Oris Watches – The Chronoris

What follows is a review of the Oris Chronoris watch. With its livery of black, orange and steel the Chronoris has been designed to offer that ‘sporty look’ that is so fashionable today. But does the Chronoris watch by Oris stand up as a good sports watch?

Oris didn’t start making sports watches until just over thirty years ago. Oris were synonymous with automatic timepieces and the ‘red rotor’ of its automatics is famous. However, many derided Oris sports watches. They felt that Oris had no heritage in sports watches and was just trying to cash in on an expanding market and produced watches that confirmed its lack of knowledge of sport watches. There was some truth to this criticism, but times are changing and the Chronoris is now causing quite a stir amongst watch aficionados.

Oris have been designing a range of watches with motorsport as the theme. Oris joined up with the Williams F1 team to produce a watch of the same name. Other watches in the motorsport stable include the TT3, TT1 and Oris Chronoris.

What sets the Chronoris apart from the other models in this collection is the shape of the case. Unlike the other models that feature circular casings, the Chronoris has a slight oval shape with clipped ends. The case is stainless steel. What I really like about the case is that the top surface is not shiny but has a ‘brushed’ look to it.

The dial is black with white indices – there are no numerals. The sub dial at the 12 o’clock position is an additional minute hand and the hand is orange as is the main second hand. There is also an orange, unidirectional click-stop bezel. The date is displayed in a round window at the 6 o’clock position. The size of the case is 40.00 mm (1.575 inches). The watch feels large, has a nice weightiness to it and sits up well on your wrist.

The sapphire glass is slightly domed and really does complement the shape of the casing.

The black and orange leather strap really does look rather good; the orange edging especially – though how long the edging will keep its bright orange color is debatable. The strap comes with a stainless clasp; not buckle – a good safety feature. I feel the strap is its biggest problem. Leather straps fade overtime but I feel for this watch to look its best, the vivid orange color it vital.

The automatic movement is an ETA 7750 and you can see the obligatory red rotor by means of an inspection window on the back casing.

I don’t usually care about the box a watch comes in; I buy watches to be worn and not as collectibles. However, the Oris Chronoris does comes in a very nice leather presentation box, complete with a second stainless steel bracelet and tool to change it over from the leather strap.

All in all, Oris have come up with a very desirable sports watch with the Chronoris. The design of the case and the black and orange combination make it a little different from any other watches on the market. One thing I’m sure about is that the Oris Chronoris won’t be derided by watch critics.