Making predictions about watch trends and claiming that X year is the year of this design or that technology often sounds corny. But there are undeniable facts we just can’t ignore. The rising popularity of solar quartz movements for example which are having a moment since 2025 even though the technology is at least forty years old. One could assume that this is happening because mechanical watches cost a bit more each year and battery-operated watches are much cheaper to make and buy. Or that brands (and perhaps customers as well) are concerned about the environment and thus prefer to equip their watches with rechargeable quartz movements instead of those which require a battery change every two to three years. Or more simply, brands know that enthusiasts can be lazy and want to make their life easier by saving them from taking trips to their local watchmaker every so often. So the real popularity of solar quartz movements at this point in time could be explained by one of a few reasons. 

But the main point of these movements is that they make a lot of sense in all types of watches but especially utilitarian ones. Whether you’re a hardworking financier juggling a demanding job and a family, or a special operator away from home on long deployments, you may not find the time to bring your quartz powered timepiece to a watchmaker to swap the dead battery for a fresh one. Of course then rechargeable quartz watches are great because they offer the stellar accuracy of quartz calibers with the hassle-free nature of self-rechargeable mechanisms. They’re also cheap (around $30 USD) which is why, putting all of these benefits together, they are now being democratized. I personally prefer solar quartz calibers over regular ones for the reasons mentioned above. And amongst the plethora of brands on the market today, Momentum is one that has been at the forefront of this technology as we saw with the Sea Quartz 30 Eclipse Solar and as we’re about to see with the M-Ocean Eclipse. 

Specifications 

Momentum itself has been around for a long time and its niche market is highly-spec’ed out and attainable tool and sports watches. The legendary Sea Quartz 30 Eclipse Solar only costs $329 USD which is a small price to pay for such a complete diver. And the M-Ocean Eclipse will set you back $255 USD which is also a small fee to come to terms with for a good-rounder underwater exploration timepiece. The Canadian brand created a solid formula to offer different and unique designs which it combines with good mechanics to make reliable watches. The Sea Quartz is the type of diver I would take on a week-long dive trip somewhere exotic but it also works really well in a more urban setting, or a suburban and even a countryside one where the most adventure one gets is taking heavy grocery bags out of the trunk of a car. If you adore solid and legible tool watches you would do so wherever you live and whatever you do. Because we need to enjoy our watches everyday and be prepared for the unexpected. 

Which is what makes the M-Ocean a good candidate for this type of lifestyle—your lifestyle—as you are into tool watches and divers which is why you’re reading the words being typed at this very moment. What first distinguishes this model from many other divers on the market today is therefore the caliber within: the Epson (Seiko) VS22 solar quartz movement which comes with a stated accuracy of ±20 seconds per month, a running time of six months once fully charged (which takes anywhere between six and 60 hours depending on the light source) and a battery shelf life of anywhere between 10 to 20 years as far as I understand it. As many such movements do, when the seconds hand skips a beat it means it's running low on juice and you better get it in front of a light source as you would with Wall-E after a long nap. By the way, for $30 USD, a ± 20 seconds accuracy per month equals, on the worst end of the spectrum, gaining or losing 0.6 seconds per day which almost no mechanical movement can compete with. 

The M-Ocean Eclipse is more than its movement however regardless of how good the latter is. As rarely do we now see medium-sized divers which are paired with good depth ratings, or here a case measuring 38mm in diameter, 45.5mm lug-to-lug, 11.5mm thick, and coming with a 18mm lug width. To these dimensions we need to pair 200 meters of water resistance which comes from the 5.8mm screw-down crown and case-back. 18mm in lug width might sound odd at first until you take a quick glance at the case profile and the massive lugs which required a 18mm bracelet for the watch to be comfortable to wear on the wrist. This bracelet by the way is a charming semi-piece of old-school microbrand horology as it comes with quick-release spring-bars, push-pins, and a double-pusher deployant clasp with safety latch and three holes of micro-adjustments. It is old school indeed but light, comfortable, and probably inexpensive to make and the perfect choice for a sub-$300 diver. Quite a rarity in today’s market. 

