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Oris icons strapped to handsome RSM watch straps
If you enjoy well-made and unique watch brands, you might be familiar with Oris, an independent manufacture that creates affordable and versatile watches themed on the sky, the sea and urban luxury.
Besides being known for its jovial bear mascot, Oris is synonymous with finely made mechanical watches that present great bang for your buck. Unique Oris creations include the Oris Altimeter, which enables wearers to calculate the altitude via surrounding air pressure. Besides designing useful tool watches, the brand continually rolls out eye-catching timepieces like the pastel-coloured Oris Divers Sixty-Five 'Cotton Candy' and the ProPilot X Kermit Edition. Yup, Oris collaborated with Sesame Street last year to create a viridescent timepiece, and its namesake Kermit the Frog pops up on this timepiece’s date window once every month to remind its wearer to enjoy life.
In fact, this Swiss company’s marketing literature repeatedly emphasises the importance of being happy and sharing the joy of watches. Fuelled by its passion for chronometry, Oris constantly develops new movements and has produced almost 300 in-house calibres since its founding in 1904. These endeavours culminated in the sophisticated Calibre 400, which is the highly precise and reliable movement that drives timepieces like the Oris Kermit.
Oris is responsible for several horological icons, such as the Artelier, which is a collection of minimalist dress watches, and the ProPilot, which is a series of aviation-themed tool watches distinguished by their airplane cockpit-esque aesthetics. For maritime enthusiasts, there’s the Oris Aquis and the Divers Sixty-Five.
Oris even has an anniversary-themed range of watches called the Hölstein, which introduces a new addition every June, in celebration of its founding in June 1904 by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian.
An independent Swiss watch brand that is not part of any large watch conglomerate, Oris prioritises environmental sustainability, champions a variety of conservation projects, and some of its watches even feature recycled or upcycled materials. Oris also favours materials like bronze, which gradually patinas to give your timepiece a unique visage, and ceramic, which is a tough and antiallergenic material.
When you are admiring an Oris timepiece, look out for the manufacture’s calling card—a red rotor that can be spotted through sapphire casebacks.
Oris’s slogan is “Go Your Own Way” and many Oris collectors have certainly gone their own way by matching their timepieces with RSM watch straps.
If you’d like to confer your Oris watch with a unique appearance, here are some ideas that might spark your imagination.
Photo credits for header image: @tyalexanderphotography (left); @watchsymmetry; @fliptheparrot
If you’re a fan of old-school aesthetics, you might fancy getting your hands on the Oris Big Crown. One of Oris’s most famous and popular collections is its Big Crown and Big Crown Pointer Date series of watches. Designed for legibility even in low-light conditions, these watches sport large vintage numerals and yesteryear “train track” minutes tracks, which make for an irresistible retro vibe. They take their name from their prominent, fluted crowns, which are oversized so that you can operate them even while wearing pilot's gloves. “Pointer Date” refers to a unique function—instead of a subdial or date window, the Big Crown Pointer Date has a central hand that indicates the day of the month.
Here's a look how RSM watch strap collectors matched their Oris timepieces with RSM fine canvas, silk, engraved stripe, and military straps.
When it made its debut in 1965, the first Oris Divers Sixty-Five impressed the watch community with its functionality. The Divers Sixty-Five watches are engineered to give deep-sea explorers peace of mind—they are highly legible even in murky depths and all the timepieces of this collection possess impressive depth ratings. Their strong cases make them robust companions in the ocean and on terra firma, and their ravishing dials are available in cheerful colours.
Check out these fetching Oris-and-RSM combinations below, where Oris swapped out their Divers Sixty-Fives’ metal bracelets, and secured them to an array of contemporary RSM fabric straps.
