WatchPro Sports Watch of the Year 2015
Sports watches need to be tough above all else. Watch movements are sensitive mechanisms and need to be protected from the demanding conditions found in competitive sports or challenging pursuits.
WINNER: Oris Divers Sixty-Five
Oris pushed all the right buttons at Baselworld this year with this recreation of one of the brand’s dive watches from the 1960s. Dive watches continue to be one of the most popular watch genres, with depth ratings routinely taken by consumers as shorthand for manufacturing quality and low engineering tolerances. But Oris also pulled the heritage card, invoking the most powerful trend in luxury watches today. The company’s recreation of the original watch is sublimely authentic, adding just 4mm to the case diameter to bring it up to 40mm and very little else. Place the original and its modern counterpart side-by-side and scale is the only difference you’re likely to notice. Perhaps the most pleasing feature of the Divers Sixty-Five is the retention of the wonderfully quirky typeface used to paint the hour markers at the compass points in a yellowed Super-LumiNova. If this heady combination were not enough, Oris brought the watch in at a price that practically defied customers not to buy it. A version on a NATO-style strap is also winging its way to retailers now, should the crosshatched rubber strap be a little too authentic for modern tastes.
Highly Commended
Alexandre Meerson D15 Mk1 GMT
Tudor Pelagos
Ball Skindiver II
Rolex Yacht-Master Everose
Gucci Dive
Aviator Professional
Timex IQ Yacht Racer
Seiko Marinemaster 1000m
Festina F16874/F
