltwater, oils, and environmental degradation exceptionally well, while suitably formulated compounds can maintain flexibility at low temperatures.
What you Hear
A watch can have all the titanium in Norway and still be thoroughly useless if its movement isn’t up to the job.
We selected the La Joux-Perret G101 for three characteristics. First, its 68-hour power reserve offers considerable breathing room between periods of wear. Second, its 28,800 vibrations-per-hour frequency provides a sensible balance between timekeeping stability and power consumption. It doesn’t make the watch immune to shocks, but 4 Hz is a well-established choice for an active mechanical watch. Third, and perhaps most interestingly, it winds in only one direction.
That sounds like a disadvantage. Surely two directions are better than one?
Not necessarily.
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When the G101’s rotor turns in its non-winding direction, it can move freely, building momentum before returning to engage the winding mechanism.
Meanwhile, bidirectional systems typically rely on additional reversing components to harvest energy from both directions. Those parts introduce friction, require lubrication, and can eventually wear.
Under certain real-world conditions, an efficient unidirectional mechanism can perform as well as, or better than, a bidirectional alternative. It also dispenses with some mechanical complication.
That doesn’t guarantee superior reliability, but reducing unnecessary components is a sensible starting point when designing equipment intended to work far from civilisation.
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Finally, there’s the small matter of stopping the ocean from getting inside your watch.
A screw-down crown, threaded caseback, and 100-metre water-resistance rating form the basis of Stormy Seas’ protection against moisture. The threaded construction avoids separate caseback retaining screws, although the integrity of the seals and their correct installation remain essential.
None of this makes the watch indestructible. That’s not the objective.
The objective is to make intelligent choices, understand their limitations, and test those choices somewhere that doesn’t forgive wishful thinking.
Five years with Straum have convinced me that restrictions are often a designer’s greatest ally. When every component must justify its existence, creativity becomes more focused, not less.
The Straum x TRTS Stormy Seas Jan Mayen Titanium is the product of that philosophy.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend nearly sinking a boat as a standard product-development exercise.
But I can’t deny it worked for us…
The Straum × TRTS Stormy Seas Jan Mayen Titanium is currently available on www.straum.co but will be discontinued at 18:00 CET on November 17. After this sales window closes, this model will not return.
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About the author
Rob Nudds is a watchmaker, writer, podcaster, and consultant with more than two decades of industry experience. A WOSTEP-certified graduate of the British School of Watchmaking, he has earned the nickname “The Swiss Army Knife of Watchmaking” through his work in design, retail, journalism, and brand development. Rob has written more than 1,000 articles, cohosts The Real Time Show, and serves as Head of Brand Development at Arcanaut.
You can follow Rob on Instagram, or learn more from his website.
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