Baselworld 2019: Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III (Pictures, Specifications and Price)
At Baselworld 2019 Oris introduced the Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III, a diver’s watch created in partnership with the pioneering Reef Restoration Foundation
Another watch tied to the world’s oceans...? It would be easy to write off the next chapter in Oris’s mission to play a part in bringing change for the better (it’s going to take all of us), but the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III is not just another ‘good cause’ watch.
As the name suggests, this is the third watch Oris has linked to the world’s largest and most diverse reef system (it’s so big it can be seen from space, and tip-to-toe it’s 2,600 km long), but since our last Great Barrier Reef watch, the situation has far from improved. In fact, it’s got worse. Two hot summers in 2016 and 2017 led to back-to- back coral bleaching events, leaving vast areas of reefs all over the world devastated.
How serious is this? The Great Barrier Reef is around 8,000 years old and home to 1,500 species of fish, more than 400 types of hard coral, a third of the world’s soft corals, and six of the world’s seven species of threatened marine turtles. We have a collective responsibility to look after it.
Oris is not alone in recognising the scale of the problem. The independent Swiss watch company has partnered with a non-profit social enterprise set up in 2016, the Reef Restoration Foundation. Using knowledge shared by the Oris-backed Coral Restoration Foundation, the foundation has begun a coral planting project off Fitzroy Island near Cairns.
The programme is in its infancy, but with support from individuals and companies such as Oris – which installed its first coral tree off Fitzroy Island in 2018, a milestone for the company in its mission to bring change for the better – it has the potential to make a significant positive difference to some affected areas of the Great Barrier Reef.
In partnership with the foundation, Oris has created the Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III, a diver’s watch based on the legendary Oris Aquis. The new model, limited to 2,000 pieces, has a gradient blue dial and an aqua blue ceramic insert in its uni-directional rotating diver’s bezel, recalling the colours of the reef waters. Inside its 43.50 mm stainless steel case is an automatic movement that provides it with a small seconds and a circular date window. It’s water-resistant to 30 bar (300 metres).
Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III
Technical specifications:
The Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III is a high-performance diver’s watch and a symbol of Oris’s mission to clean up our oceans and bring change for the better
Ref. 743 7734 4185
Case: Multi-piece stainless steel case, uni-directional rotating bezel with ceramic insert Size 43.50 mm (1.713 inches)
Dial: Aqua blue
Luminous material: Hands and indices printed with Super-LumiNova
Top glass: Sapphire, domed on both sides, anti-reflective coating inside
Case back: Stainless steel, screwed, special engravings of corals and the Southern Cross, a star constellation also found on the Australian Flag and only visible in the Southern Hemisphere
Operating devices: Stainless steel screw-in security crown
Bracelet: Multi-piece stainless steel bracelet with stainless steel security folding clasp with extension
Water resistance: 30 bar (300 m)
Movement
Number: Oris 743
Functions: Centre hands for hours and minutes, continuous seconds at 9 o’clock, circular date window with yellow indicator, date corrector, fine timing device and stop-second
Winding: Automatic
Power reserve: 38 hours
Limited edition: 2,000 pieces, each presented in a special box made of environmentally friendly algae
The price for the Oris Great Barrier Reef Limited Edition III is CHF 2,450 and will be available from June 2019.
