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This year, it’s all about the Pointer Date for Oris. New for Watches & Wonders 2025, Oris has unveiled a selection of new references featuring what many would consider the brand’s iconic complication. According to Oris, some version of a watch with a pointer date complication has been in production for nearly 90 years, which is quite a significant chunk of time in the watch landscape. The pointer date currently finds its home in the Big Crown Pointer Date collection, part of the brand’s lineup of watches with an aviation influence. The oversized crown, of course, was meant to be usable by pilots wearing gloves in the cockpit, and everything about the dial, including the red tipped pointer date hand, has been designed with easy legibility in mind. The new pointer date watches in the collection stay pretty close to this tradition, but add new dial colors that are a bit less sober than what we typically think of when it comes to aviation inspired watch designs.
First up, new versions of the Sellita powered Big Brown Pointer Date in a trio of vibrant colors: yellow, blue, and lilac. These watches are available in the traditional 40mm stainless steel case most often used for the Big Crown Pointer Date. They’re also available for the first time with a stainless steel, H-link bracelet with alternating brushed and polished finishing and a folding clasp. I think the addition of a bracelet changes up the look of these watches in a pretty major way, making them immediately a bit sportier and conveying a feeling that they’re more robust (like other watches in the collection, they have 50 meters of water resistance and a sapphire crystal). The new colors, while not traditional, add some nice variety to the Big Crown Pointer Date landscape.
Also new from Oris are two examples of the Big Crown Pointer Date featuring their Calibre 403. We first saw examples of the Big Crown Pointer Date with the brand’s in-house developed caliber all the way back in 2021. Functionality with the Calibre 403 version of the Pointer Date is effectively the same as the Sellita powered version, with two differences. First, the dial layout on the Calibre 403 references is a little different, with a subsidiary seconds hand at 6:00 instead of a centrally mounted seconds hand. Second, the power reserve is extended to 120 hours, making the Calibre 403 versions of the watch quite a bit more practical if you happen to have a larger collection or wear your watches on a rotation.
The new dial colors for the Big Crown Pointer Date Calibre 403 are green and terracotta. Again, these are not traditional dial colors for the Pointer Date, but add a bit of variety and fun if you’re looking for something a little different. It’s interesting that the Sellita powered watches tend to have stronger, brighter color options, while the Calibre 403 dials are a bit more muted. They are clearly going for an earth tone theme, here.
The new versions of the Big Crown Pointer Date are available this month through authorized Oris channels. The Calibre 403 references retail for $4,100, while the Sellita powered versions will sell for $2,300. Oris
