Founded in 1904, Oris is an independent watchmaker that’s not a member of any larger company or group. They’re based in Hölstein, Switzerland, with a secondary factory in the neighboring town of Holderbank. In 1970, they released the Chronoris, their very first chronograph.
At the 2017 Baselworld event, Oris announced a re-release of the Chronoris (Ref 01 733 7737 4054-07 5 19 45). As part of their motor sport collection, the Chronoris is designed for easy legibility under a variety of conditions.
Because they’re an official partner of the Williams F1 team, their motor sports watches are designed with feedback from real, professional drivers. Here’s what the Chronoris has to offer.
Oris 733 Movement
One of the Chronoris’ most outstanding features is the Oris 733 movement, which is a modified Sellita SW 200-1. It’s fully automatic, with a bi-directional rotor that provides constant power as long as it’s being worn. With 26 jewels, the 733 vibrates at a rate of 28,800 beats per hour, providing a smooth, constant motion for the second hand.
The 733 has a 38-hour power reserve, so you can easily set the watch aside for a day and not need to worry about its accuracy. In addition, the 733 provides for an instantaneous date window, so the date will always be centered within the window.
It’s also hacking, and has a date-correcting crown for easily skipping ahead when there are less than 31 days in the month.
High-Contrast Dial
The Oris Chronoris’ dial is a flat black, with a powder-coated, charcoal-like appearance. It’s ringed by an inner rotating bezel, which has a glossy finish that adds a nice accent.
The hour and minute hands are silver, so the main body of the dial blends into the watch face. However, they’re painted with Superluminova stripes, which makes it look like they’re floating over the dial. The stripes appear white in normal lighting, but have a blue-green glow in darkness. The second hand, meanwhile, is long and sharp, and is a bright burnt orange that really pops.
The index is marked with ultra-fine hashes that are positioned in 12-second increments. To make them easier to read, they alternate between a short and long length every minute, so you won’t get confused by a long row of identical, fine hashes.
The five-minute marks are indicated by larger, two-tone hashes that appear to be applied or embossed. The inner portion is white, with a blue-green Superluminova finish that’s identical to the stripes on the minute and hour hands. The hour portion is burnt orange, a perfect match for the second hand.
The inner rotating bezel has 120 clicks, allowing you to rotate it with extreme precision. It’s marked with white hashes at the minute marks, with small white numerals at the five-minute marks.
The bezel is designed to be used as a chronometer function. For sub-minute times, simply pull out the hacking crown when the second hand is at 12 o’clock, then press it in to start the timer. For times longer than a single minute, rotate the bezel until the 60-minute mark aligns with the minute hand. This way, you can easily read how many minutes have passed from the time you started.
Case, Crystal, and Strap
The Chronoris’ case measures 39mm in diameter, with smooth lugs that are a relatively slim 19mm apart. The wrist presence is medium, the watch sits nice and flat on your wrist due to the slim case.
It’s very comfortable to wear, with a moderate weight that doesn’t weigh down your arm. The front surface of the case is brushed in a sunburst pattern, radiating outwards from the crystal. Along the chamfer and the sides, the stainless steel is polished, providing an attractive accent when the watch is viewed from an oblique angle.
Since this is a super compressor dive watch it has two textured crowns, one located at the 2 o’clock position, and another located at the 4 o’clock position. The 2 o’clock crown is for time adjustment, and does not have a screw-down design. It is hacking, though, so when you pull it out, the second hand will stop rotating. The 4 o’clock screw-down crown operates the inner rotating bezel, allowing for easy use of the Chronoris’ chronometer function.
The Chronoris features a sapphire crystal, which is domed on both sides. When viewed from a 90-degree angle, there is no distortion whatsoever. However, when viewed from an angle, there’s a slight distortion that adds an interesting, attractive touch. The crystal’s outer surface is scratch-resistant, while the inner surface has an anti-reflective coating that reduces glare to a bare minimum.
The strap is dark brown leather, with decorative perforations near the lugs. The inner surface has a soft finish for comfort, while the outer surface has a more polished look. Near the lugs, the strap is reinforced by discreet stitching, and it’s secured with a simple stainless steel buckle.
This is a lovely watch that basically anyone should try on. For more specs and information you can visit the official Oris website here.
