I imagine there would have been a meeting at Oris HQ when product teams would have thrashed out whether its exciting new in house developed movement, the Calibre 400, would be used first in an Oris Divers Sixty-Five or the more eye-catching Aquis.
Team Aquis carried the day and the anti-magnetic movement — with its 5-day power reserve, accuracy that would pass COSC certification standards and 10-year warranty — is adopted by two Aquis Date models that go on sale this week.
Oris says its current collection is full of high-performance, fit-for-purpose mechanical watches, but there was only one candidate when it came to which collection would use the Calibre 400.
Whatever.
The Aquis would have been my choice as well, not least because it is Oris’s most commercially successful collection right now.
It also has more window appeal thanks to the almost luminescent sunray dials framed by elegant ceramic bezels; in the case of the Aquis Date Calibre 400, Oris has opted for the graduated blue dial that looks like a sunlit ocean under a clear blue sky.
There are subtle changes to the Calibre 400 over previous Aquis Dates including “5 Days” written on the dial to denote the watch’s power reserve.
The date window is also slightly larger and the date is picked out in white on a black background.
Flip the watch over, and the new movement can be seen through a larger sapphire exhibition case back.
Oris has maintained important attributes for dive watches including a uni-directional bezel, 300 meter water resistance and legible SuperLumiNova-filled hands and indices.
There is a version on a rubber strap or a steel bracelet that can be quickly swapped without tools.
They are selling for £2,600 on rubber and £2,700 on steel.
