The Oris Divers Sixty-Five Gets Unique Grey & Turquoise Colorway

If you’re a fan of blingy, busy, fussy watches, scroll away now; this is not the watch you’re looking for. Instead, with the new Oris Divers Sixty-Five you get 40mm of stripped-down, no-frills, cleanly designed form-and-function simplicity that’ll make you smile every time you check the time.

ORIS have been producing lovely things since they started in Hölstein in 1904. But since Dr Rolf Portmann took over at the helm in 1982, the firm has concentrated on solid, functional watches that do a job but with their own distinctive style. For example, the mid-1990s Big Crown Commanders were classic ETA-powered three-handers, but the third hand was a date indicator, the running seconds being in a sub-dial at 6. It was an idea lifted from a watch the firm made originally back in the 1930s. They were chunky, well-made, reliable watches with a look all of their own.  

The Divers Sixty-Five follows in the same tradition of taking an idea from the past and updating it.

Based around Oris’ 1960s Super and Star divers, the Divers Sixty-Five is another neat three-hander that will do pretty much whatever you ask of it. Oris launched the first ‘new’ Sixty-Five in 2015 and has built on the range since adding chronographs, funky straps and even models in bronze.

Rather than the earlier 36mm chromed case of the Super, the new Sixty-Five is in stainless and a tad larger at 40mm. The caseback screws down, as does the crown. A little like its Big Crown cousins, it’s a decent-sized crown, unencumbered by guards, so it’s easy to use. And, being a diver, there’s 100m of water-resistance to play with.

The case houses an automatic Oris cal. 733 movement with 26 jewels, a 38 hour power reserve and beating at a pretty standard 28,800 bph. Unlike some, Oris are happy to explain that the cal. 733 uses the Sellita SW 200-1 as a base. People are sometimes sniffy about standard movements like the 200-1 or the ETA 2824, but there’s a lot to be said for them. They’re simple to work on (and every watchmaker has taken hundreds apart), stone reliable and a cinch to get parts when you need them.You do get the classic, distinctive red Oris rotor though.

This edition (the snappily-referenced 01 733 7707 4053-07 5 20 89) uses a grey, almost fumé-style, dial with applied turquoise SuperLumiNova markers and hands. The pip on the unidirectional bezel picks up the same coloured lume. It manages to call echoes up from the original Super and Star but as a rather more up-to-date take.

The crystal on these Divers is really worth a mention. For a start, unlike the original plexus, they’re sapphire but also double-domed; curved both inside and on the outer surface. This really adds some depth to the dial. There’s anti-reflective coating on the inside too – even the most ham-fisted can’t manage to get a scratch on that.

So who’d buy one of these? The Sixty-Five has a pretty wide appeal. The price means it’d work as a first ‘good’ watch ($2,200 on the leather strap and $2,400 on a stainless bracelet) but the quality and design would see it happily sitting alongside other, much more expensive watches, in a collection. Oris.