OCW-P2000C: The Radio Controlled Divers Watch
I like dive watches. I also like radio controlled watches. Had a quest for finding the watch that embodies both of these traits, however, this is the only one with RC that works outside Japan. Even Citizen offers only domestic RC or GPS, but not global RC. When it was released in 2020 this Oceanus seemed like a perfect fit, except for the MSRP of JPY242,000 (~USD1,675, worsened by the customs and VAT burden of importing it to Europe) and the size (51.8 L2L, 48.5 case width with crown, 15.9 mm thickness). These stopped me from getting it right then. However, come this busy autumn I found myself looking for an everyday watch that is always accurate, shows day of the week, highly legible, doesn't need babying and won't stop if not worn over a weekend, so my interest renewed. Saw it at Sakura Watches for 55% off. For ~USD750 this is extraordinary bang for the buck: an ISO certified, sallaz-polished titanium dive watch from the Yamagata PPL with sapphire crystal and bezel, solar power, radio control and additional functions.
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This is my first Oceanus. Sakura shipped it within 6 calendar days after my order and it arrived to Hungary within 5 days. Customs was quick, so it was a pleasant experience buying from Japan. The box is nice and I especially like the quality, dark blue leather case.
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I won't dwell too much on aesthetics, you all see the pictures, but will say a few impressions. The sapphire bezel insert is simply luxurious in person, the red and blue have and amazing pop in sunlight. The hands, markers are big, with great contrast to the deep blue background. Visibility is up there with the best dive watches in spite of the rather busy face containing four subdials. On the flip side, I think the rose gold of the tide graph (fashioned after the sperm whale or cachalot in French), 12 o'clock marker and seconds hand is too much, they would be more in line with the watch's overall aesthetic if they were silver, blue or even red. Just my preference. Other colorways have different accents, but I'm still glad I chose this one, the others are too formal for my purposes.
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I'm not sold on the stock strap either, it feels nice, but has too little play and the titanium clasp, that is otherwise impressively milled, sticks too far out. I swapped to a Borealis diver's strap and the watch wears much better.
![Image]()
Beyond all that, the quality feel is outstanding. The seconds hand hits all indices and indicators nicely. The minute hand moves every 5 seconds instead of every 10 like on other quartz watches. Somehow this adds a bit of exclusivity to this watch, its a joy to see. The buttons feel solid and due to seals one can safely operate them underwater. The titanium backplate is not screwed on, but attached via 8 sturdy torx screws - the whole case feels like a lump of titanium, feels hefty and solid without being too heavy.
The lume is blue and good. Not as great as on my Seiko or Omega, but better than on any G-Shock or Protrek I owned. Remains visible throughout the night and the 3-6-9-12 are pronounced for instant reading. There is also a LED light that is bright enough to replace the headlights of my car. Instead of just switching on and off it luxuriously fades in and out like it did on my MR-G G1000.
![Image]()
The tide graph is lost on me in a landlocked country, but the dive mode is awesome even outside water. The minute and hour hands move together as one thick minute-hand for maximum visibility to time up to two hours (descent and ascent). The seconds hand times the seconds of the dive, the AM/PM indicator shows in which hour you are of the two, while the world time subdial shows current time. Useful for non-divers? No. Fun to watch? Indeed. There is also a 24h stopwatch, but no timer (that's what the bezel is for) or alarm (I never use it anyway).
Bluetooth intergation works great, it's much easier to set the home city, second timezone, tide-graph etc. that way than via the crown. The watch proper is not cluttered, perfectly usable with 3 buttons. There are only 3 modes (calendar mode, tide graph, stopwatch) to cycle through with the bottom left button so it's done quickly and efficiently. Dive mode is engaged by long pressing bottom left. Bottom right is to check sync status, connect to the phone and to initiate sync. Top right is for light and stopwatch.
Negatives:
- Obviously, it's the size, mostly the thickness. 15.9mm is a lot, especially considering that the watch has "only" 200m WR. See below compared to a standard GW-5000 or at the end side-by-side with a 600m WR Omega. Wears surprisingly well though because of the low weigth and curved lugs. The weird-shaped backplate is elevated, so it takes a relatively small real estate on the wrist, thus the crown, buttons do not dig into the wrist. Another redeeming quality, especially for colder months is that the bezel is super slippery with curvy, DLC-coated sides and smooth sapphire-insert, enabling the big watch to slide under sleeves nicely.
![Image]()
Conclusion: All in all I consider this as kind of perfect daily watch. Always accurate, readable in any light from any angle, sturdy, has useful functions, isn't afraid to get wet and looks great. Could be smaller? Yeah. The bezel could be better as well. No biggie, this watch offers so much for now moderate price that overall its still a fantastic package IMHO. I hope Casio continues to evolve this sporty side of Oceanus. This is my first but certainly won't be my last.
For those still on the fence because of size, see below how it looks on my 7 inch wrist. Sorry for the bad quality photo, but I think these mirror pictures give you a better impression on how the watch actually looks in person than the direct, distorted shots.
![Image]()
Lastly, side by side with my Omega PO. Bezel diameter 39.5mm vs 45mm, L2L 45.6mm vs. 51.8mm, thickness 14.4mm vs 15.9mm, strap width 20mm vs 22mm.
