News · Ollech & Wajs

Ollech & Wajs revives its Early Bird as a true 24-hour watch

The 39.5mm EB-24 turns its hour hand once per day, adds a rotating second-time-zone bezel and retains 300-metre water resistance.

Hen & Mills Editorial · 3 min read · 25 August 2026

• The central hour hand completes one circuit every 24 hours, while the bidirectional bezel can indicate a second time zone.
• Its brushed 39.5mm steel case is 12.5mm thick and carries a 300-metre water-resistance rating.
• The numbered edition costs CHF1,956 on its black leather and natural-linen strap, with delivery estimated at four weeks.

The Ollech & Wajs Early Bird returns to a layout that asks you to read time differently. Its central hour hand travels around the dial once every 24 hours, not twice, while a rotating 24-hour bezel can be used to follow a second time zone. The format is unusual, but the watch around it is built for practical use, with 300-metre water resistance and a compact 39.5mm steel case.

This numbered edition reimagines the Swiss company’s 1965 Early Bird. It is priced at CHF1,956 on a black leather and natural-linen strap, and Ollech & Wajs estimates delivery in four weeks.

One turn of the dial per day

Most analogue watches divide the day into two 12-hour circuits. The EB-24 instead places a complete set of 24 hours around the black dial. Its arrow-shaped hour hand makes one circuit per day, passing midnight at the triangle at 12 o’clock and noon at the lower triangle. A conventional central minute hand and slender seconds hand preserve the familiar parts of reading the time.

The format takes a moment to learn, but it presents the whole day in one continuous sweep. Smaller odd-numbered hours sit inside the larger applied markers, providing the references needed to read the afternoon and evening without mental conversion.

Because the primary hour hand already indicates all 24 hours, the bezel does not need a separately adjustable GMT hand to show another zone. Instead, the wearer aligns the bezel scale with the required offset and reads that zone against the same hand.

Around the dial is a bidirectional friction bezel with an anodised aluminium insert. Its blue and red halves carry a second 24-hour scale. Rotating that scale relative to the main hour hand provides a simple way to track another time zone without adding a fourth hand or a date window. The display remains symmetrical, with the EB-24 name and 300M rating balanced near six o’clock.

A 39.5mm case rated to 300 metres

Ollech & Wajs makes the case from brushed 316L stainless steel in the Swiss Jura. It measures 39.5mm in diameter, 12.5mm thick and 48mm from lug to lug. The 20mm lug spacing suits the supplied strap and leaves plenty of scope for alternatives.

The case uses a screw-down crown and screw-down caseback, helping it reach a stated water-resistance rating of 300 metres. An anti-reflective sapphire crystal covers the dial. White Super-LumiNova fills the hands and hour markers, including the large triangular points that organise the 24-hour display.

Those specifications give the Early Bird a purposeful footing. Its blue-and-red bezel and unconventional hour track are visually emphatic, but the case is sized more like an everyday sports watch than an oversized instrument.

Soprod’s C-125 runs the 24-hour display

The automatic movement is a bespoke version of the Soprod C-125. It drives the hour hand through one rotation per day and includes stop seconds for more precise setting. Ollech & Wajs states a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, or 4Hz, along with 25 jewels and a 42-hour power reserve.

The movement uses Incabloc shock protection and is adjusted in three positions. The brand quotes daily accuracy between minus seven and plus seven seconds. A customised Ollech & Wajs rotor and dedicated screws distinguish this version of the calibre.

There is no date display. That decision is especially sensible here because the 24-hour architecture already asks the eye to process two concentric scales and a fully marked bezel. A date aperture would add another interruption without contributing to the central idea.

Leather as standard, steel as an option

The listed price includes a 20mm strap made from Italian leather and natural linen, finished in Switzerland and closed with a stainless-steel pin buckle. The black strap pulls the focus towards the dial and bezel while keeping the overall package relatively light.

Ollech & Wajs also offers its M-Link stainless-steel bracelet as an alternative. Some of the brand’s product photography shows the watch on that bracelet, so buyers should note that it is not the configuration included at the base price. The watch carries a three-year warranty.

Ollech & Wajs Early Bird price and availability

The Ollech & Wajs Early Bird Numbered Edition is available now at CHF1,956, including the black leather and natural-linen strap. The brand processes orders in Swiss francs and does not publish a separate Australian list price, so no converted Australian figure is included here.

Ollech & Wajs gives an estimated delivery time of four weeks. The numbered-edition name indicates that individual watches are numbered, but the brand does not state a fixed production total on the product page.