The Oris Divers Sixty-Five: An Affordable Swiss Automatic

This is the 60th Anniversary Edition of the Oris Divers Sixty-Five, a modern take on the legendary Swiss watchmakers first dive watch design from the mid-1960s.

The watch has a vintage-inspired dial with oversized, lumed numerals at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock positions. Each one is made in Switzerland, as you would expect, and it’s powered by an automatic mechanical Swiss movement offering a 38 hour power reserve and 26 jewels.

Oris: A History Speedrun

Oris is a Swiss watch manufacturer known for its resolute commitment to mechanical watches – as opposed to far cheaper quartz movements. The company was founded in 1904 by Paul Cattin and Georges Christian in Hölstein, Switzerland and named after a nearby brook.

Early on, Oris focused on the production of pocket watches, they expanded to wristwatches by 1925 to follow market trends, along with almost every other Swiss watchmaker. Oris gained recognition early on for its precision movements and affordability – making Swiss-made watches and pocket watches accessible to a far broader market.

Oris distinguished itself from its many competitors by developing its own movements in-house, achieving vertical integration rare for a mid-sized manufacturer, this also helped them to keep production costs in check.

In 1938, Oris introduced the Big Crown pilot’s watch featuring an oversized crown designed for aviators to adjust while wearing gloves. This watch became an icon in its own right, laying the foundation for what would become a longstanding aviation line of watches that remain popular to the current day.

The onset of World War II slowed production but thanks to the lower cost and durability of Oris watches they became favored by military personnel. Following the war, Oris expanded internationally, into the United States and then Asia, establishing a strong global presence that continues today. By the 1960s, Oris was one of Switzerland’s largest watch manufacturers, producing millions of mechanical watches each year.

The quartz crisis of the 1970s dramatically impacted the Swiss watch industry and nearly killed off many watchmakers, including Oris. Numerous Swiss watchmakers adopted quartz technology in the face of potential impending extinction and Oris was one of them – much to the chagrin of the purists.

The use of quartz movements to lower costs did nothing to help the company’s finances. The company was briefly owned by the pre-cursor to the Swatch Group, but was then bought out by a management team and once again became an independent company.

Oris, under new management led by Dr. Rolf Portmann and Ulrich W. Herzog, took a strategic decision to exclusively produce mechanical watches and strictly forgo quartz movements.

At the time, many thought this to be a suicidal decision in the face of what seemed like the inevitable avalanche of cheap quartz watches. Ultimately, the risky decision by Portmann and Herzog proved to be a strategic masterstroke, and the company would weather the quartz crisis.

During the 1990s, the brand successfully re-established itself in the eyes of the public with a series of new collections based around themes like aviation, diving, and motorsport – including high-profile partnerships with racing teams.

Today, Oris remains an independent company, an unusual thing in the modern world of Swiss watchmaking where countless major brands are now owned by huge conglomerates like LVMH and The Swatch Group – the latter of which now owns Omega,  Blancpain, Breguet, Certina, Glashütte Original, Hamilton, Harry Winston, Longines, Mido, Rado, Tissot, and others.

The Oris Divers Sixty-Five

The Oris Divers Sixty-Five is a collection of watches inspired by the original Oris divers of the mid-1960s. The watch shown in this article is the limited production 60th Anniversary Edition version of the Divers Sixty-Five, with a decidedly retro aesthetic that will appeal to many.

The watch has a multi-piece stainless steel case, a double-domed sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating, a screw-in crown, a bi-directional rotating bezel, and an engraved case back.

It’s powered by the Oris 733-1 caliber, an automatic mechanical movement with a 38 hour power reserve, 26 jewels, and 28’800 A/h at 4 Hz. The watch measures in at 40mm and it comes with both a stainless steel bracelet, and a retro leather strap that many owners seem to prefer.

It’s now sold out on the official Oris store, but there are still three available from Huckberry here with an MSRP of $2,500 USD. The watch comes with a two year warranty, free US shipping, free US returns, and a best price guarantee.

Images courtesy of Huckberry