Oris has released quite a few models for this year’s Watches and Wonders. One of the stand-out timepieces is the all-new Oris Big Crown Calibre 473. With this timepiece, the Oris Movement Creation Programme enters its tenth year and with that, the tenth in-house calibre movement has been created. The Oris Big Crown Calibre 473 is their latest story of mechanical watchmaking and innovation that first began in 1904.
Oris’s vision has always been “to create beautiful mechanical watches and original, purpose-driven movements that bring joy to people who love mechanics”. The Oris Movement Creation Programme first started back in 2014 with the Calibre 110 movement. This movement was hand-wound and would produce an incredible 10-day power reserve from just a single barrel. Another notable movement which a lot of modern Oris timepieces have is the Calibre 400 series, released back in 2020.
Since the Calibre 400 release, Oris has been continuously working to upgrade the movement and its mechanics. Oris states that with the Calibre 400 series “the response has encouraged us to keep innovating. In the past nine years, we’ve introduced nine highly original, high-performance calibres and installed them in beautifully designed Swiss Made watches”.
For the 10th year, Oris has created something another high-performance calibre movement, taking inspiration from the first Calibre 110. The Calibre 473 movement (patent pending) gives out a staggering 120 hours of power reserve (5 days), but what’s impressive is that it’s from a hand-wound movement. One of the most frustrating parts of hand-wound movements is not knowing accurately when the watch needs to be wound again. For this Calibre 473, Oris has thought of this and provided a solution by integrating a power-reserve indicator on the back of the movement, visible through the timepiece’s open case back. A very useful function that clearly shows when the time to rewind the movement and its five-day power reserve.
This Calibre 473 movement has brought new life into one of Oris’s most notable timepieces: the Big Crown Pointer Date. For the very first time in over a decade, it features a hand-wound movement. The Oris Big Crown Calibre 473 comes in a 38mm multi-piece stainless steel case, with a beautiful blue dial.
The design details of this new Big Crown Calibre 473 remain relatively unchanged from previous Big Crown Pointer Date timepieces. The watch comes equipped with the red-tipped pointer hand, which indicates the date shown along the outer part of the dial. At the 6 o’clock position, we also get a constant second sub-dial. The Arabic hour indices are easily legible against the beautiful shade of blue for the dial background.
Lastly, the strap for this timepiece is an olive brown strap, crafted from sustainably sourced deer leather, which is produced by Oris’s Swiss partner Cervo Volante. This model also serves as the premier for the Oris-developed stainless steel butterfly clasp with a fine adjustment system. This adjustment system allows the wearer to adjust the strap as your wrist expands and contracts, which can happen due to climate and environmental factors.
The Calibre 473 movement took approximately four years to make, and with its release closes a circle of impressive movement production for the brand. The Oris Big Crown Calibre 473 retains the iconic aesthetic that watch enthusiasts have known the Big Crown Pointer Date to be, while now giving it an impressive hand-wound movement with a very useful power-reserve indicator.
Reference: 473 7786 4065-07 5 19 22FC
Specification:
- Case: 38mm
- Case Material: Multi-Piece Stainless Steel case
- Dial: Blue
- Crystal: Sapphire, domed on both sides with anti-reflective coating inside.
- Water resistance: 50m (5 bar)
- Movement: Hand-wound Oris Calibre 473
- Power reserve: 120 hours (5 days)
- Bracelet/Strap: Olive brown strap crafted from sustainably sourced deer leather produced by Oris’s Swiss partner Cervo Volante with Oris’s all-new Oris-developed stainless steel butterfly clasp with a fine adjustment system.
