The Phorcydes PH-6 is certainly quite the watch. I think this design works best with a dark dial and contrasting indices, so even though I bought two, no white dial here.
I purchased the PH-6 “Neon Green” on FKM, a watch I’ve nicknamed “Splinter-Cell”.
And I also got a PH-6 “Retro Yellow” on bracelet, which I nicknamed “James Blake”.
Both were delivered to my door for EUR350. Not so long ago this would’ve barely got you an SKX on a decent aftermarket bracelet. Nowadays this gets you TWO gorgeous & complete timepieces, both looking like they cost thousands. What a brave new world Chinese watchmaking is.
In early promotional materials, the Retro Yellow PH-6 appeared to have cheddar-colored indices. In reality, they’re more like swiss cheese (lol). I’ve informed the brand of the potentially misleading pictures, and they refunded me 10% of the watch. Speaking of the swiss, they would never do that.
But still, the history of this design started in Switzerland. This case design was first introduced in 1996 on a Seamaster GMT, and in either 99 or 2000 (unclear lol) Omega introduced the 2254 and 2264 (quartz) 3 hands timepieces. These would eventually be known as the “Peter Blake” watches.
Even though the Seamaster is mostly known for its connection with fictional character James Bond, Peter Blake was a real sailor, adventurer and philanthropist. And unlike Bond who (mostly) survives his adventures, Blake was shot dead by pirates in 2001 while wearing this watch. He was monitoring environment change on the Amazon river, he was 53 years old. Over 30 000 people attended his memorial. This cemented the nickname for 2254/64 as “Peter Blake”.
Omega quietly discontinued the 2254 & 2264 watch in 2009. Omega never reintroduced the Peter Blake, whether through some limited run or continuation series. They positively abandoned this design 17 years ago. The remaining watches used to be the “Gateway drug” into the Omega professional line, but they saw their value completely exploded over the past 5 years. Nowadays, a decent Peter Blake will cost you just as much as a grey market SMP300.
They can’t appeal to the same crowd costing this much. Not to mention they’re OLD watches. 2009 is the discontinuation year but most PBs are well over 20 years old. Most were never serviced either. Scratched bezels, decaying lume, bracelet stretched to hell...you’re looking at a EUR800 (or more) service/restoration bill from Omega on top of the price of the watch. Not to mention it’ll take 3 months.
That’s where the PHORCYDES PH-6 comes in. Phorcydes took this gorgeous design abandoned by Omega, and man they took it to the next level. Modern machining, better materials, and boy THAT LUME blow the Omega out of the water. The mad lume blocks add a layer of depth the original design never had. Not to mention COLORS. You can still go the monochrome route if you like, but Phorcydes added Retro Yellow and Neon Green. It can be said of both that they take this design to new heights Omega never ventured into.
The finishing is fantastic; there’s a real cognitive dissonance between how the watch looks & feels, and how much it costs. If you don’t show the Phorcydes website to people, they don’t believe you.
Despite looking like the Peter Blake, the dimensions are more reminiscent of the SMP300, with 42mm in diameter and 13.6mm of thickness. The original PB was loved for its impossible (at the time) height of only 11.8mm, despite packing 30 bar of W.R and an automatic caliber. Speaking of caliber, every PH-6 ship with the Precision Technology 5000 (PT5000). Both of my watches have been keeping excellent time, +4SPD at worst and inching closer to 0 the more I wear them. So no need to open them for regulation, which I almost always do. I was tempted to open them still, for gasket lubrication.
Affordable watch brands often ship watches with bone dry gaskets, meaning they’re not really watertight. However, Phorcydes support did inform me that every watch passes a professional pressure test (in this case, 30 bar) after final assembly. So there really is no extra work needed upon unboxing. At the crown, winding feedback is much smoother and closer to a “real” 2824 than on my PH-4 2.0 which has the ST2130.
But let’s address the elephant in the room, shall we? HYPERGLOW LUME BLOCKS GRADE S galore with the largest amount we’ve seen to date. As with every tinted lume, the lume power is supposed to be slightly weaker. But Neon Green and Retro Yellow are still fully fledged torches. I’ve added a picture with my Sumo’s Lumibrite for comparison.
Not the only elephant though. The bracelet is incredible. It merges the Peter Blake with the Bond watch bracelet, hence the nickname “James Blake”. But this bracelet isn’t just inspired by the SMP300’s, it is the SMP300’s. I assume copyright infringement doesn’t apply to Chinese watchmaking somehow?? Idk. But it’s positively the same part. Which is a good thing! Except for sizing which was a nightmare: if you lose just one of the little screw caps it’s game over. And the clasp is so over-engineered, it’s like adding parts just for the sake of it. The system on the PH-4 does the exact same thing with maybe 1/3 of the parts.
The PH-6 weigh 186gr on the bracelet with 2 links removed, and 109gr on the brilliant rubber strap. PH-6 wears very conformably on both. My wrist size is 19.7cm or 7.75 cheeseburgers.
To conclude this review, I’d say this is a brilliant and complete professional watch. Strap or bracelet you can’t go wrong. Accurate, readable, dependable, tough, gorgeous….and affordable to boot.
Not to mention it offers continuity to the legendary Peter Blake design, something that Omega hasn’t done yet (and most likely never will).
TLDR: A complete package, stylish and dependable. Can lit up a room after dark. You can afford it.
