Plenty of watches play it straight, and fortunately, the Amida Digitrend has never been one of them. Born in 1976 and resurrected by Matthieu Allègre and Clément Meynier in 2024, it reads the time sideways, through a prism, off a pair of spinning discs lifted straight from a ’70s dashboard.
And while it looks like a digital LED watch, there’s actually nothing digital about it. It’s fully mechanical. And the newest version, the OSII Black, finally fixes the one thing the format never had, a way to read it after dark.
The Glow-Up Nobody Could Pull Off
Adding lume to a Digitrend sounds simple until you really understand how this watch works. The hours and minutes live on horizontal discs that constantly advance, so any digit waiting in the wings would sit in total darkness, uncharged and useless the second it rolled into view.
The fix is that big single-block sapphire hood, first seen on last year’s Open Sapphire. It floods the whole module with light instead of one tucked-away window, so the BGW9 Super-LumiNova on the numerals (plus a few accent bits) actually has a chance to charge.
Hardware You’re Meant to Stare At
With the guts on full display, Amida had to make them worth looking at. So the OSII Black wraps its jump-hour module in a black DLC-coated steel framework, complete with two tubes bridging the display and the caseback that look an awful lot like the roll cage in a two-seat sports car.
It’s a fitting touch for a watch that already wears like a scale-model fastback. The previously orange numerals are now white with orange engraved accents, toning the whole thing down just a bit.
A 1976 Idea, Still Weird in the Best Way
The driver’s watch was having a moment back in 1976 (they’re still having around a moment around these parts). The Girard-Perregaux Casquette and Bulova Computron both landed that same year, beaming digits at you from the side of your wrist. The Digitrend chased the same idea but did it in much more difficult way, with springs and gears instead of batteries.
Fifty years later, and it’s that stubborn approach that makes this watch so appealing. The OSII Black runs a Soprod Newton P024 automatic under that in-house jump-hour module. This watch is certainly more of a conversation starter than actually being able to quickly tell time.
Spec Sheet
Model: Amida Digitrend OSII Black (Ref. LRD-05-Noir)
Case Dimensions: 39.6mm W x 39mm L x 15.6mm thick
Lug-to-Lug: 39mm
Case Material: 316L stainless steel with single-block sapphire hood
Display: LRD prism, jumping hours and scrolling minutes
Lume: BGW9 Super-LumiNova
Movement: Soprod Newton P024 automatic, in-house jump-hour module
Power Reserve: 38 hours
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Water Resistance: 50m (5 ATM)
Strap/Bracelet: Charcoal Alcantara with orange calfskin lining, or optional steel bracelet
Limited Edition: Yes, 150 pieces
Pricing & Availability
Limited to 150 numbered pieces, the Digitrend OSII Black is available now through Amida’s website, priced at CHF 5,150 (~$6,360) on the Alcantara strap or CHF 5,500 (~$6,790) on the steel bracelet, both before tax.
Recap
Amida Digitrend OSII Black
Amida finally gives its delightfully bizarre 1976 driver’s watch lume, charged through a single-block sapphire hood and capped at 150 pieces.
