Ophion
Miguel Morales Ribas trained as an architect in Madrid, spent years studying neoclassical design, and co-developed his watch brand alongside a classmate from university. When the architecture industry collapsed in the 2014 economic crisis, he and Huberto Aldaz found themselves with both the freedom and the motivation to realise what had previously been a long-running joke. Ophion was founded that year in Madrid with a mission statement of unusual clarity: create high-end watches for a wider audience, with the finishing and dial quality of brands like F.P. Journe, Ferrier, and Voutilainen — at a price that makes those qualities available to people who love them, not only people who can afford the real thing.
What We Achieved
The OPH 786 Velos uses a case produced by Voutilainen & Cattin SA — Kari Voutilainen’s own case-making company, responsible for some of the most admired case construction in independent watchmaking. Those teardrop lugs are not a tribute to Voutilainen’s work. They are Voutilainen’s work, on an Ophion watch, at an Ophion price.
5 Day Power Reserve
39mm OPH 786 Velos Case Diameter
40 Gilt Spectre Edition
Origin
Founded from architecture, not watchmaking — which explains why Ophion’s case design reads as three-dimensional objects with spatial logic, not flat watch cases with decorative elements added. Miguel Morales Ribas approaches dial construction the way an architect approaches a facade: as a system of planes, light sources, and geometric relationships that either work together or don’t.
Design Philosophy
Guilloché as the primary design statement. Every Ophion dial treats the guilloché pattern as the main attraction — not a background texture but the centrepiece around which the rest of the design is organised. CNC-cut guilloché on the OPH 786; hand-hammered bridges on the movement; Soprod double-barrel for symmetry and power reserve. Swiss movements, German cases and dials, Spanish straps and packaging. European throughout.
The Collection
OPH 960 (the debut — dome dial, dome crystal, dome hands, 1960s DNA). OPH 786 (pocket watch of the 1780s reimagined, guilloché dial, double-barrel Soprod). OPH 786 Velos (Art Deco evolution — Voutilainen & Cattin teardrop lugs, Gilt Spectre collaboration edition). OPH 411 Vesper (inspired by the utopian neoclassical architecture of Étienne-Louis Boullée). Each reference extends the brand’s architectural vocabulary without repeating it.