Oris watches have long been recognized as beautiful handmade Swiss watches. Oris watches may not have the same brand recognition as other Swiss made watches, but they are nonetheless an exceptional watch that anyone would be proud to own.
I have had an Oris wristwatch for many years; in fact, my Oris was my first Swiss watch. I have never tired of my Oris watch and although I have since purchased other fine Swiss watches, I wear it often and still admire its simple yet elegant design. So perhaps the following review of Oris watches is a personal opinion, although I have tried to remain objective about the current collection of Oris watches.
Oris watches used to follow the more traditional lines of watch design, but recently the company has made an effort to bring more up-to-date watch designs to the consumer, particularly in the field of sports watches. Oris started making sports watches in the 1970s. His first sports watch was the Oris Chromoris. Oris still makes the Chronoris today, with the most recent model being the 2005 Chronoris. The Chronoris Chronograph is a simple design made of stainless steel on a black and orange leather strap; The strap is supposed to emphasize the ‘sportiness’ of the watch, however I think they are better sports watches on the market today. A better sports watch offered by Oris is the TT1 collection. These watches come with automatic mechanical movement with simultaneous indication of 2 individual time zones. You also get a date display at the 3 o’clock position, as well as a black dial with a luminous display, a scratch resistant curved sapphire crystal, with water resistance up to 100 meters. In my opinion, the Oris TT1 Worldtimer is the best watch in this series. Oris recently partnered with Williams F1 Team to produce the Oris Williams F1 Team sports watch. I’m not a big fan of this watch. Call me a snob, but I wouldn’t want a watch I own to be known by any brand other than the brand of the watch. Also, I think that if you are looking for a sports watch there are other watch brands that offer better styling.
The Oris Big Crown collection belongs to its aviation series. The large crown is a reminder of the early days of aviation when pilots had to adjust their watches while wearing thick gloves. This collection of watches is more like what you would expect from Oris. The Oris Big Crown comes with mechanical automatic movement with stop function, hours and minutes display from center, permanent small seconds at nine, decentralized hour and minute counters, seconds from center, date at three. The is black guilloché with white numerals and indices, white lacquered hands; all contained in a 316L stainless steel case with applied fluted bezel, screw-down caseback. The watches are water resistant to 50 m with a plexiglass and black calfskin strap with Louisiana alligator pattern and safety clasp. The watch is also available with a metal strap. The Oris Big Crown is a very beautifully designed piece of engineering.
The Culture series of Oris watches is what Oris is all about. Oris currently offers the Frank Sinatra Collection and the Miles Collection. These watches come in various models that offer chronograph, complication, mother-of-pearl dial, and diamonds (for those who like these things). My favorite collection is without a doubt the Artelier collection. The Oris Artelier Chronograph, Oris Artelier Complication and Oris Artelier Lady Date are fine watches, but the Oris Artelier Pointer Date is the jewel of the collection. The Oris are famous for their date or sweep calendar pointer. The company first developed this feature in 1938, and the pointer date is virtually unique to Oris. Most watches display the date through a window in the dial, but the Oris date indicator is a third arm that moves counterclockwise around the dial; the days of the months are displayed as another circle of numbers outside the hour markers: the end of the pointer’s arm is shaped like a T, or the more traditional semicircle. I own an Oris pointer date watch and am delighted to show off this unique feature to those who appreciate a good watch.
Without a doubt, Oris watches are the top rated Swiss watches that are desired by consumers who appreciate good quality movements with simple yet elegant designs. Oris watches are also reasonably priced compared to other watch brands and owning a beautiful Oris wristwatch is well within the reach of most people.
