Oris unveiled a new watch in its landmark Big Crown ProPilot Caliber 111 collection. The new piece has a shimmering blue dial, inspired by the intensity of a blue-sky day, and gives Oris’s innovative pilot’s watch deeper crossover appeal – this is a watch for both cockpit and cocktail.
While it has been conceived to be comfortable at a gala dinner, the new Oris Big Crown ProPilot Caliber 111 remains a high performance watch and one of the most technical pieces in Oris’s rich history of innovation. It’s powered by the groundbreaking hand-wound Caliber 111, the series-produced in-house-developed mechanical movement introduced by Oris.
Caliber 111 features a unique set of complications. Alongside its huge, single-barrel, 10-day power reserve, it also has an Oris patented non-linear power reserve indicator that shows the time remaining until the watch needs to be rewound with ever greater detail as the reserve runs down.
The watch also has a small seconds and a date window at 9 o’clock. Oris is the only watch company to combine these functions in a single Swiss Made mechanical wristwatch, testament to its continued commitment to pioneering useful innovations in beautifully designed and crafted watches.
Oris began making watches for pilots in the early 1910s, during the dawn of heavier-than-air flight. Its first pocket watch featured a case engraved with an image of Louis Blériot’s maiden voyage across the English Channel in 1909. By the late 1910s, Oris was making wristwatches for pilots. The first of these was celebrated with this year’s Big Crown 1917 Limited Edition.
In 1938, the company debuted the Big Crown, so named because of its oversized crown, introduced so that gloved airmen could adjust their watches during flight. Today, the Oris Aviation collection offers pilots a range of robust, legible, high-functioning wristwatches designed for the testing environment of an aircraft cockpit.
The Big Crown ProPilot Caliber 111 has a 44mm stainless steel case and the Big Crown ProPilot collection’s signature bezel design, inspired by the blades of a jet engine turbine. Both its hands and hour markers are finished with Super-LumiNova®, so that the watch is legible in low-light conditions. Its blue dial is complemented by a dark brown Louisiana croco leather strap, or by a black textile strap or a metal bracelet. The croco leather strap and textile strap feature an Oris’s patented clasp design, based on an airline safety belt buckle. The new Big Crown ProPilot Caliber 111 with a blue dial continues Oris’s longstanding tradition of creating practical, beautiful pilot’s watches made for real-life situations.
