A joyful annual tradition: marking our birthday with a special-edition Oris watch. This time (it’s our 120th anniversary), a full black-on-black Divers Sixty-Five powered by Calibre 400
This is our story
Oris was founded in the Swiss village of Hölstein in 1904, making this our 120th anniversary. Now, as then, it’s our independent spirit that defines us.
At Oris, we don’t really go big for anniversaries. We’d rather celebrate our dynamic people and partnerships, or our product and innovation milestones. But even so, 120 years feels significant. It gives us an opportunity to look back on our history and reflect on our achievements, and to sense check our goals against them.
So, a potted history: Oris was founded on 1 June 1904 by two entrepreneurial watchmakers here in Hölstein, a Swiss village surrounded by the forested hills of the Waldenburg Valley. They were independent people, determined to move away from the spiritual home of Swiss watchmaking in the French-speaking Jura and to set up a new kind of watch company, one that would make the best possible watches and the best possible prices, using the most advanced techniques and processes of the day. They named their company Oris after a nearby brook.
Over the next 120 years, Oris would build a reputation for making high-quality Swiss Made mechanical watches for the world citizen. The company would develop more than 280 mechanical calibres in-house, including today’s Calibre 400 Series, powering watches that could be worn, enjoyed and loved every day.
Today, we stand by those principles. We make only mechanical watches because we believe in the joy of mechanics and that things should be made to last. We’re still independent, too.
And we continue to be inspired by the nature that surrounds us. We’re an independently certified climate neutral company and we’re aligned to the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Above all, we make watches to make people smile. No one needs a mechanical watch: we know this. But we also know mechanical watches bring joy. This is the spirit behind the Hölstein Edition 2024, a black-on-black version of our Divers Sixty-Five, the first version of the design with a regular bezel to carry Calibre 400, and the first full black-on-black watch we’ve ever made. We’re only making 250 of them. Why? Think of it as a punctuation mark in our story.
Into the black
The Hölstein Edition 2024 celebrates Oris’s founding date of June 1, exactly 120 years ago. Based on the Divers Sixty-Five, it’s the first full black-on-black watch we’ve ever made.
Every 1 June for the past five years, we’ve released a Hölstein Edition. We do this to mark our birthday (120 years this year), and to create a watch for Oris fans that would otherwise never appear in our core collection. This year, we’ve done a black-on-black version of our retro sports watch, the Divers Sixty-Five.
A few notes, starting with the full black- on-black finish, a first for Oris. The 40mm stainless steel case, bezel and crown are plated in black DLC (diamond-like carbon). The hands, hour markers, dial text, date wheel and lume are all in black, too, and the watch is set on a black rubber strap with a black-DLC-plated buckle.
This is also the first time we’ve paired a regular bezel with a minutes scale (rather than a 12-hour scale) on a Divers Sixty- Five with our in-house Calibre 400. That means the watch has a five-day power reserve and elevated levels of everyday anti-magnetism, and that it comes with 10-year recommended service intervals and a 10-year warranty (when you register it at MyOris).
The case back is also plated in black DLC, and engraved with the limited- edition number and the Oris Bear, who because it’s summer is sporting flowery swim trunks and sunglasses. The watch is water-resistant to 10 bar (100 metres).
We’ll make 250, available in our boutiques and on our website, where they can also be ordered for collection from authorised Oris dealers. First come, first served.
All told, it’s a special watch in a special year to say thank you to Oris fans.
Higher Calibre
The Hölstein Edition 2024 is equipped with Oris Calibre 400, our five-day automatic, which means it comes with three real- world performance promises.
- Anti-magnetic: Calibre 400 has more than 30 anti-magnetic parts and exceeds 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 has a five-day power reserve, so it’ll still be running even if you take it off over the weekend
- 10-year Warranty: Reliability comes as standard with any Oris watch carrying a Calibre 400 Series movement. Owners who register with MyOris activate a 10-year warranty.
