Oris Big Crown Pointer Date

A date with bronze

Oris has created a bronze version of its iconic Big Crown
Pointer Date, a watch aimed at people with a unique sense of style

Hölstein, Switzerland – Following on from the revival of the iconic Oris Big Crown Pointer Date comes a 36mm version of the watch cased in naturally ageing bronze. The Oris Big Crown Pointer Date comes in a vintage size and gives fresh expression to one of Oris’s most historically important watches.

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 – on which the new bronze model is based – 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 Oris Big Crown Pointer Date picks 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. 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.

Oris’s designers turned to bronze for its dynamic qualities. Over time, bronze develops a patina as it reacts with moisture in the air and with the PH levels of the wearer’s skin. Because of this, over time no two watches will look the same – each watch becomes as unique as its owner.

As well as its distinctive 36mm bronze case, the new model is distinguished by its light green dial inspired by a colour keyboard in Le Corbusier’s Polychromie architecturale. This gives it an edgy, urban feel, in keeping with the ambitious people it’s aimed at.

In keeping with Oris’s philosophy to only make mechanical watches, the Big Crown Pointer Date is powered by a Swiss Made automatic movement. This powers rose gold-plated hour, minute, central seconds and pointer date hands, the latter indicating the date against a scale that runs around the edge of the dial. The warm, confident look is completed by a naturally tanned light brown leather strap.

The Oris Big Crown Pointer Date tells the story of both Oris’s watchmaking heritage and its inventive approach to watchmaking.