Stop me if you’ve heard this one before – a watch brand is hitting a milestone, and they’re introducing a watch to commemorate it. It makes sense to do, if you ask me. This time around, it’s one of our favorite brands, Oris, looking back at their start in 1904, with the new Oris Holstein Edition.
Why Holstein? It’s not for the cow, my friends. No, this is the town that Paul Cattin and Georges Christian first setup shop (in June of 1904). Obviously, they’ve come a long way since then, and one of their more recent hits – the Oris Divers Sixty-Five – became the foundation for this new limited-edition watch.
Looking at the photos of the Oris Holstein Edition, you might think they’ve gone for a full rose-gold treatment, but they haven’t. In something more keeping with brand – at least to my thinking – they’ve gone ahead and made both the case AND the bracelet from bronze. That they managed to find an alloy mix that (at least in the photos) manages to give that rosy tone while still maintaining hard-working tool watch ethos in materials, that’s just some fun icing on the cake.
While the main parts of the Oris Holstein Edition are not gold, the dial itself is gold-plated, and the indices are rose-gold-plated. This helps those chronograph registers stand out in sharp relief., and the lumed hands and indices pop quite nicely as well, if you ask me.
Bronze, of course, is a material that will start to oxidize, and develop a patina, as you wear it, so the watch will of course become a reflection of you and your environment. While the caseback (featuring the Oris Bear) is steel, you may still run the risk of some green marks on your wrists. If that’s a particular concern, you may want to look at the strap options (Oris clasps on textile straps are among my favorite).
If you want to get one of the new Oris Holstein Edition watches, you’ll want to move quickly – only 250 will be made. How to get one, though? Well, you see, this also coincides with the launch of their “Oris Limited Edition N? Selection Tool” as part of their e-Shop, which is where you can get this watch. You can then also choose to have it shipped direct to you, or your local boutique or AD. The price tag of CHF 4,800 (approx $5,045) is a bit of a surprise for the Oris line, but I’ve a feeling this one will be a quick mover. oris.ch/holsteinedition
Tech Specs from Oris
- Case Multi-piece bronze case, uni-directional rotating bronze bezel with bronze insert
- Size 43.00 mm (1.693 inches)
- Dial Gold-plated with black chronograph counters, rose gold-plated indices
- Luminous material Hands and indices with Super-LumiNova?
- Top glass Domed sapphire with anti- reflective coating inside
- Case back Stainless steel, screwed, special engravings of the Oris Bear
- Operating devices Bronze screw-in security crown and pushers
- Bracelet Multi-piece bronze bracelet with folding clasp
- Water resistance 10 bar (100 m)
- Number Oris 771
- Functions Centre hands for hours, minutes and chronograph 1?4 seconds, two subsidiary dials with continuous seconds at 9 o?clock and a chronograph 30-minute counter at
3 o?clock, fine timing device and stop-second - Winding Automatic
- Power reserve 48 hours
- Limited edition 250 pieces, available through Oris boutiques, the Oris e-Shop, and retailers with access to the Oris e-shop. Online tool to choose your limited edition number.
- Swiss retail price CHF 4,800
- Available June 2020
