Oris Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403: Straight From The Sky

Oris is doing a great job. The 2022 Watches and Wonders entrance testifies the management’s dedication in taking the brand to a higher level. Reaching this goal gets even easier thanks to well-known and recognizable collections such as the Big Crown, to which one of the new watches – the Big Crown Pointer Date Caliber 403 – belongs.

BIG CROWN POINTER DATE: THE ORIGINS

It is a new reference, of course, but this aviator’s watch has a tradition and a history which begin in the first half of the last century. A century in which Oris, born in 1904, soon discovered the world of flight, as evidenced by some pocket watches decorated with images of Blériot-style aircraft, as seen in catalogs from the 1910s.

Oris built the first aviator watch as early as 1910 and, thanks to the aviation industry, in 1917 it designed its first wristwatch. Easier to read for those piloting an aircraft (with the non-existent safety measures of the time …), its functions were adjustable through a single pusher on the crown.

Handling that crown was a problem for aviators: they wore gloves to protect themselves from the cold, in sometimes still open cockpits, and it was difficult to grasp to adjust the watch. The solution was as easy as it was simple to put in place: to enlarge the crown’s size.

THE NAME BEARING ITS DESTINY

In 1938, Oris matched the oversized crown with the complication of the small seconds and date, indicated on the watch’s internal rehaut through a long arrow-shaped hand. The matching didn’t stand only in technical aspects, but also in the name, because the watch became famous as the Big Crown Pointer Date. From there, it also became synonymous with Oris for all enthusiasts.

The Big Crown Pointer Date has been part of the current Oris collections for over 80 years. Updated in materials but faithful to aesthetics and to its few and useful complications, it maintains the characteristics that have made it famous: in addition to the oversized crown and the central pointer hand for the date, the large Arabic numerals for immediate time readability and the fluted and ergonomic bezel.

THE NEW ORIS BIG CROWN POINTER DATE CALIBRE 403

The Hölstein brand presents the Big Crown Pointer Date in a beautiful version with a blue dial and small seconds at 6 o’clock. The watch is a reinterpretation by the young Oris designer Lukas Bühlmann, who worked on various details to refine and improve them. His goal was to update the watch codes by translating them into a modern language, without betraying their spirit.

The starting point was to maintain the oversized crown and the basic shape of the case, and then adapt the other elements each time. Bühlmann worked on the bezel and case back, removing the fluting to make the watch look more like the 1938 Big Crown. The hands are now straight, the numerals font is now slightly more modern, and the steel case has been reduced to 38 mm.

A WELL-CRAFTED CALIBER

The introduction of the small seconds counter at 6 o’clock was driven by Oris’ Big Crown Pointer Date movement, the self-winding Caliber 403. It belongs to the Caliber 400 family, the most advanced currently among those of the brand; engineers and watchmakers spent five years creating the Calibre 400 Series. The most evident changes compared to the basic movement concern the seconds – no longer central, but small seconds displayed on an off-center counter – and the introduction of the date window with the pointer hand.

Double barrel, high resistance to magnetic fields, rotor stability, guaranteed reliability are the technical characteristics of the movement. Besides, Oris invests heavily in the mechanics: when the hand-wound Caliber 110 was presented in 2014, the company created the new Oris Movement Creation Program, from which eight other exclusive calibers have come out so far, all designed in-house.

When the brand’s engineers developed the Caliber 400, they thought of an automatic movement that could work even if the watch remains unworn for a long time. They have thus developed a twin barrel, both of which house an extended mainspring, each long enough to store two-and-a-half days of power.

Resistance to magnetic fields is guaranteed by the use of more than 30 non-ferrous and antimagnetic components within the caliber. In this way, the accuracy of this 28,800 vibrations / hour movement is between -3 and +5 seconds per day.

In addition, the oscillating weight has been made more stable by replacing the ball bearing system, which allows free rotation, with a low friction slide-bearing system. A less complex technical solution, more efficient, simpler and more reliable.

So, this reliability is worth a warranty extended to 10 years with MyOris sign-up. Service intervals are 10-year recommended, while five-year recommended is the water-resistance check (up to 5 bars).

THE IMPORTANCE OF DETAILS AND THE ORIS PHILOSOPHY

Such a major investment in technology could not go unnoticed. Hence the choice to use the sapphire crystal case back to make the movement visible. The bridges are simple, they have no Côtes-de-Genève or similar finishes, except the Oris coat of arms on the oscillating weight. The 30 mm diameter caliber in a 38 mm case means that the encasing ring is very thin and leaves the movement clearly visible, making the watch very well refined.

The sapphire crystal, domed on both sides and with anti-reflective coating inside, is also placed above the blue dial, where the printed indexes and numerals are well covered with SuperLuminova, just as the hands. The oversized crown is screwed down to ensure the water resistance of the watch, and the black leather strap has a quick release system to be easily replaced without the need for tools.

The work done by both the engineers and the Oris designers has created a watch with excellent technical and aesthetic contents, especially if we consider that its retail price is 3,300 euros. A value for money that is more than interesting and which reflects what the co-CEO, Rolf Studer, affirms: “We want Oris watches to be high-performing, industrially produced and beautiful, but above all, to make sense. We call it the luxury of common sense.” It is not by chance that we wrote at the beginning that the brand is doing a great job.

By Davide Passoni