![Image]()
I like dive watches. I also like radio controlled watches. Had a quest for finding the watch that embodies both of these traits, however, this is the only one with RC that works outside Japan. Even Citizen offers only domestic RC or GPS, but not global RC. When it was released in 2020 this Oceanus seemed like a perfect fit, except for the MSRP of JPY242,000 (~USD1,675, worsened by the customs and VAT burden of importing it to Europe) and the size (51.8 L2L, 48.5 case width with crown, 15.9 mm thickness). These stopped me from getting it right then. However, come this busy autumn I found myself looking for an everyday watch that is always accurate, shows day of the week, highly legible, doesn't need babying and won't stop if not worn over a weekend, so my interest renewed. Saw it at Sakura Watches for 55% off. For ~USD750 this is extraordinary bang for the buck: an ISO certified, sallaz-polished titanium dive watch from the Yamagata PPL with sapphire crystal and bezel, solar power, radio control and additional functions.
This is my first Oceanus. Sakura shipped it within 6 calendar days after my order and it arrived to Hungary within 5 days. Customs was quick, so it was a pleasant experience buying from Japan. The box is nice and I especially like the quality, dark blue leather case.
I won't dwell too much on aesthetics, you all see the pictures, but will say a few impressions. The sapphire bezel insert is simply luxurious in person, the red and blue have and amazing pop in sunlight. The hands, markers are big, with great contrast to the deep blue background. Visibility is up there with the best dive watches in spite of the rather busy face containing four subdials. On the flip side, I think the rose gold of the tide graph (fashioned after the sperm whale or cachalot in French), 12 o'clock marker and seconds hand is too much, they would be more in line with the watch's overall aesthetic if they were silver, blue or even red. Just my preference. Other colorways have different accents, but I'm still glad I chose this one, the others are too formal for my purposes.
I'm not sold on the stock strap either, it feels nice, but has too little play and the titanium clasp, that is otherwise impressively milled, sticks too far out. I swapped to a Borealis diver's strap and the watch wears much better.
Beyond all that, the quality feel is outstanding. The seconds hand hits all indices and indicators nicely. The minute hand moves every 5 seconds instead of every 10 like on other quartz watches. Somehow this adds a bit of exclusivity to this watch, its a joy to see. The buttons feel solid and due to seals one can safely operate them underwater. The titanium backplate is not screwed on, but attached via 8 sturdy torx screws - the whole case feels like a lump of titanium, feels hefty and solid without being too heavy.
The lume is blue and good. Not as great as on my Seiko or Omega, but better than on any G-Shock or Protrek I owned. Remains visible throughout the night and the 3-6-9-12 are pronounced for instant reading. There is also a LED light that is bright enough to replace the headlights of my car. Instead of just switching on and off it luxuriously fades in and out like it did on my MR-G G1000.
The tide graph is lost on me in a landlocked country, but the dive mode is awesome even outside water. The minute and hour hands move together as one thick minute-hand for maximum visibility to time up to two hours (descent and ascent). The seconds hand times the seconds of the dive, the AM/PM indicator shows in which hour you are of the two, while the world time subdial shows current time. Useful for non-divers? No. Fun to watch? Indeed. There is also a 24h stopwatch, but no timer (that's what the bezel is for) or alarm (I never use it anyway).
Bluetooth intergation works great, it's much easier to set the home city, second timezone, tide-graph etc. that way than via the crown. The watch proper is not cluttered, perfectly usable with 3 buttons. There are only 3 modes (calendar mode, tide graph, stopwatch) to cycle through with the bottom left button so it's done quickly and efficiently. Dive mode is engaged by long pressing bottom left. Bottom right is to check sync status, connect to the phone and to initiate sync. Top right is for light and stopwatch.
Negatives:
- Obviously, it's the size, mostly the thickness. 15.9mm is a lot, especially considering that the watch has "only" 200m WR. See below compared to a standard GW-5000 or at the end side-by-side with a 600m WR Omega. Wears surprisingly well though because of the low weigth and curved lugs. The weird-shaped backplate is elevated, so it takes a relatively small real estate on the wrist, thus the crown, buttons do not dig into the wrist. Another redeeming quality, especially for colder months is that the bezel is super slippery with curvy, DLC-coated sides and smooth sapphire-insert, enabling the big watch to slide under sleeves nicely.
- Bezel action. There is significant play in the bezel, it does not feel that solid. When it is pushed to the case while engaged it's better, but the feel of it is definitely below the quality standard of the rest of the watch. My lowly Seiko Samurai has more satisfying bezel action. Maybe it will improve over time.
- Power reserve. There are 3 big and 4 small hands on deck, yet power reserve is only available through the app. This is a problem, because of...
- Weird app integration. Radio sync only works if the watch is not paired to a phone via bluetooth. So I have to choose between bluetooth sync or radio sync. If I choose the latter I lose phone pairing thus no power reserve indication, nor any other bluetooth functions. Not great design.
- Day of the week. Its a nitpick, but why is every other day a dot instead of a letter? That Su . T . T . S looks weird, awful for actually reading it, and definitely not for the lack of space.
Conclusion: All in all I consider this as kind of perfect daily watch. Always accurate, readable in any light from any angle, sturdy, has useful functions, isn't afraid to get wet and looks great. Could be smaller? Yeah. The bezel could be better as well. No biggie, this watch offers so much for now moderate price that overall its still a fantastic package IMHO. I hope Casio continues to evolve this sporty side of Oceanus. This is my first but certainly won't be my last.
For those still on the fence because of size, see below how it looks on my 7 inch wrist. Sorry for the bad quality photo, but I think these mirror pictures give you a better impression on how the watch actually looks in person than the direct, distorted shots.
Lastly, side by side with my Omega PO. Bezel diameter 39.5mm vs 45mm, L2L 45.6mm vs. 51.8mm, thickness 14.4mm vs 15.9mm, strap width 20mm vs 22mm.
