Oris Celebrates their Birthday with a Revival of the Full Steel, the Latest Hölstein Edition

Oris is back with another Hölstein Edition, an annual release celebrating the brand’s birthday each June. You might recall that last year’s edition saw the release of a lovely execution of their trademark pointer date, complete with their new in-house movement, and 2020 saw a fully bronzed-out (is that a thing?) chronograph. Those are two very different watches, and it leads one to believe that the theme of these releases is that there is no theme at all, but that the watches are chosen to celebrate something that makes Oris unique, and gives the brand an opportunity to tweak the “standard” version of a watch just a little bit. This year’s Hölstein Edition is Oris to the core, and a throwback to a time well before the current moment watch enthusiasm is experiencing. Yes, we’re going back to the 90s this year with the Full Steel. Happy birthday, Oris.

The Full Steel Worldtimer was introduced in 1998 and showcased what at the time was the most complicated movement Oris had ever produced, the Calibre 690. This movement offered the user the ability to jump the local time in one hour increments via a pair of pushers on each case flank, marked by plus and minus signs. Home time is always shown via a subdial at 3:00, and the date can change in either direction along with the local hour hand. It’s a fairly ingenious and intuitive system for managing time-telling while on the go, and it was all thrown into an unusual, compact sports watch with a bold dial and those very prominent pushers on either side of the case. 

The Hölstein Edition 2022 is a largely faithful rendition of the 90s version of the watch. There are some additional details on the dial (there’s now radial finishing along the hour track to add dimensionality, along with a more modern typeface for the large Arabic numerals) but the core design elements remain. The case is still on the small side at 36.5mm, and Oris has kept the red arrows highlighting the plus and minus near 5:00 and 7:00, respectively. The dial is a dark shade of blue, and while there’s a lot going on here given the nature of the complication, it’s still highly legible and easy to check at a glance.

In terms of specs, the Calibre 960 is the same used in the original version of the watch, and offers bi-directional winding and 38 hours of power reserve. While the watch has a sporty appearance, the water resistance of 50 meters would indicate that it’s not suitable for rigorous water activities like diving, although the crown does screw down. The case back is also of the screw down variety. And, typical of other Hölstein Edition releases, you’ll find an engraving of the Oris Bear on the reverse side as opposed to a display back. 

This is a limited edition of just 250 pieces, with a retail price of $4,300. Oris