Oris Chronoris Limited Edition

Renowned for its technical, modern and robust-looking watches, Oris started to introduce some vintage-inspired designs in its collections a few years ago, notably with the Divers Sixty Five collection. While the pilot’s watches hark back to the 1940s and the diving pieces play on the 1960s trend, the motorsport collection recreates the spirit of another era, the 1970s. In keeping with the bold, colourful and shaped watches of the epoch, Oris reissued an iconic model: the Chronoris. Today, the brand releases a fresh, cool new model, the Oris Chronoris Limited Edition.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Oris launched its first chronograph – surprisingly late for a brand founded in 1904. Completely “en vogue” at that time, this watch came with a typical seventies “pilot’s” or “helmet” case, basically an ovoid-shaped case with integrated lugs. It was also the first watch of the brand to be dedicated to the world of motorsport, and for this reason, it displayed typical colour combinations associated with the era: a black dial with bright orange accents. This watch, whose production was stopped a few years later due to the quartz crisis, was revived in 2005 in a faithful, mono-counter chronograph, with a pilot’s case and a black/orange theme. The circle was closed.

More recently, Oris has started to develop more watches around this “Chronoris” style, including time-and-date versions, as well as limited editions dedicated to the Oris x Williams F1 partnership – see our review of the Chronoris Williams 40th Anniversary here. Using the same technical base and overall style, Oris introduces a new but historically relevant version: the Chronoris Limited Edition.

First and foremost, this new watch is a true Chronoris. This means a robust, masculine watch with a highly 1970s-inspired case. While these cases have a tendency to be rather bulky and heavy, Oris chose to keep the watch on the reasonable size of things, with a 40mm case. Like the vintage versions, the case is steel with a combination of sunray brushed and polished surfaces. This 200-piece limited edition is available either on a perforated brown leather strap, on black rubber or on a steel bracelet. It is also delivered with a special leather pouch and an additional grey NATO strap.

The dial features exactly the same layout as the Williams 40th anniversary version, meaning a chronograph with vertically arranged 30-minute and 12-hour counters and no small seconds. The date is displayed in a classic position at 3 o’clock in a window framed by a white line – just like the 1970s model. Again, just like the vintage version, the dial is matte black with several orange accents – on the seconds hand, the hour indices and the tachymeter scale.

Inside the case is the calibre 673, based on the ubiquitous Valjoux 7750 architecture. This robust self-winding chronograph movement is hidden behind a solid steel back and presents the same specifications as other Valjoux-equipped watches: 4Hz frequency, 25 jewels and a 48h power reserve.

The Oris Chronoris Limited Edition is now available at retailers and official Oris boutiques, in a limited edition of 200 pieces. It is priced at CHF 3,500 on a strap and CHF 3,800 on a metal bracelet. More details on oris.ch.