When first launched in 2013, the Oris Aquis Depth Gauge was acclaimed as one of the most innovative diving watches of the century by the international media as it responded to the challenge of incorporating a depth gauge into a mechanical watch. It featured a ground breaking depth gauge function developed and patented by luxury Swiss watch maker Oris.
In keeping with the company’s 110-year heritage, Oris’s solution of producing a mechanical watch with a depth gauge was pragmatic, with an inlet in the crystal at 12 o’clock. Beneath that was a channel milled into the outside edge of the crystal covering the dial. The inlet allowed water into the channel, creating a watermark that corresponded to yellow depth gauge indications marked on the crystal, giving the diver a clear readout to a depth of 100 meters. Gaskets between the crystal and the case meant the watch was still water-resistant to 500 meters.
The genius behind the function was in the application of Boyle-Mariotte’s Law, which states that pressure x volume = constant. In the case of the Aquis Depth Gauge, this means that as a diver wearing the watch descends into the deep, pressure builds, compressing the volume of air in the channel and allowing water to enter the watch through the inlet.
Oris has now added a second version of the famous diver’s watch to its line-up. The new watch has a yellow rubber strap that features two additional ground-breaking Oris innovations – the safety anchor that prevents the strap from breaking loose, even after a heavy impact; and the sliding sledge clasp, which enables the wearer to adjust the size of the strap without undoing the clasp.
The watch’s 46mm steel case has a resilient, sporty black DLC finish, and the unidirectional rotating bezel inlay is made of tungsten, a material as hard as emerald. Oris’s automatic caliber 733, based on Sellita SW 200-1, beats inside the watch, powering a date window at 6 o’clock and a power reserve of 38 hours.
