Swiss watch maker Oris presents Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115, a brand-new professional pilot watch in titanium. This timepiece comes with Calibre 115, an in-house developed manual-winding skeleton movement with a power reserve up to 10 days.
Paying tribute to the historical roots of the traditional Swiss watch brand, the Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115 watch is inspired by nature, particularly by the Waldenburg Valley, which surrounds the village of Hölstein, where Oris has been based since it was founded in 1904.
Oris in-house movements
The idea started with the movement. Oris, an independent company, only makes mechanical watches. For their 110th anniversary, the Swiss brand introduced Oris Calibre 110, a limited edition watch with an in-house developed movement that carried a 10-day power reserve, a patented non-linear power reserve indicator and a small seconds.
This innovative, unique combination of complications became the base architecture for a suite of landmark calibres that followed, through to Calibre 114, launched last year. Together, these calibres have become the symbol of Oris the movement creator. Since the company was founded, it has introduced more than 270 in-house calibers.
For the Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115, Oris’s watchmakers took the spirit of Calibre 110 and imagined a fully skeletonised Oris movement. Traditionally, skeletonisation provided a window for a watchmaker’s talents, but this movement had higher ambitions.
Calibre 115 has a 10-day power reserve, a non-linear power reserve indicator and a small seconds. The exceptional, 240-hour power reserve is fuelled by a mainspring coiled in a single oversized barrel, visible at 12 o’clock. The Oris-patented non-linear power reserve indicator shows the power remaining with ever greater accuracy as it runs down.
The unique, Oris-patented non-linear power reserve indicator is managed by a ‘worm-gear’, an exclusive Oris innovation found in Oris’sb series of in-house developed calibres. This clever mechanical device controls the speed at which the power reserve indicator moves around the subdial at 3 o’clock.
Oris Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115
The Oris Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115 is a pure expression of Swiss mechanical watchmaking. Nothing is hidden. Even the barrel at 12 o’clock is skeletonised so you can see the extended mainspring. There is no varnish, no unnecessary decoration. Calibre 115’s skeletonised bridges are matt grey, rather than polished or engraved. The movement edges have not been chamfered or bevelled; instead, they have been left in their natural state.
The design team headed by Oris’s Senior Product Design Engineer Lukas Bühlmann took inspiration from culture, architecture, aviation and nature in the Waldenburg Valley. The 44.00 mm case is made of titanium.
Inspired by the striking aesthetic of the movement, Oris’s designers created a bold, dynamic case that captured both the company’s pilot’s watch history – which began in the early 1910s and took off with a pilot’s wristwatch with a ‘big crown’ in 1917 – and the future relevance of mechanical watchmaking.
The resulting brushed titanium case is equally honest. Fundamentally, its design is descended from that 1938 original, supplemented by the jet engine turbine blade motif introduced into the Big Crown ProPilot’s bezel only a few years ago. It is also the first Oris watch without numerals on the dial. It’s based on a traditional concept, but future-driven.
Technical details
Model: Oris Big Crown ProPilot X Calibre 115
Movement
Number Calibre 115 (skeletonised)
Winding: Hand-wound
Power reserve: 240 hours
Functions
Centre hands for hours and minutes, small seconds between 7 and 8 o’clock, non-linear power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock, fine timing and stop-second devices
Case
Multi-piece titanium case
Size 44.00 mm (1.732 inches)
Luminous material: Hands and indices filled with Super-LumiNova®
Top glass: Sapphire, domed on both sides, double-sided anti-reflective coating
Case back: Titanium, screwed, see-through sapphire glass
Operating devices: Titanium screw-in security crown
Water resistance: 10 bar (100 m)
Dial
Skeletonised
Strap/bracelet
Multi-piece titanium bracelet with ‘lift’ clasp; black leather strap with titanium ‘lift’ clasp
Price
CHF 6,800/7,200 (strap/bracelet)
Packaging
Presented in a special luxury wooden box
