BY JOVAN KRSTEVSKI
Oris is well known for making some great looking dive watches. But the brands love for the oceans and seas goes beyond just products and its efforts towards the conservation of marine habitat are a testimony to this. During Baselworld 2019 Oris introduced the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III and the Oris Clean Ocean Limited Edition as a part of the Oceans project. And now to complete the Oceans project trilogy Oris has introduced the Blue Whale Limited Edition, a marine-inspired chronograph. This new watch has been created in collaboration with Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a leading charity which is dedicated towards the protection of Whales and Dolphins.
Like the previous two releases, the major draw of this watch is the beautiful gradient blue dial. It features a tri-compax layout with subdials at 3,6 and 9 representing elapsed minutes, hours and running seconds respectively. The sub-dials showcase some nice attention to detail and have been decorated with a concentric circular pattern, surrounded by applied black rings with white printed markings. The rest of the dial is a familiar Aquis affair with applied three-dimensional hour indices and a distinctive looking handset, all of which has been filled with luminous paint to ensure good low light visibility. Overall the dial has a nice and clean look with a high focus on legibility just as a dive watch should be.
Made from stainless steel the case on the new Blue Whale Limited Edition is on the larger side with a diameter of 45.5mm. While suited for larger wrists the overall kettle shaped design and the short, integrated lugs should make the watch sit comfortably on the wrist. There is a unidirectional dive time bezel with an aqua blue ceramic bezel on top which securely holds the sapphire crystal on the front. The case back is closed and has been screwed down to ensure 500 meters of water resistance. It has also been deeply stamped with a whale motif as a tribute to the cause which led to the creation of this watch.
Powering this watch is the Oris caliber 771, which is basically a modified Sellita SW500. The movement operates at a frequency of 4Hz and offers a decent power reserve of 48 hours. In terms of functions, it offers chronograph counters in a more balanced 3,6,9 layout which is a first for an Aquis watch along with a date complication between 4 and 5.
To conclude I would like to say that the Oris Blue Whale Limited Edition is a great looking tool watch which supports a great cause. Sadly, this watch would not be sold independently and would only be made available as a part of box set sitting alongside the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III and the Oris Clean Ocean Limited Edition. The production would be limited to 200 pieces and the outer casing of the box would be made of recycled PET bottles. The retail price of the package is set at CHF 9,600.
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