Milus Unveil Archimèdes Worldtimer Blue Odyssey Compression Diver

Milus have released a new interpretation of their Archimèdes compression diver that swaps the internal diving bezel for a worldtimer display. It’s inspired by traversing the world’s oceans on a grand journey, which is why it’s called the Milus Archimèdes Worldtimer Blue Odyssey. A fun twist on the normal dive watch formula.

Compressor divers have been one of the classic vintage archetypes for dive watches since the 50s. They make use of the natural properties of water pressure to boost their water resistance by having compressible gaskets that become tighter and tighter the more pressure is applied. Milus first developed their compression diver in the 1970s and the Archimèdes is based on that original model.

The original 1970s Milus Super Compressor and World Timer

One of the common (though not foolproof) identifiers for a compression diver is a dual crown. The lower crown typically controls the normal timekeeping functions and the upper crown allows you to rotate the inner bezel. The same is true for the Archimèdes Worldtimer Blue Odyssey except that instead of a normal dive timer bezel, the scale shows the world’s 24 time zones in the form of prominent cities around the globe. That scale then corresponds to a 24-hour ring on the outer edge of the central dial.

A slightly odd design decision is that there’s no additional GMT hand or rotating scale that corresponds to the world time display here. Typically, there would be some form of indication of “it’s this time in this location”, but here there’s nothing. Instead, the worldtimer scale serves more as a reference guide you have to use in conjunction with the normal 3-hand time display. You set the scale to match your local time and then you know that a certain location is X hours ahead or behind you in relation to the current time.

I would vastly prefer Milus to have swapped the movement to a GMT reference to make the watch actually feel like a worldtimer, even at the cost of some of the specs. They’ve kept the same ETA 2892A2 as the other Archimèdes models with its automatic winding, top grade finishing and 42-hour power reserve. It’s not a bad movement by any stretch of the imagination, I just don’t think it’s the right one for this watch.

The counter argument to that is that by changing the movement, which often involves new dimensions and different sizes, they would’ve had to also make changes to the case. And the case is really nice with its 41mm diameter and 300m water resistance rating. It’s actually still a pretty practical dive watch, which is nodded to with the gradient blue dial representing the oceans and green accents on the hands and scales like land masses like in an atlas.

Ultimately, the Milus Archimèdes Worldtimer Blue Odyssey leaves me a little baffled. I like the concept of the watch. The case is great. The colours feel appropriate and have a fun graphic quality to them. I just can’t get past the lack of a dedicated mechanical world time function on a worldtimer. Plus, at or CHF 2,219 (approx. £1,940) or CHF 2,419 (approx. £2,100) on a bracelet there doesn’t really feel like a good excuse for it. What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments below.

More details at Milus.

​Oracle Time 

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