Moreover, there is a sapphire crystal with inner anti-reflective coating and loads of green-glowing lume on the hands, printed hour markers, and twelve o’clock pip on the bezel. Just so you know. 

Design

Whilst the Sea Quartz 30’s design language was established in the 1970s and has traversed time without gaining any wrinkle, the one the M-Ocean is endowed with is much more modern and bold. There is something about recent solar quartz-powered timepieces which makes it virtually impossible to notice the solar cells hidden underneath the dial, thus removing the lack of starkness these watches normally are known to have in favor of proper utilitarian dials. Read: matte black and highly contrasting. The boldness of the M-Ocean stems from both the dial and the case and more particularly from the bezel which was designed and engineered to be actually easily operable above and below the water. The bezel assembly is composed of six sets of large plateau-shaped teeth which are separated from each other by another six sets of two much larger ones. In other words, one can easily grip and operate the bezel from any position on it which is practical to have on a diver and a clever piece of design. 

On its upper surface, the tactical-like bezel mechanism is complemented by a fully graduated count-up scale printed in silver atop a glossy black inlay, making it easy to read and visually balancing the indeed uber tactical aspect of the bezel assembly. At the twelve o’clock marker on the bezel we find a shield-shaped aperture in the center of which sits a large lumed dot which aligns with the minute hand to time a dive or something else. The whole bezel ecosystem is large and bold and claims a lot of the visual real estate of the M-Ocean as does the case: the long, large, and meaty lugs look superbly utilitarian, aid in making the watch sit firmly and securely on the wrist, but do not make the watch look or feel too big. Look at the indentations and recessed case flanks which physically and visually shrink the sides of the steel body. The latter elements also make the M-Ocean look badass (for the lack of a better noun) and contribute generously to the tactical and bold aspect of this timepiece. 

What is further interesting is that Momentum added meaty crown-guards but sized the crown on the moderate side of things (5.8mm) for two reasons: (1) once it’s set, you don’t need to fiddle with it very often; (2) the crown is fully protected against shocks as it should be on a tool watch. Again, a clever design language which transpired onto the dial which is equally purpose-driven and bold. It is rare (but neat) to find full stacks of Arabic numerals on dive watches but they make sense as they make it really easy to read the time at-a-glance. The numerals are entirely made of luminescent compound (green-glowing SuperLuminova) and are paired with the fully-graduated count-up scale on the bezel which can be used as a minute track when setting the time and not timing and event. This made it possible to keep the dial smaller (in relation to the bezel assembly), clean and legible, and the whole package to fit inside a 38mm case. A special mention should be made of the charming tiny date aperture. 

The Heart of the Matter

Medium-sized divers are not that common these days and they haven’t been, actually, for a long time. Even if the horological market in the past five years was marked by a decrease of watches’ diameters to “smaller” sub-40mm ones—in the 36 to 38mm range so not really tiny—dive watches were not affected by this temporary phenomenon. Field, dress, and even GMTs why not, but it is understood that divers always have had to be of certain dimensions in order to have the required depth rating, powerful daytime and nighttime legibility, and an operable bezel mechanism. So it is quite nice to see a brand release a medium-sized diver as 38mm is in that sweet spot for many, however equipped with a reliable and hassle-free caliber, more than enough water resistance, brighter than necessary lume, and intensely skin-grabbing bezel knurling. For $255 USD the Momentum M-Ocean Eclipse is therefore a rarity today and a type of dive watch many of us have been asking for for a long while. And that’s what is at the heart of the matter today. 

Conclusion 

The M-Ocean Eclipse was quietly released at the end of 2025 perhaps because it is simply a good and affordable tool watch, the kind only amateurs of solid, discreet, but competent utilitarian timekeeping devices seek to acquire. At $255 USD it offers tremendous value in addition to being graced with a unique design, making this particular diver an excellent option for this type of machine. By the way, $255 USD is how much the M-Ocean will set you back on the three-link stainless bracelet, but $230 USD on one of the four types of black rubber straps the brand offers as well. At the sound of sounding corny at last, I would be hard-pressed to find anything like it on the market today. The M-Ocean Eclipse is therefore another homerum for the Canadian brand. 

Thanks for reading.