A watch for everyone
It’s limited to 250 pieces, but as Oris Co-CEO Rolf Studer explains, the Hölstein Edition is an inclusive watch, capturing the spirit that defines Oris.
Rolf, we’re in Oris’s 120th anniversary year. What’s the significance of this? A tricky question! Not many watch companies can say they’ve been here for 120 years. Even fewer that are still independent, like Oris. But for me, it’s a reminder of the legacy we’ve inherited. From the founders to Oris heroes such as Dr Rolf Portmann, who joined the company in 1956 and is now our honorary chairman, to Ulrich W. Herzog who ran Oris for four decades and still serves as its chairman, the company has been built by incredible people who’ve now entrusted it to us to carry forward. So an anniversary is a moment to honour and thank those who went before us and to make sure we’re continuing their work.
And how exactly are you doing that? It’s a challenge, but one we get really excited about. More than ever, the job is to make sure Oris watches are relevant. Everyone has the time on their screens, so who needs a mechanical watch? The logical answer would be no one. We’re trying to show that a luxury watch can be joyful and inclusive, though. It’s an item you don’t need but want to wear. Oris is a brand for the people. It’s not feudalistic or exclusive, and we believe that this fresh perspective is what keeps us relevant.
How does the Hölstein Edition 2024 answer that brief?
It shows that we take what we do seriously, but not necessarily ourselves. It’s a bit of fun and captures an important idea: you don’t need a mechanical watch to survive, you need it to live. These special-edition pieces that we make once a year are hyper-realisations of our independent, joyful attitude. And I think that’s why our customers love them.
You mentioned that Oris is an inclusive watch company – but you’re only making 250 of these, which feels exclusive. How do you square that off? It’s a fair question, until you understand who the watch is for. It’s for everyone. There’s no waiting list. You don’t have to be a special customer who’s bought loads of Oris watches before. You don’t have to travel thousands of kilometres
to get to a special event. You don’t need to be friends with the right people. You just have to be quick! On 1 June, we’ll make the Hölstein Edition 2024 available on a first come, first served basis. You can even choose your number, provided someone hasn’t beaten you to it. That way, it’s a democratic process and an inclusive product. Some buyers may even be new to Oris, and that’s great. We expect most of them will know the Oris story already, but that’s not what’s important. If you love the watch and you want to buy it, we’re happy for you. But they sell out fast, so don’t hang around…
This year’s edition is black-on-black, a new look for Oris. Why do that now? The reason is that there is not really a reason. We just thought it would be fun and a great way to celebrate our birthday. It’s a watch we might not do otherwise. In the end, it looks sleek, it tells some of our backstory through a design linked to 1965, and yet its colourway makes it contemporary, too. And it’s the first time you see the Oris Bear in swim trunks.
“It captures the idea: you don’t need a mechanical watch to survive, you need it to live”
Ah, the Oris Bear, snuck onto the case back in those trunks. Why is he there? It’s always such a joy to see how people all over the world respond to the Oris Bear. He’s just warm. A nice guy. He makes you feel at ease. And here he’s enjoying his leisure time. He’s got no worries. And that’s how we want people to feel when they’re wearing this watch this summer.
This is the fifth Hölstein Edition. What do Oris fans make of these watches? The people I speak to and the stories I hear from our boutiques and retail partners are aligned: people are grateful for this 1 June moment and for the opportunity to somehow enter into the Oris story through the watches. It makes the romance of the Oris story and the relationship we have with our customers more tangible and more meaningful. In a way, it’s beyond explanation: it’s an emotional response. Love, perhaps!
While we have you, what’s next for Oris in this anniversary year?
Well, I’m not going to give anything specific away, except to say that we’re focused on delivering more and more value by upgrading our watches without sending prices skyward. That can be difficult when the Swiss franc is still so strong, but we’ve already done it with Aquis. As I said, Oris is for the people!
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