Founded in 1904 in Holstein, Switzerland, Oris has developed a reputation as all with Swiss-made mechanical movements , and a purveyor of very reasonably priced timepieces in a variety of styles. Here are five of the company’s most affordable watches,and each representing one of Oris’s distinctive watch collections.
The Oris Diver Sixty-Five revives the look of a vintage Oris dive watch released 50 years ago and gives it a 21st century makeover. The 1965 model had a chromium-plated brass case and plexiglas crystal, a bidirectional rotating bezel, and a black plastic strap, while the new version has a larger, more contemporary 40-mm case in corrosion-resistant stainless steel; a scratch-resistant, nonreflective sapphire crystal with a “bubble-curved” shape; and a safer (for diving) unidirectional bezel. The bezel is enhanced with a black aluminum inlay, and the hands and indices (filled with tritium on the original model) are filled with a type of Super-LumiNova called “Light Old Radium” which emits a beige glow in the dark. The steel caseback is engraved with the same historical Oris emblem found on the original’s, the crown screws down to ensure a water-resistance to 100 meters, and the modern version is available on a black textile NATO strap and steel bracelet as well as a rubber strap. The movement is Oris’s automatic Caliber 733, which is based on a Sellita SW200.
The Oris Williams Day Date is the entry-level piece in Oris’s new Williams collection, a product of the Swiss watch brand’s partnership with the prestigious Williams Formula One racing team. The watch’s 44-mm stainless-steel case takes its design cues from the shape of a Williams F1 car, tapering like the vehicle’s profile and equipped with integrated lugs that echo the shape of its nose cone. The crown, meanwhile, has been molded to resemble the shape of a wheel from the automobile’s gearbox. The dial, available in both black and the traditional blue of the Williams team, displays the day and date at 3 o’clock and a Williams “W” at 6 o’clock. The movement, Oris’s automatic Caliber 735 (based on a Sellita SW220), is visible through a screw-down exhibition caseback with a sapphire window.
The latest addition to the classically elegant Artix collection, the Oris Artix Date Blue boasts a very of-the-moment look, with a midnight blue dial paired with a matching azure strap. The dial’s spiral grooving and traditional galvanic enhancement on the two-zone dial give it a striking sense of depth. Small Arabic hour numerals are applied on the outer dial ring, lined up with the nickel hour indices .The case has gently curving lugs and domed sapphire crystals in the front and back, the latter to display the movement, the Sellita-based Caliber 733. The strap of the Artix Date Blue is calfskin leather with a croco pattern and has a stainless steel folding clasp.
The Oris Aquis Date can be regarded as the starter piece in the brand’s popular Aquis line of contemporary divers’ watches, which boasts such innovative models as the Aquis Depth Gauge and a new chronograph model released at this year’s Baselworld. This one also has an attractive (and aquatic) blue dial, along with Super-LumiNova-filled indices and hands and an unobtrusive date window at 6 o’clock. The stainless steel case measures 43 mm in diameter and features a screw-down crown (for a water-resistance of 300 meters) and a unidirectional diving bezel with a ceramic top ring for the minutes scale. It’s got a nonreflective sapphire crystal in the front and a see-through mineral glass window in the screwed caseback, offering a view of the automatic movement (also an Oris 733), which is equipped with a date corrector and a stop-seconds function, and, like all Oris movements, the hallmark red winding rotor that swings in both directions. The Oris Aquis Date comes on a stainless steel bracelet with a security folding clasp and divers’ extension.