The Big Crown is reborn

The Big Crown Pointer Date has been in constant production since 1938. Today, new editions and joyful new colors breathe fresh life into Oris’s icon.

The story of the Big Crown Pointer Date is the stuff of Oris legend. Its genesis began in the 1930s when Oris was a fast-growing independent company, known around the world for its precision wristwatches.

The brief was to produce a watch that would serve a new clientele with very specific needs. For pilots, a watch would need to be as precise and reliable as any, but it would also need to be easy to use and read. Cockpits were uncomfortable places: cramped, hard, often cold, and always unforgiving.

Oris’s solution was to produce a simple round watch in a stainless steel case, with a black dial and large Arabic numerals at 12, 3 and 9, and an oversized crown that could be gripped by a gloved aviator. It would also feature a date complication, indicated by a central hand with a red arrow tip. This way, it would be functional and legible, a toolwatch for one of the most demanding jobs imaginable.

Little would its creators have known, but their practical, high-functioning watch of 1938 would become a design staple, one of the most recognizable watches in all of watchmaking. Today, almost 90 years since that first release, the Big Crown Pointer Date – as it’s become known – is Oris’s signature design and a Swiss watchmaking icon.

Naturally, the original purpose behind the watch is no longer the reason it’s still here. This is a watch the Swiss watchmaker goes on making because it’s a beautiful reminder of its story. But not only that. Great design lasts forever, and the Big Crown Pointer Date has its rightful place in the canon of great designs, to be enjoyed by every new generation.

This year, Oris returns to it, subtly modernizing its design and adding new colors, a new metal bracelet, and case and movement choices. These enhance its versatility and confirm one thing: the timeless joy of the Big Crown Pointer Date.

Higher Plane

The new Big Crown Pointer Date collection brings fresh, joyful colors, a new bracelet design, and a choice of case sizes and automatic movements.

So what’s new? This year’s Big Crown Pointer Date collection offers a fresh color palette, a new metal bracelet, and a smaller 34.00 mm model, all automatics.

Let’s begin with colors and movements. There are two variants at 40.00 mm with warm terracotta or green dials and Calibre 403, giving them a small seconds indication at 6 o’clock, as well as all the benefits of an Oris Calibre 400 Series movement. Three further 40.00 mm variants with either yellow, lilac or blue dials in inviting hues will be powered by a Swiss-made automatic. And then the 34.00 mm model will come with either a textured beige dial or a black dial set with 12 lab-grown baguette diamond indices. It will also be powered by a Swiss-made automatic, in line with Oris’s 100 percent mechanical approach to watchmaking.

Also new is the sporty stainless steel H-link metal bracelet with brushed and polished links. It comes with an Oris-developed butterfly clasp that gives the bracelet a seamless, fluid finish when fastened. The Calibre 403 versions also come on a sustainable deer leather strap, supplied by Oris’s Swiss friends at Cervo Volante, whose deer leather is responsibly sourced and tanned in a chemical-free process.

It’s a fresh, versatile collection, a contemporary take on the timeless Big Crown Pointer Date design.

Automatic upgrades

The Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 is equipped with one of its five-day automatics. Calibre 400 Series movements come with three real-world performance promises.

Anti-magnetic

Calibre 400 Series movements have more than 30 anti-magnetic parts and exceed the norms of the ISO 764 enhanced anti-magnetic standard.

Five-day power reserve

A mechanical watch may not be worn every day. Calibre 400 Series movements have five-day power reserves, so they’ll over the weekend.

10-year warranty

Reliability comes as standard with any Oris watch carrying a Calibre 400 Series movement. Register with MyOris activate a 10-year warranty.