By Harlan Chapman-Green
Oris is a well known and well respected Swiss watchmaker and has been since its inception back in 1904. We’ve covered them many times before here on WristReview, but today’s subject is just a little bit more special than the others.
I’d like to start at the back of the watch this time. Gone is the signature red automatic rotor that we are quite used to, and fond of, seeing. You need only peer into an Oris display setup in a jeweller to see the model of the red rotor spinning around, showing customers that an Oris watch is a step above most others in the cabinet. Instead of this, we get a huge window that’s been edged to match the turbine appearance that you get on the edge of the bezel on the front of the watch. Behind the sapphire crystal case back is the neatly brushed Oris Calibre 111, significant because of the fact that it and the Calibre 110 is in-house developed entirely by Oris themselves. As you can see, it’s a manual wind movement with a power reserve of ten days total. On any other watch, this would be a hassle to wind up, but thanks to the larger size crown from which the watch gains its name, it’s not a big deal at all.
The dial of the new is crisp and legible with a sunburst effect extending out from the hands at the centre of the dial. The two main hands are finished with a brilliant white paint with lume inside them, the smaller hands for the sub seconds dial and the power reserve indicator also have this paint on them. Much like classic aviation instruments, it’s not the entire hand that’s been painted white, the part around the pins in the centre is finished in black. On this watch, the date aperture gently overlaps the sub seconds dial and is well contrasted so as to be clearly visible but not intrude too much into the overall look of the watch. You’ll also find that the indices on the dial have also been given the crisp white treatment so as to look thoroughly modern. In keeping with the modernity, the edge of the watch bezel has been etched to give it the look of a turbine you’d find inside a jet engine.
This watch is presented with either a military style olive green strap, a brown crocodile strap or on a metal bracelet. I’ve mentioned this before and it’s sadly come up again but to my eyes the metal bracelet appears to be a bit lacklustre. Having said that, the strap options come with Oris’ seat style buckle which is really effective.
The watch itself is a bargain for aviators coming in at 5200 Swiss Francs new, a very good price for a watch such as this as it cuts under other brands like Breguet and IWC by a long shot. For more info, please visit oris.ch
HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN – CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
A keen bass guitar player, Harlan enjoys all the perks modern watchmaking technologies the industry has to offer. Although you might catch him sampling Omegas or the Rolex, Harlan loves all things Haute Horology, with his three favourite brands being Breguet, A.Lange & Söhne and Vacheron Constantin. He hopes to study timekeeping more in depth someday and will never be able to thank his father enough for introducing him to the industry. Read his articles here.
