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Oris’s new Big Crown Pointer Date collection revives a heritage design for a generation of forward-thinking men and women
Oris is reintroducing the iconic Big Crown Pointer Date, a signature Oris design that symbolises the independent Swiss company’s long and illustrious history. While the new Oris Big Crown Pointer Date signposts Oris’s rich watchmaking legacy, it is also a contemporary wristwatch designed to appeal to stylish, urbane men and women.
The stories of Oris and aviation are closely linked. Oris was founded in 1904 at the dawn of aviation, and made its first pilot’s pocket watch in the early 1910s. That was followed by the company’s first pilot’s wristwatch in 1917, a watch that featured an ingenious mechanism that meant the watch could only be adjusted when a button was pressed at 2 o’clock. The same spirit of invention inspired the Oris Big Crown, which debuted in 1938. Its oversized crown meant gloved airmen could adjust their watches quickly and easily. Today, Oris’s pilot’s watch collection is full of innovative watches that are trusted by pilots all over the world.
The Oris Big Crown Pointer Date is more than a landmark in the company’s archive of inventive, high-performance watches. In the 1980s, it marked a watershed moment for the company when it was reintroduced to spearhead Oris’s mission to champion the eternal value of mechanical watchmaking in the face of the quartz revolution. With its smooth, round case and tapered lugs, coin-edged bezel, oversized crown, clear, functional dial, and central pointer hand indicating the date, it is one of Oris’s most recognised designs, and one of the most iconic pieces in all of watchmaking.
The new models pick up on this story for a new generation of stylish, forward-thinking mechanical watch buyers. Oris’s designers have reworked the case to be slimmer, smoother and more seamless so that it slips elegantly onto the wrist and under a cuff. Much of this contemporary profile is delivered by the watch’s bubble-curved sapphire crystal, a feature that both enhances the watch’s vintage aesthetic and gives it its up-to-date feel.
The new shape is available with either a 36mm or 40mm case. Both feature the iconic dial design, complete with rounded Arabic numerals, a rail track chapter ring indicating the minutes, ornate hands and the pointer date hand. The twist is in the dial colours available. Oris’s designers turned to colour keyboards in Le Corbusier’s Polychromie architecturale, using a light green for the 36mm version, and a grey-blue for the 40mm. Both give the watch a younger, more urban feel. Black dials are also available.
In keeping with Oris’s philosophy to only make mechanical watches, the Big Crown Pointer Date is powered by a Swiss Made automatic movement.
Oris Chairman Ulrich Herzog commented: ‘The new Big Crown Pointer Date is Oris through and through. It’s a landmark in our rich history, to the point that you could say it’s almost a logo for the company – that’s the strength of its design codes. We are very proud of it and delighted to introduce it to a contemporary audience.’
