BY JOVAN K
Oris has taken the recently redesigned ProPilot and given it a bronze makeover. Nothing crazy has happened here, and that’s probably the point. The case, proportions and overall design stay familiar, but replacing the steel with bronze completely changes the personality of the watch. Add a dark green suede strap and you have a ProPilot that feels a little warmer, more relaxed and, eventually, more personal as the case starts to develop its own patina.
The case measures 41mm × 11.7mm thick and 49mm from lug-to-lug, so the dimensions are exactly the same as the current steel ProPilot Date. The multi-piece case is now made from bronze, including the turbine-inspired fluted bezel and oversized screw-in crown. The only major exception is the screwed stainless-steel caseback, which has a mineral glass window for viewing the movement. Up front, Oris uses a domed sapphire crystal with internal anti-reflective coating, while water resistance is rated at 100 meters. It’s a pretty straightforward package, but that’s what works about the ProPilot.
The bronze will obviously be the part that changes most over time. When new, it has that warm golden-brown appearance, but as you wear it, the metal will gradually develop a patina. Depending on how and where you wear it, the case will eventually look different from another ProPilot Bronze sitting next to it. That’s one of the reasons bronze works so well on watches like this. You’re not just buying a finished object. You’re buying something that’s going to change.
The black dial keeps things nice and simple. Applied Arabic numerals sit around the dial, with Super-LumiNova on the hands and hour markers for nighttime legibility. The date stays at 6 o’clock, which is one of the details I really like about the current ProPilot design because it keeps the dial nicely balanced. The oversized numerals and clean layout also make the watch instantly readable, which is exactly what you want from a pilot’s watch.
Inside is Oris Calibre 733, based on the tried-and-tested Sellita SW200. It’s an automatic movement running at 28,800 vibrations per hour with around 41 hours of power reserve. You get hours, minutes, seconds and an instantaneous date, along with a stop-seconds function. It’s not some fancy in-house movement, but honestly, I don’t think this watch needs one. The ProPilot has always been about being straightforward and dependable, and the 733 fits that idea perfectly.
The movement can be seen through the mineral-glass caseback, where you’ll also find Oris’s familiar red rotor. It’s not the sort of movement you’re buying the watch for, but it’s nice to have a little bit of mechanical stuff to look at when you turn it over.
Then there’s the strap, and this is where Oris has made a good choice. The ProPilot Bronze comes on a dark green suede leather strap, which works extremely well with the warm bronze case and black dial. The strap is fitted with Oris’s folding LIFT clasp, inspired by aircraft seatbelt mechanisms, and it has a seamless adjustment system. It gives the watch a more casual feel than the steel bracelet version and, personally, I think it suits the bronze case much better.
The Oris ProPilot Bronze is part of the permanent collection and becomes available from September 2026. Price is set at CHF 2,250.
At that price, you’re getting a 41mm bronze pilot’s watch with sapphire crystal, 100 metres of water resistance, a proven automatic movement and a strap that actually makes sense with the case. There’s nothing revolutionary here, and that’s perfectly fine. The new ProPilot Bronze is basically the same straightforward everyday watch Oris already makes, just with a little more character and the promise that it will look better the longer you wear it.
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