Just got the exact watch (on metal strap ref. no. 01 733 7737 4054-07 8 19 01 ) and have a few comments to add. First things first: It is a very nice watch and it’s finish is of a very high level leaving little to complain. It is not that light anymore when combined with metal bracelet and on my 18 cm wrist (that require 13 links in total) it weights exactly 128 g. Another nice touch … no push pins to be found here … Oris adjustment pins are all screw down type with treads at each end so You may want someone with experience to adjust it for you before reaching for a screwdriver yourself (they are tiny). The first two bracelet links that are closest to the case on both sides are almost rigid and show rather limited flexibility, but they are already curved down and still comfortable to wear even to people with larger wrists than mine (I would imagine). Each bracelet is built from 15 independent pieces and they gently slim down from 19 mm at the top to 17mm close to clasp by loosing weight on outer brushed elements. Locking clasp is very solid and surprisingly well executed. I usually have problems with those as quite often you can find sharp edges in there … but in this case everything is close to perfection. Very nice! Jumping to the top … legibility is excellent and I especially like bluish tint that anti-reflective coating is showing. I prefer this color cast to greenish-blue tint that can be found in other brands (ex. Citizen). Minor quibble about this particular model … it has highly polished hands that are acting as mirrors and reflect the underside of second hand as it passes over. It looks like nobody have thought about this detail during design process as the underside of a second hand is not finished to the same standard (made of brass it seems) … sort of rough you could even say and it is showing all ridges and other imperfections every time it glances over minute and hour hand … twice … grrrr! That can be definitely improved upon!l. Lastly … watch accuracy has plenty to be desired … out of the box my example is rather fast to the tune of about + 20 sec / day. I am pretty sure it can do better than this, but I would expect at least some attempts to have it regulated by manufacturer prior to delivery. To put this in perspective … my Nomos Club out of the box was + 1 sec/day … and that is a nice point of reference as both watches are within the same price bracket. Can be done!
I am still enjoying the Oris ChronOris watch nonetheless. 9.3 / 10
Thanks for your comment. I don’t quite notice the mirror issue with the hands, even when shooting video footage with a macro lens. I would be interested in seeing this myself. In terms of comparing to Nomos, I would say you’re probably getting more value out of the Nomos in the same price bracket especially with the in-house movement. Although the Nomos in the same price bracket will most likely be hand-wound and not Automatic.
Quick update on this particular topic. I have eventually sent my watch to an authorized service center (it is still on manufacturer’s warranty after all) and it just came back after service last Saturday (minor quibble … it took some 6 weeks for the turnaround to be complete). It stays now accurate to about + 2 sec/day after their regulation efforts and I can easily live with that margin of variance. As I could not find anything directly from Oris about their own stated tolerances for mechanical watches and after some further research I have eventually found out that Oris is procuring Sellita SW 200-1 movements in Special (Elabore) grade that is for example having a Incablock shock-absorber installed on balance wheel instead of standard Novodiac found in a standard grade SW 200-1. Also Special grade is factory regulated (in three positions CH,6H,9H) to achieve rate mean daily error within +- 7 sec., so if you find yourself by any chance largely outside these figures it might be worth to send a watch for some tightening as I did. Cheers.
I guess this is also asking for a revision … “The bezel is designed to be used as a chronometer function”. Technically speaking the chronometer is a designation used for “a specific type of mechanical timepiece tested and certified to meet certain precision standards” – which normally would reference passing COSC accuracy battery of tests and refer to a high quality movement. It looks more like chronograph was the word you were trying to use here “The bezel is designed to be used as a chronograph function” … but it still give the wrong impression as the watch lacks true chronograph specification which is independent second hand. Maybe something referencing “elapsed time” measurement would be more appropriate … as this is closest to what this watch can actually achieve.
Sorry that I keep picking at you text and come back with fuss … no offense meant really!
Respectfully
Pal
How thick is the watch, I don’t see any mentioned of it? Looks like 14mm thick, is it?
It is less – only about 12 mm … the sapphire glass is slightly curved so it can possibly add a minor slice to that in the very center of the dial (I do not have any special tools to come up with exact measurement) but pretty close it is.
Eventually I have changed metal bracelet for a leather band and this combination (78 g) is quite more comfortable to wear. On my wrist right now … 🙂